Round Lake officials mark completion of key road/sewer project
Round Lake officials marked the completion of a $4.7 million road and drainage project they say provides many benefits.
Mayor Dan MacGillis, village board trustees, construction team members and others gathered Monday at Sunset Drive and Hart Road, at the entrance to the Round Lake Business Park, to discuss what was described as the village's largest project of this type.
It included resurfacing Sunset Drive from Hart Road to Long Lake Drive, and rebuilding and widening Hart Road from Route 134 to Cedar Lake Road. The project is intended to relieve congestion along Hart Road and at the Cedar Lake Road intersection. New sidewalks will improve safety for students and others at John T. Magee Middle School, at Hart and Cedar Lake roads and at nearby Round Lake High School, MacGillis said.
Improved drainage was a key aspect of the project. A new storm sewer was installed on Hart Road and Sunset Drive to address flooding issues in the corridor, which is lined with industrial businesses and transportation facilities for Round Lake Area Unit District 116. The work involved nearly a mile of 4-foot diameter pipes buried at about 30 feet.
"It's not just asphalt and concrete. They had some big boy toys out here," MacGillis said.
Addressing the drainage issue will be a catalyst for economic development, provide future cost savings and show developers, investors and retailers the village is business friendly, he said as the next phase of a comprehensive plan overhaul gets underway.
"This will provide assurance for everybody coming to look at Round Lake ... that we are working for the future," MacGillis said before the ceremonial ribbon cutting.
MacGillis said the road work will improve access to the "much needed and underused" industrial park, which is marked by a worn plywood sign. About 11 lots on 17 vacant acres fronting Sunset Drive are available in the 65-acre park.
"It was in really bad shape," the park's co-owner, Scott Valentin, said of Sunset Drive. "This is vital."
A study for the area began in 2009.
"We had a problem. It was drainage," village engineer Kurt Baumann said.
The work came to involve several agencies, including the county and state departments of transportation, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Illinois Department of Natural Resources. Seventy percent of the cost is funded by the Federal Surface Transportation Program. Round Lake is paying the balance.