as reported in the Coal City Courant 

The village of Diamond and developers for Meadow Estates/Berta Crossings have reached an agreement regarding Berta Road.

 The Diamond Village Board voted unanimously to accept an engineered site plan and development agreement which outline the future of the Berta Road/Division Street intersection. Mark Scaggs and Doug Bean, will commit $2.1 million to execute improvements to Berta Road and traffic signals at two Division Street intersections as well as curb and gutter and drainage upgrades on both roadways.


At this stage, the development requires a permanent Berta Road entry point, and roadway improvements are needed in order to accommodate the additional traffic expected at Berta Estates/Meadow Crossings. Since Berta Road will be widened to make turn lanes, input from neighboring property owners was part of the negotiation process.


Berta Road work will begin as soon as weather permits.

Diamond's portion of Berta Road begins just south of Ace Hardware. The section north of Ace's private drive is considered part of the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) intersection. Developers will spend $600,000 on Berta Road and will take down the existing road and start from scratch to rebuild it.

When it is finished, the entire stretch of roadway will have a middle turn lane, with an additional turn lane into the Meadow Estates Subdivision. For now, Meadow Estates will have only one entry point from Berta, but the development agreement calls for an additional dedicated roadway as the subdivision grows.

In addition to the new entry, Diamond's section of Berta will have two curb cuts at the dance center, two curb cuts at the day care center and one curb cut at the private drive behind Ace. Ridged safety concrete and caution signs will be installed at the Ace drive and the developers will install curb and gutter along both sides of Berta Road, along with enclosed storm-water drainage in places where the development meets the Diamond roadway. By tackling the improvements in stages, Berta will remain open as two-lane thoroughfare through out construction.

Improvements to Berta Road must be substantially complete by Oct. 1 of this year.

The Division street portion of the project, estimated to cost $1.5 million, will be funded and executed by Bean and Scaggs at a undetermined future date. There is no immediate time frame for the Division Street section of the project. Those improvements will begin whenever IDOT traffic studies indicate a need for stop lights. To ensure both roadway projects are completed, the Meadow Estates/Berta Crossings developers must post a letter of credit from their lender.Without that insurance, the Berta Road agreement can not be executed. After making such a substantial investment, the developers will be entitled to recapture a portion of their expenses from neighboring property owners.

For a FULL article read Jamie Mack's story in the Coal City Courant