Milwaukee Avenue widening to take out trees

Some major questions regarding the widening of Milwaukee Avenue in the Libertyville area are all but settled, clearing the way for a project that has been on the books for 17 years.

But while the work north of Route 137 ultimately will improve the flow of traffic, it also will change the landscape along Milwaukee on its border with the Independence Grove Forest Preserve to the east.

Under terms of a pending agreement between the Lake County Forest Preserve District and the Illinois Department of Transportation, the road agency would pay an impact fee of more than $1.1 million to take out 756 trees more than 2 inches in diameter.

Altogether, 2,134 trees will be removed. The others are smaller and less desirable and the district does not require compensation for them under its tree replacement rules.

“Once it's done, people will get used to a new look along this Route 21 corridor. It will be dramatic at first,” said Tom Hahn, executive director of the forest preserve district.

“To the east of where the trees will be taken down, there are some very nice stands of woods that will be the new tree line,” he said.

While some sizable trees up to 30-inches in diameter will be taken out, a signature stand of 11 sugar maple trees in front of the district headquarters will be spared.

“IDOT did a decent job of avoiding impacts wherever they could,” Hahn said.

The tree reimbursement will be put in the district's tree replacement fund for future plantings.

Under terms of the agreement, IDOT will also pay the fair market value of $941,000 for a little over 2 acres of permanent easement and nearly 18 acres of temporary easements.

A portion of that money will be used to build trail connections.

Two forest preserve board committees have unanimously recommended approval of the agreements and a third will consider it Thursday. The full forest board will vote Tuesday.

The work, to be managed by IDOT but paid for by Lake County, involves widening about two miles of Milwaukee north — the last major two-lane stretch in Lake County — to connect with the existing four-lane road in the Gurnee area. The intersection at Route 137, which is used by about 28,000 vehicles a day, also will be widened.

Besides tree protection, the district and IDOT also worked to maintain access to the Independence Grove dog area and the designs of a pedestrian tunnel, trail connections and pedestrian-friendly crossing at Route 137 and Milwaukee Avenue.

The detention areas will be built to look like natural wetlands that blend in with the landscape, rather than a basic “hole in the ground” design.

The tunnel will connect the Casey Trail & Greenway and Libertyville Township trail system west of Milwaukee to the trails at Independence Grove and to the Des Plaines River Trail.

IDOT also will build a trail along Route 137 east to within 500 feet of the Des Plaines River bridge.

“Long term, the trail connection and the sidewalk will be a benefit to the district and really improve public access to Independence Grove,” Hahn said.

Work to be put out for bid by IDOT on June 17 includes tree removal, installing temporary pavement and relocating utilities with a completion date on the contract of Oct. 31.

The main construction contract is scheduled to be bid on Sept. 23, 2011 with the expected completion in fall 2012.