Blohm Avenue Open to Traffic

The City of Effingham has announced the opening of the Blohm Avenue extension. The strip from Veterans Drive into Woodland Heights Subdivision opened to traffic on Tuesday.

The Blohm Avenue extension serves three functions for the City of Effingham. It provides a second access to the residents of Woodland Heights Subdivision. The road helps with emergency access and traffic flow. Also, a water main was installed by the City to provide a loop to the subdivision residents. This loop allows better fire protection, water quality, and flow.

The creation of Blohm Avenue has a long history that started with the purchase of the Coleman and VFW properties in 2005 for Right of Way. Many years passed with higher priority projects using the funding for Blohm Avenue before Phase One began in 2010 with road upgrades from Hoffman Drive and Fourth Street to Veterans Drive. Phase Two began in 2012 to install a culvert and fill in the dip with necessary earthwork. Phase Three began in late 2014 and was completed Tuesday with the final pavement installed and roadway completed. The total project cost for all phases is $1,118,000.

This project was completed with the support of the past four City Councils and four mayors. “This road extension is a real work of art,” stated Effingham Mayor Jeff Bloemker. “The City Team, led by Jeremy Heuerman, Greg Koester, and Steve Miller, is to be commended for their patience and diligence at bringing this project to life. Special thanks is extended to the Coleman Family and the Theodore Hoffman Post 1769 VFW for their cooperation in this project.”

Along with this project, a stop sign was added at the intersection of Veterans Drive and Blohm Avenue. The City plans to allow the new traffic patterns to be established and monitor the daily traffic counts before addressing stop sign issues within the subdivision.