All Lake County roads passable, officials say, but some better than others

As Lake County motorists ventured from their neighborhoods Thursday, many for the first time since the blizzard began Tuesday, the conditions of the roads they traversed differed from town to town — and sometimes block to block.

Most roads were deemed passable, but few were completely free of snow or ice. Some major streets had entire lanes blocked by enormous piles of snow left behind by passing plows.

Officials with Lake County’s transportation department and several villages estimated it could be a week or more until roads are back to normal. Road graders, front-end loaders and other specialized machinery will be needed for the task.

“We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us with the heavy equipment,” said Kevin Kerrigan, a Lake County transportation division maintenance engineer.

Some stretches of Route 83 through Long Grove were fully plowed and wide enough for two lanes of cars to travel in either direction. In other sections, however, the road narrowed to one lane of traffic each way because snow had been plowed onto the outermost lanes, and the bottlenecks caused traffic jams.

In Mundelein, much of Route 45 was down to one lane in each direction — and sometimes less than that. In some stretches, cars were forced to drive on the median because of snow mounds blocking the road.

To the southeast, conditions on Route 21 through Lincolnshire were similar to those on the area’s other state routes.

The normally busy road was down to 1½ lanes in most spots and fewer in others because the snow hadn’t been plowed to the curb, Mayor Brett Blomberg said.

“It’s like a goat path,” Blomberg said. “Once in a while you get a glimpse of where the road is. It just sort of wanders.”

Libertyville crews Thursday were concentrating on plowing Milwaukee Avenue to its full width through town.

“We’re trying to push the snow (farther) back so there are two lanes in each direction,” said Public Works Director John Heinz. “We’re trying to get some contractors to help us out.”

In Wauconda, crews were in recovery mode, getting to cul-de-sacs and tending to equipment, according to Public Works Director Dave Geary.

“We’re doing some minor cleanups around intersections,” he said. “It was long and it was a lot, but we fared pretty well.”

Fox Lake Mayor Ed Bender said most if not all of the main roadways have been cleared of snow, and public works trucks have begun cleaning up the side streets through town.

Some roads in central Lake County were particularly hard-hit by the blizzard, with many motorists on Route 60, Route 83, Peterson Road and Alleghany Road needing rescue Tuesday night and Wednesday.

About 200 people who had been taken by firefighters to the Fremont Township headquarters, the Saddlebrook Farms seniors complex office and the nearby Hindu Mandir of Lake County temple were able to leave by Thursday afternoon.

As Lindenhurst’s streets were cleared Thursday, Village Administrator Matt Formica expressed concern about how to haul away and temporarily store the snow. The financial cost of the cleanup effort was a worry, too.

“Thankfully, the state declared the storm an emergency, so we can apply for federal funding to help cover the cost of it,” Formica said. “Aside from the overtime for plow drivers, we also had to call in contractors to help. So, there are added expenses from removing the snow.”

Daily Herald staff writers Lee Filas, Bob Susnjara and Mick Zawislak contributed to this report.