Road construction season still going strong in Lake County
If you thought road construction season and summer ended about the same time, you'll have a different opinion if you drive in southern Lake County.
Crews will be at work on both sides of Arlington Heights Road from Lake-Cook Road to Route 83 in Buffalo Grove starting Wednesday. And, work is set to begin Thursday on an eight-month resurfacing project on Rand Road from Lake-Cook Road in the Kildeer area to Ela Road in Lake Zurich.
Glenn Petko, an engineer for the Lake County Division of Transportation, said the Arlington Heights Road project could be finished by mid-November if the weather cooperates. Work on the busy north-south thoroughfare mostly will entail fixing pavement cracks that receive periodic, temporary patches.
Other improvements will include concrete curb and gutter removal and replacement, pavement marker installation and drainage upgrades. Drivers will have to endure a reduction from two lanes to one in each direction.
Drivers experienced mammoth delays when similar concrete patching and other work was done on the same stretch of Arlington Heights Road in fall 2009. Petko said crews are returning because not all of the necessary work was done five years ago.
If that job finishes on or before schedule, he said, crews will move to Buffalo Grove Road for patching from Deerfield Parkway to Route 22. He said the target for completion is Nov. 26, but the work would be delayed to May if deemed impossible to finish this year.
Petko said the work on Arlington Heights and Buffalo Grove roads will cost $873,628. Most of the expense will be for Arlington Heights Road, he said.
An average of 19,400 vehicles per day use Arlington Heights Road north of Lake-Cook, according to an Illinois Department of Transportation traffic count.
Meanwhile, the Rand Road project is scheduled to last until mid-June. IDOT officials said traffic will be reduced to one lane in each direction on Rand, with flaggers at various locations in the work zone.
Pavement patching, millwork, resurfacing and lane marking will be part of the work to be done, according to IDOT. Agency spokesman Guy Tridgell said the work will cost $5.6 million.
Lake Zurich Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Dale Perrin said he first heard about the project Tuesday when a member called him after seeing an online notice. Perrin said he has not yet met with chamber members on how best to handle the situation.
Perrin said it may behoove businesses to offer low-cost incentives to keep customers during the next eight months. He said he expects businesses along the Rand Road corridor will manage similar to those that had to navigate the area's Route 22 bypass construction.
“It always cracks me up to see those signs ‘We're still open.' I wouldn't expect a business to close up during road construction,” he said.
According to IDOT, an average of 47,300 vehicles per day use Rand just north of Lake-Cook Road.
Drivers will need to prepare for another project scheduled to begin Monday, Oct. 6, on the Vernon Hills-Mundelein border. Butterfield Road will be closed for six days at the Canadian National Railway crossing, just north of Route 60, to accommodate track repairs.