It is best to call the non-emergency number for your local law enforcement agency or local health department. You may also contact the city or county solid waste agency, which usually has an inspector to investigate and cite violations of illegal dumping. Acting quickly stops a small problem from becoming a large, costly, and sometimes hazardous problem.

Bloomington Police Department: Call (309) 820-8888
McLean County Health Department: Call (309) 888-5482 or File a Public Health Complaint online
Bloomington Public Works Department: Call (309) 434-2225

You can file a complaint with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) Field Office for McLean County by visiting https://www2.illinois.gov/epa/pollution-complaint or calling (217) 278-5800.

The City of Bloomington has an "On-Street Parking and Traffic Regulation Amendments" procedure (see below) for requesting parking changes on public streets within the City. This procedure requires that citizens provide certain information to the City. This information can be submitted using the requests/complaints procedure.

Residents desiring a Handicapped Parking Space in front of their residence may also submit their request through the requests/complaints procedure. Additional information required includes either:

• A copy of the Vehicle Registration Card indicating the requesting party lives at the requested address and has been issued a Disabled Veteran or Handicap License Plate, or
• A copy of the Placard and Application submitted to the Secretary of States office indicating that the party lives at the requested address.

On-Street Parking and Traffic Regulation Amendments
The following presents procedures for requesting change of on-street parking within the corporate limits of the City of Bloomington, Illinois.

• At least one of the following conditions should be met before the City considers or initiates a traffic study to determine the merits of a request for a parking change:
  
  
  • A citizen may submit a written letter representing occupants on both sides of the street for which the parking change is requested. The letter should contain signatures (preferably 50%) and addresses of the neighbors or people impacted by a parking or traffic regulation who are interested in supporting the requested change. The letter should be submitted to the Traffic Engineer.
    
    
  • The Director of Public Works, Police or Fire Departments may initiate a parking or traffic regulation change on behalf of the City if they determine that it is in the best interest of the community to implement or modify such regulations.
    
    
• After such letter has been received by the Engineering Division of the Public Works Department, the City’s traffic engineering staff will study the matter and evaluate the merits of a request, taking into consideration the following general factors: public safety, traffic congestion, vehicular and pedestrian access, street maintenance, neighborhood and citywide needs, etc.
  
  
• Notification Process for Parking Change: It shall be the policy of the City of Bloomington to give adequate notice to the occupants of adjacent property when the removal of on-street parking or the modification of time limits is being contemplated. Notification of owners will not be necessary when a limited number (one or two) spaces are being eliminated at intersections because of sight distance concerns or if a new street is being constructed subject to restrictions as approved by the City Council.
  
  Notice is not required if the changes are being made in accordance with an agreement between the City and adjacent property occupants and/or owners. When specific locations are being considered for change, the following procedures will be utilized:
  
  
  • The matter will be discussed at the next City meeting.
  • If it is deemed necessary the City will notify adjacent property occupants, City Manager and City Council that a proposal has been received or that the City is contemplating a change in on-street parking regulations.
  • After allowing two weeks for comment, a recommendation which will be transmitted to the City Manager.
  • The City Manager’s office will notify the City Council of the Engineer’s recommendation, his assessment of that recommendation and the action that will result from the study. Following the City Manager’s notice to proceed, the Engineering Division of the Public Works Department will send a second notice to adjacent property owners informing them of the results of the City’s study, what action will be taken, and when that action will occur. A minimum of seven (7) days notice is necessary before actual changes are made. A copy of this notice will be sent to the City Manager and City Council.

Parking Violations
Parking Violations are managed by the Police Department.

• Appeal a parking ticket
• Pay for a parking ticket

Requests or Complaints
Complaints of speeding problems may be reported to the City by using the Non-Emergency Traffic Request/Complaint Form or reported by phone to the Police Department at 309-820-8888. All speeding complaints received in writing will be discussed by staff at the next regularly recurring meeting.

Questions
Questions concerning Speed Limits should be submitted through the  Non-Emergency Traffic Request/Complaint Form. The Engineering Division of the Public Works Department will only investigate altering a speed limit if it is determined that some type of unusual condition exists for the section of street in question. Conditions that typically exist in residential areas (e.g. large number of children, vehicles parking on-street etc.) do not constitute unusual conditions.

Speed Studies
A speed study takes into account the actual speed being driven by individual vehicles. Using the data collected; the 85th percentile and the 10 MPH pace speed upper limit are calculated. The resulting prevailing speed can be adjusted by taking into account on street parking, high numbers of crashes, pedestrians, and the number of conflicting driveways and side streets.

Requests for speed studies can be made using the  Non-Emergency Traffic Request/Complaint Form.  The City will consider a request to study a particular road segment no more than once per year and only if the conditions which affect the study have changed since the prior speed study. 

State and Federal Speed Limit Regulations
There are several "standard" or statutory speed limits established by law in the State of Illinois, such as 30 MPH in urban areas, 55 MPH in rural areas and 70 MPH on rural Interstates. Any other speed limit posting is considered an altered speed zone.

The City utilizes the Illinois Department of Transportation Policy on Establishing Speed Limits to establish altered speed limits.

In addition, the National Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices defines an altered Speed Zone as a speed limit, other than a statutory speed limit, that is based upon an engineering study.

The Transportation Engineering Section investigates request/complaints concerning Signing or Sight Distance Obstructions.

Throughout Bloomington, residents have become increasingly aware and concerned about the negative impact speeding vehicles have on their quality of life. They view speeding vehicles, cut-through traffic and associated noise and litter as detrimental to their security, property values, and the livability many have worked so hard to achieve.

City staff members from Public Works, Police, and Administration work with residents to find potential answers. At times, the answer has been "traffic calming." This is a traffic engineering technique to reduce speeds and includes such items as installation of speed humps. However, the use of traffic calming devices is used only rarely under a defined set of circumstances. More information on this technique, and how it is used in the City of Bloomington, is listed below.

Submitting Requests and Complaints
Requests for traffic evaluation and traffic related complaints may be initiated by individual citizens, neighborhood associations, City government officials, or other groups. Requests for traffic evaluations or complaints of chronic speeding, cut-through traffic, parking, signage, or other traffic-related problems occurring on Bloomington streets should be submitted in writing to the City of Bloomington Public Works Engineering Division using the request/complaint process. The City Engineer exercises discretion in resolving requests and complaints and forwards unresolved issues.

What is Traffic Calming?
"Traffic calming is the combination of mainly physical measures that reduce the negative effects of motor vehicle use, alter driver behavior and improve conditions for non-motorized street users." (Institute of Transportation Engineers). Traffic calming improvements typically incorporate any combination of the following features:

• Changes in horizontal and/or vertical alignment of the roadway.
• Roadway or lane narrowing.
• Changes of roadway surface texture or color.
• Aesthetic improvements using landscape materials for enhanced streetscapes.

• Improve the quality of life within neighborhoods.
• Increase safety and convenience for pedestrians and bicyclists, as long as such changes do not interfere with the safe operation of intended users of the roadways.
• Create attractive streetscapes.
• Reduce negative effects of automobile travel.
• Reduce the number and severity of automobile collisions.

• Reduction in the speed of motor vehicle traffic on residential areas to below a 15 percent violation rate (VR).
• Reduction in the volume of traffic traveling through residential areas.
• Causing unnecessary cut-through traffic to instead use streets designated as collector or arterial streets.
• Promote other modes of travel (walking, cycling, mass transit).

Traffic Coalming Procedure
City staff members have examined many different calming techniques. They recognize that Bloomington's neighborhoods are all unique and require a variety of traffic calming techniques to address differing traffic conditions. Regardless of the type of traffic calming device sought, a uniform procedure is set for requesting, evaluating, designing, authorizing, and building traffic control devices on Bloomington streets. That procedure is set forth below. 

Traffic Calming Criteria
Traffic calming criteria have been established by the City Administration and may be revised from time to time by City Administration.

• If the street is identified as a "collector" or "arterial" street on the BLOOMINGTON-NORMAL STREET AND HIGHWAY PLAN.
• If the average traffic volume is greater than 2,000 vehicles/day (ADT).
• If the average traffic volume is less than 900 vehicles/day (ADT).
• If the average violation rate (VR) of the statutory or posted speed limit is less than or equal to 25 percent.
• If the 85th Percentile speed for the study segment is less than 5 MPH over the posted or statutory speed limit.
• If building lots in the study area are not built out to at least 90 percent of available lots.
  
  ** Note: Any of the above defined conditions can be waived by a reviewing group of staff members, and waivers will be included in documentation.

Evaluation of Traffic Conditions
Traffic calming requests which pass preliminary review will proceed to the evaluation phase. If not already collected, relevant traffic data is collected during the evaluation phase. When the data reveals that traffic calming criteria have been met, the appropriate type of traffic calming technique is determined by City staff. If the criteria are not met, these locations may be reevaluated upon request one year following the date of the data collection upon which the most recent request or complaint was rejected for traffic calming.

The evaluation phase involves the collection of data including street classification, volume, speed, traffic crash history, and other relevant information. This information gets collected and evaluated by the Engineering Division of Public Works Department. Engineering recommends a specific traffic calming device, and a staff committee reviews the findings.

Diversion Analysis
If significant traffic diversion is anticipated, the staff prepares a diversion analysis. Based upon the diversion analysis, if staff committee determines that the proposed traffic calming improvements are expected to create equal or greater traffic problems on another residential street the traffic calming device(s) will not be installed. In instances in which significant diversion is not an issue, the proposed traffic calming design will be used as the basis for the traffic calming ballot.

Public Meeting
The City will host a public meeting to discuss the proposed traffic calming design for the area under study. Other residents and business owners in areas adjacent to the study area may also be specifically invited. However, voting on the proposal is limited.

Traffic Calming Vote
A super-majority of affected property owners is required for traffic calming installation to proceed.

Ballots only go to property owners whose lots are contiguous to the street segment(s) upon which traffic calming devices are proposed to be installed and property owners whose lots lie on an intersecting street and who would have to pass over the traffic calming devices to access their property. In order to assess support for the installation of the proposed traffic calming improvements, a mailed ballot system is used. 

Passage of a traffic calming initiative requires at least 70% of the returned traffic calming ballots be marked in support of the initiative. To be counted, mailed ballots must be returned within 14 days of the postmarked mailing date.

Device Construction
When a traffic calming initiative passes, the construction phase begins. Engineering staff in the Public Works Department will finalize the design approved by the eligible voters, and add the project to the list of existing traffic calming projects Construction of traffic calming improvements will ordinarily be done in the order they are approved, absent extenuating circumstances.

The number of traffic calming projects installed each year depends on the availability of City resources. Projects will be ranked in the spring of the year, and neighborhood associations will then be informed in writing by the City of their project's ranking and given an opportunity to comment. Based on these comments, a priority ranking list will be presented to the City Manager for final approval.

Device Maintenance and Replacement
Traffic calming devices such as speed humps and traffic circles, like any other part of the road require maintenance and eventual replacement. The City has been installing and maintaining traffic calming devices since 1998. Time has shown that some traffic calming devices are easier and more cost effective to install and maintain. Some types of traffic calming devices remain effective as a traffic calming tool while other types deteriorate, become an eye sore, and in general lose their ability to command respect and be an effective traffic calming device.

The City has determined the hot mix asphalt speed hump to be the most durable, low cost and low maintenance of the traffic calming devices installed since the beginning of the City’s traffic calming program. The humps last as long as the wearing surface of the street they are on and have been easily replaced when the streets are resurfaced. For this reason, the City of Bloomington reserves the right to replace other types of traffic calming devices with a speed hump when that device has completed its useful life or needs to be removed as a part of another project or for utility maintenance.

Changing to a different type of Traffic Calming Device shall require the following:

1. A written recommendation for a change in device type from the City Engineer to a staff committee reviewing the situation. 
2. Written notice to affected residents living within, at most, 350 feet of the calming device in question. Staff will consider written responses from residents prior to making a final decision.
3. A recommended change from the staff committee.

Device Removal Process
Traffic calming improvements may be removed from a street segment through a successful neighborhood petition. To be successful, this process requires approval of at least 90% of property owners of lots whose owners were eligible to vote on the original traffic calming initiative. The removal process may not be started until the improvements have been in place for at least a one year (365 day) period.

The City will not select, recommend, or contact a plumber for you. You have a responsibility to mitigate your damages as soon as possible. For insurance purposes, it is advisable to document any damage and take photographs prior to beginning clean-up but if unable, you should not wait to begin sanitizing your home.

If you have a sewer backup and do not know where the blockage is, you should contact the City before contacting a drain cleaning company. You may be able to avoid an unnecessary charge if the problem is in the City’s sewer line rather than in your property’s service line. A Public Works employee will determine if the problem is in the City’s line or in your property’s service line.

Don’t contaminate the system. Sanitary sewer systems are designed to carry human waste and wastewater to water treatment facilities. Foreign objects and substances intentionally introduced into the sewer have damaging affects. Kitchen grease accumulates and causes blockages and should never be poured down the drain. The same is true for motor oil and other automotive fluids. Do not flush diapers, sanitary napkins, paper towels, shop rags, or anything else the sewer system is not designed to handle. These types of items regularly clog sewers in urban areas, and often cause sewer back-ups not just for the offending party, but also in neighboring homes.

Report illegal connections. Gutters, sump pumps and other storm water management systems should never be routed to a sanitary sewer. If you become aware of such a connection, immediately sever the connection and/or report the connection to the City of Bloomington Public Works Department at 309-434-2225.

Install a back-flow preventer. A back-flow preventer is a one-way valve device designed to prevent sanitary sewer overflows. If you have a back-flow preventer installed on your sewer line, you must be aware that it is designed to close when the sewer is flowing beyond its capacity, as can occasionally occur during a heavy rainfall. If you use your internal drains while the backflow valve is closed, you can create a flooding situation in your own home. Do not use your laundry machine, dishwasher, shower, or bath and minimize the use of sinks and toilets. You must also be aware of your back-flow preventer’s maintenance requirements to ensure that it continues to function properly. As with any privately owned system, it is the property owner’s responsibility to ensure that these components are maintained and functioning properly.

Participate in the Overhead Sewer Grant Program. The Overhead Sewer Grant Program is run through the City’s Economic and Community Development Department. With overhead, a residential sewer service leaves the home just below ground level. Water from basement bathrooms and utilities must be pumped up to ground level. Click here to learn more about the Overhead Sewer Grant Program.

Due to the nature of a sewer system, it is not always reasonable or in the community’s best interest for the City to reimburse property owners in the event they experience damage from a sewer back-up. Every incident must be reviewed on a case-by-case basis in order to determine if the City has any liability for the damage and responsibility to reimburse. Citizens are highly encouraged to maintain an insurance policy that covers instances of sanitary sewer overflow or back-up.

If you do decide to request reimbursement from the City for damages incurred, contact the Public Works Department during normal working hours at 309-434-2225, and ask for the City of Bloomington’s Third Party Administrator (TPA) contact information. All requests for reimbursement will be filed with the City’s TPA insurance carrier. The City considers all determinations made by the insurance carrier to be final.

Two common techniques are use of a water jet and “rodding.” Rodding involves sending a cleaning tool through the line with a long metal rod. Additional information is included below.

Rodding: Sewer Lateral Maintenance

Used to Clear Obstructions in Sewer Laterals and Pipes

A sewer lateral is the pipe that connects a building's plumbing to the sanitary sewer.

Normal maintenance of sewer laterals includes the removal of dirt, leaves, diapers, or tree roots. Debris and discarded materials are generally removed by jetting water through the pipes, or by rodding, which uses a motor to insert a steel rod through the lateral and rotating a cleaning device attached to the end of the rod,

This storm water manhole could be a major problem for the cleanliness and transfer of water, and could result in flooding if not properly maintained.

Currently, the City of Bloomington Public Works Department maintains the storm water sewers by means of a calculated household fee; see our page on Storm Water Rates for additional information about how the fee is calculated.  Without these fees, work on the storm water sewer systems would be unfunded and might not be completed before problems arise.

The City of Bloomington also regulates construction projects in terms of how they control storm water runoff and erosion.  Several ordinances have been passed to that end, and the Bloomington Manual of Practice describes in detail how erosion needs to be managed by the builder.  The City sends out inspectors to all sites in town to ensure that erosion is being properly managed over the course of the construction. Violations will be issued only after a warning and a second inspection fails to meet the requirements. 

Additionally, the City provides a Street Sweeping service to disrupt, minimize, and eliminate the infiltration of pollutants into storm water runoff. Storm water runoff frequently has high levels of sediment, litter, phosphorus, nitrogen, heavy metals, oil, grease, and other materials, all dangerous to public health if left unchecked in the water supply. A study on how effective street sweeping is for the removal of these pollutants found that they indeed contributed a great deal to cleaner runoff. Details on this study can be found here in PDF format.

If you notice signs of storm water pollution in the form of illicit discharges, poor erosion control practices, or other pollution, please contact the Public Works Department immediately at 309-434-2225. If the Public Works Department is closed, please call the Bloomington Police Department's non-emergency number at 309-820-8888.

1. Sediment from soil erosion

2. Construction materials and waste, such as paint, solvents, concrete, and drywall

3. Spilled oil, fuel, and other fluid from equipment and vehicles

4. Discharge from sewer pipe dewatering or bypass pumping

5. Discharge of heavily chlorinated water from water main flushing

1. Mud tracking onto the street or the City right-of-way

2. Damaged or missing silt fence

3. Clogged or missing storm sewer inlet filters

4. Concrete truck washing out into storm sewers

5. Oil or fuel spills

6. Trash or debris leaving a site  

1. Paint, solvents, and detergents

2. Automotive fluids

3. Chlorinated pool water

4. Excess yard waste

5. Fertilizers and pesticides

6. Debris, such as plastic bags, six-pack rings, and bottles

7. Pet waste

1. Paint, oil, or chemicals dumping into a storm sewer

2. Sump pump discharging water that is sudsy, discolored, or odorous

3. Discoloration around storm sewer inlet

4. Grease in a storm sewer

Public Works uses a complicated set of criteria and ratings to decide which street should be resurfaced. Every street is inspected at least once every three years. Some streets will be resurfaced, some receive permanent patches to hold them over, and some will be delayed.. The Department is meticulous in logging street conditions. Click here to see an interactive map with current street conditions.

Arterial and secondary streets, which are used more frequently, have a higher priority in the City of Bloomington. These main streets are more expensive to maintain and quickly exhaust the budget in typical years. As a result, resurfacing is delayed for residential/local streets. However, patching is still performed on residential/local streets. Additional funding is needed in order to keep up with City streets.

During resurfacing in recent years, City has preferred asphalt pavement over concrete pavement. Asphalt overlays, while shorter-lived, tend to be more predictable in terms of durability. They are also less expensive up-front. Public Works has found that concrete pavement has less predictable durability – and this holds true regardless of the contractor. Concrete pavement costs more up-front. In addition, if concrete pavement breaks down, it is more expensive to repair and maintain.

A year after a street is resurfaced, city contractors apply a sealant called Reclamite. This is also done immediately after a street is resurfaced. Using this technique the pavement should last 50 percent longer than those that are not treated with Reclamite. It is similar to putting a water seal on a wooden deck. More information on this process can be found in the Pavement Preservation section.