Preliminary Environmental Site Assessment (PESA) for Roadway Reconstruction Project

City of Harvey, Illinois

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In 2011, GEOCON Professional Services, LLC. (GEOCON) was retained by Robinson Engineering, Ltd., (REL) to conduct Preliminary Environmental Site Assessments (PESA) for a roadway improvement project on 167th Street, from Center Avenue to just east of Lowe Avenue, and for a roadway reconstruction project on Center Avenue, from 159th Street and 171st Street, in Harvey, Illinois. The project areas included numerous parcels along the roadway right of-ways that included commercial, industrial and residential properties.

The assessments included site inspections of the project areas and review of historical and geological information obtained from various local, state and federal sources in order to identify Recognized Environmental Conditions (RECs). The PESAs were conducted in a timely manner in general accordance with the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) and Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS) PESA Manual, dated 1996, that was in effect at the time of the assessment. Several RECs were identified to be associated with the properties along and adjacent to the project areas as documented in the PESA reports.

The RECs in the project areas were subsequently evaluated by GEOCON during the Preliminary Site Investigations (PSIs) that were conducted in accordance with IDOT standards in February and March of 2012 (167th Street) and in April 2014 (Center Avenue). The PSI work included the advancement of soil borings and the collection of soil samples for laboratory analytical testing at locations previously determined to contain RECs. The results of the laboratory analytical testing were compared to regulatory remediation objectives established by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) for the various contaminants of concern as documented in the PSI reports.