Public sesson on Gilmer/Midlothian road improvement
A proposal to address a traffic choke point in the Hawthorn Woods area is scheduled for a public meeting Nov. 4.
Lake County transportation officials will host the informational session from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Hawthorn Woods Aquatic Center, 94 Midlothian Road. The session is the next step in a lengthy process to identify and proceed with the preferred method to deal with congestion at Gilmer and Midlothian roads.
"This is the end of our preliminary engineering phase," said Darrell Kuntz, project manager for the Lake County Division of Transporation. Next would be detailed drawings and land acquisition with construction planned in 2017, he added.
What would have been the county's first multilane roundabout was among the options analyzed. But the preferred alternative is to add lanes and widen the intersection about a third of a mile in every direction, according to Kuntz.
A railroad crossing on Gilmer southeast of the intersection contributed to that decision, as the number of trains per day has about doubled the past few years from about eight to the midteens.
"It's kind of what has delayed this project. We spent a lot of time with the ICC (Illinois Commerce Commission) modeling the train (traffic)," Kuntz said. "The roundabout got back to normal operating sequence in a longer time than the traffic signal did. Nobody expected that outcome."
That and other information will be included in the project report, which will be available at the open house.
Three of the corners, one of which features a new housing development, are in Hawthorn Woods; the fourth is the site of Gilmer Road House in unincorporated Lake County. Hawthorn Woods has plans to establish a development corridor along Midlothian between Gilmer and Old McHenry Road.
"This is one of the bookends, if you will, of our Midlothian Road corridor," said Pam Newton, chief operating officer for Hawthorn Woods.
The last work of substance was done in 1994, when some travel and turn lanes were added and the intersection was resurfaced.
Since then, traffic has increased, and the 35 crashes reported between 2008 and 2010 shows the intersection is operating over capacity, according to the division of transportation.
Newton said she wants to see whether - or how - traffic on Midlothian will be kept moving when trains are crossing on Gilmer, but said the village supports the project, as there are significant back ups in the morning and evenings.
"This intersection, I think, will be beneficial not only to our residents but for the entire region for traffic movement," she said.