Basement Backups and Baseball: Design-Build Completes the Double Play

During a 25-year storm event in 2013, the western portion of the Village of Wilmette, Illinois (Village), experienced extensive basement backups. The primary cause was reverse flow from the downstream interceptor. The recommended plan included a 20.8 million liter (5.5 million gallon) underground storage tank. West Park, a baseball field owned by the Wilmette Park District, was the best location for the facility. The Village agreed to pay a majority of the costs for a new artificial turf field, and the Park District required they only lose one season of use. The project started in October 2014, with all work needing to be completed by the end of 2015. The Village elected to use a design-build procurement process. RJN Group (Engineer) and Boller Construction (Contractor) formed a joint venture to provide design-build services. Excavation started in October 2014. Project completion was in November 2015, ahead of schedule and under budget.