Mario Bautista
CHAMPAIGN — The approximately $32 million in improvements underway in the Garden Hills neighborhood are first and foremost about drainage.
Flooding has been a concern since the neighborhood was built in the late 1960s, said Champaign civil engineer Tyler Suits, and the city wants to “alleviate” the issue.
However, there’s more to the project than just mitigating stormwater — such as the construction of the new Hedge Park at the corner of Hedge Road and Garden Hills Drive.
“If we’re going to spend this money and investment in the neighborhood, the goal is to provide an amenity that can be appreciated and used by the residents of the neighborhood year-round when it’s not raining,” Suits said.
“… The goal is to make it feel more like a park than a drainage basin.”
He estimated that contractors are about 40 percent done with the current phase of improvements after breaking ground on the work in November 2023.
Completion is slated for fall 2025.
“That will depend a little bit on getting a mild winter, getting to work through most of the winter,” Suits added.
“So we’ll see if the weather cooperates with that or not.”
The current phase includes:
- The new Hedge Park
- The reconstruction of Hedge Road
- A raised intersection at Hedge Road and Garden Hills Drive and raised crosswalks
- Stormwater drainage improvements, including detention basins
- New street lighting
- New sidewalks
- Landscaping
- Multi-use paths
- Pedestrian bridges
The phase is on track to cost about $32 million, Suits said.
Funding sources include American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding from both the city and Champaign County, as well as congressional funds and city bonds.
Most of the work on the project so far has been centered on the detention basins, Suits said.
“We’ve got about 75% of the east basin excavation complete,” he said.
“The next step after that is there’s a retaining wall along the whole northern side of the basins along the railroad tracks, which allows us to get some more storage capacity in the basins. We’re starting on the construction of that wall right now.”
Additionally, workers have started underground storm sewer and roadway work going south along Hedge Road toward the intersection of Summerlin Lane and Holly Hill Drive.
“We’re hoping to get that roadway work done this year still, and then the rest of the roadway work will be still to come next year,” Suits said.
The construction on Hedge Park is also “a little bit further out,” he added.
Suits estimated that construction on the park will begin in the summer of 2025.
He added that the vision for the new, “full-scale” park wouldn’t be possible without the partnership of the Champaign Park District, which has agreed to operate and maintain the amenity for an initial 15-year period.
“The neighborhood’s been very actively involved in pushing for this project and requesting it, and it’s certainly a needed project,” Suits added.
“So they have been involved throughout the design. A lot of the elements within Hedge Park came from the neighborhood requests.”
The park will include a variety of features such as a playground, basketball hoop, a splash pad, a multi-use field with a soccer goal and a picnic area, he said.
According to city officials, the next phase of the Garden Hills neighborhood improvements will include the reconstruction of Paula Drive and of Garden Hills Drive from Paula Drive south to the railroad tracks, new street lighting along Paula Drive, new sidewalks and traffic calming elements along Paula Drive, and additional drainage improvements.
“We are finalizing design right now,” Suits said, adding that the city is still targeting construction of this phase to begin in 2026.
The city’s improvements to the Garden Hills neighborhood were recently featured in a study conducted by the Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy at The New School as an example of using ARPA funds to “advance equity,” Champaign officials said.
“This project will have a transformative impact on the Garden Hills neighborhood for generations to come, and it is rewarding to see this project highlighted by the institute,” said Mayor Deb Feinen.
