Illinois

Update: Aurora Rain Gardens

Northern Public Radio | By Guy Stephens

Published April 23, 2014 at 12:04 PM CDT

1 of 4

Workers excavate topsoil from a rain garden being constructed at Douglas and Simms in Aurora. The curbs have already been laid. When construction is done, plantings will sit on a bed of rock, gravel and sand.

Guy Stephens / WNIJ

2 of 4

Another view at Douglas and Simms. A rain garden being constructed across the street can be seen

Guy Stephens / WNIJ

3 of 4

At another site along Simms, wood forms for new curbs stand ready for concrete to be poured. Note the bump-out shape, meant to calm traffic

Guy Stephens / WNIJ

4 of 4

Another rain garden site. The old drain (left) will be removed and the connection to the old combined sewer blocked. The new drain (right) will channel water into the rain garden to filter down through the subsoil.

Guy Stephens / WNIJ

After a long, hard winter, construction has begun in earnest on the city of Aurora's rain garden project. Rain gardens are being constructed at dozens of intersections in various parts of the city. Eric Schoeny, Drainage and Underground Coordinator for the City of Aurora, says delays in the bidding process and the onslaught of snow and cold that never let up kept progress to a minimum for several months. Now, Schoeny says, he expects work to proceed relatively quickly, and a number of rain gardens will be completed in a matter of weeks, with more to follow.