Barrington OK's work on Lake Zurich Road, Raymond Ave., others

Barrington trustees approved funds Monday evening for the annual road and utility program that will improve 1.25 miles of the village's more distressed roads.

Among the streets involved in this year's project, approved at a special meeting, are Lake Zurich Road, Old Northwest Highway, Raymond Avenue and eight others.

Jeff Ende, the village engineer, said the work is scheduled to wrap up in mid-October. He said that had the board waited until the next regular meeting July 21 the project wouldn't have gotten done before the weather turns.

"You don't want leaves falling right in front of the asphalt as it's coming down because they can't keep it clean," Ende said.

Chicagoland Paving Contractors' bid to do the roadwork was $2,499,900, the lowest among the five companies who made pitches to the village. The winning bid is around $20,000 higher than the village had budgeted for the road project and $160,000 higher than the amount the village engineer's office estimated before the bids came back.

Ende said that in recent years local, county and state governments have decreased the amount they spend on road improvement projects, which has led to several contractors going out of business. This year, those same governmental bodies are stepping up their road improvement projects to make up for the period of neglect.

"They all realized roads are something that you can't ignore them forever, they get worse every year whether you worry about them or not, and they finally had started to ramp up plans," Ende said. "So demand for roadwork is going up and the supply of contractors is going down."

Another factor affecting the cost of the project was the brutal winter. Ende said the weather delayed the village's ability to put the project out to bid.

"Usually we don't have a foot of snow on the ground all winter long and our surveyors can get out there and do the work," Ende said. "They can't survey what they can't see."

Because the bid went out later, contractors were busier and the bids came in higher.

The road improvement work is scheduled to begin soon.