Joliet Begins Preston Heights Water-Main Replacement

Joliet began the first phase of a long-awaited water-main replacement in the Preston Heights area in July, moving forward on a neighborhood infrastructure project connected to the city’s broader water-system investment plans.

The work is significant for Preston Heights residents because it addresses water infrastructure in their neighborhood. It also comes as Joliet prepares for a larger transition involving Lake Michigan water, a multiyear undertaking reflected in the city’s 2026 budget plans.

Available project information does not identify the construction cost for the Preston Heights phase, the streets included in the work or a completion date. Residents should not assume the project by itself completes the city’s Lake Michigan water transition.

A neighborhood project within a larger water plan

The Preston Heights work is described as a replacement effort, not a routine maintenance notice. Replacing aging water mains is one part of the city’s larger effort to maintain and improve the system that delivers water to residents and businesses.

In its 2026 budget materials, the City of Joliet identified $78 million to replace 18 miles of water main as part of the Lake Michigan Water Project. That figure provides the broader financial context for the Preston Heights work, although the available information does not assign a specific share of that funding to this project phase.

The distinction matters. The city’s wider water program covers several categories of work, while the first Preston Heights phase is a local construction effort within that larger infrastructure picture. The information available for this report does not set out a street-by-street construction map or establish how long work in the neighborhood will last.

Budget also identifies system-upgrade costs

Joliet’s 2026 budget materials also list $27.9 million for improvements needed to accept and deliver Lake Michigan water. Those improvements are separate from the $78 million identified for replacing 18 miles of water main, showing that the city’s water plans involve both distribution-pipe replacement and changes to the system that will receive and move the new supply.

The budget further lists $38 million for Joliet’s share of costs associated with the Grand Prairie Water Commission. Together, the three figures show the scale of the city’s planned water infrastructure spending: $78 million for water-main replacement, $27.9 million for Lake Michigan water-system improvements and $38 million for the commission costs.

Those amounts should not be read as the cost of the Preston Heights project alone. The available information does not provide a project-specific contract amount, nor does it state a separate deadline for finishing the first phase.

What residents know now

For Preston Heights, the confirmed development is that the first replacement phase began in July 2026. The project advances a water-main replacement effort that had been awaited in the neighborhood while placing it within Joliet’s broader water-infrastructure planning.

Residents still lack several practical details in the information available for this report, including exact work limits, a construction timetable and a completion date. No claim can be made from the available material about uninterrupted service, particular traffic effects or the timing of later phases.

The next known step is continued work on the first phase and the city’s wider program of water-main replacement and Lake Michigan water-system improvements. Further city construction notices or project documents would be needed to establish the specific schedule, location limits and costs for the Preston Heights work.