(Mt. Vernon, IL)– The Downtown Mt. Vernon Development Corporation Board of Directors hosted a Downtown Low Down Public Forum Thursday night to discuss the Broadway and Main Street Water Main Replacement Project. The water mains that currently run along Broadway and Main Streets are cast iron and have an extensive history of breaks and leaks. The City has recognized the need to replace the mains and will be doing so in 2 phases. Phase 1 will be to replace all mains on Broadway from the Appellate Courthouse to 4th Street and from 6th to 2nd Street on Main Street. An 8-inch PVC pipe will be installed on Main Street and a 14-inch PVC pipe will be installed on Broadway. Phase 1 has been awarded to J.K. Trotter & Sons Construction and is said to cost $1.7 million. Funding for this project comes from the 2012 Municipal Bonds. The project is scheduled to begin the week of October 26; work will be done during the hours of 7am-4pm. Beginning next week, you can expect one lane of thru traffic to be closed between 2nd and 3rd Street and the parking lane closed to be closed 24 hours. Water service will only be shut off for short durations while retiring the old main. All work is said to be done one block at a time. Construction of Phase 1 is projected to be complete by July 2016. Phase 2 will replace all mains from 6th Street to the Appellate Courthouse. This phase has yet to be awarded to a contractor, but is expected to cost $1.3 million. The Phase 2 completion date is anticipated to be the early months of 2017. Updates on this project can be found on the Mt. Vernon Plans to Action Facebook page or by calling the City Engineer.