Bowes Road extension opens in South Elgin

The long-awaited extension of Bowes Road in South Elgin is open, and residents and business owners say it makes life a lot easier.

Bowes Road is now connected from McLean Boulevard to Route 31 thanks to a $4.1 million state-funded project that built a 4,400-foot stretch of road from where Bowes Road used to end just west of Route 31.

The extension opened Dec. 21; village officials had hoped to open the road around Thanksgiving, but bad weather caused the slight delay, South Elgin Deputy Village Administrator Megan Golden said.

The extension eased traffic along Sundown Road, the route that cars and semitrailer trucks used to take to and from Route 31.

"People started using (the extension) right away," Golden said, adding the village has received positive comments. "It's pretty awesome to see."

Nearby businesses said the extension was a welcome addition.

"For our employees it's a big deal," said Michael Wypasek, marketing communications manager for Thomas Research Products on Bowes Road. "We have a number of employees that come from that direction, and this saves a lot of time for them so that they can get to work much more directly. It also helps us because one of our suppliers is around the corner (and now uses the extension)."

Traffic - mostly from cars but also trucks - that used to drive through Sundown Road was a nuisance, said resident Charles Reineck, who lives on Roxbury Court.

"The police were really taking on people that were speeding down there," he said. "The speed limit is 25 mph and they would stop people often."

Also, the intersection of Sundown Road and Route 31 was not designed to handle truck traffic, which caused damage to curbs, light poles and private property over the years.

The extension opened up for development about 60 acres along Bowes Road, including the village's new public works facility being built at 1000 Bowes Road.

The contractor is working on the foundation of the 50,000-square-foot building, which village officials hope will be done by the fall of 2016, Golden said. The $7.25 million project is being funded half by savings and half by a bond issue, Golden said. Some local businesses shared with the village the cost of preliminary engineering, she said.

The current public works facility is "in pretty rough shape" due to cement floor problems, Golden said. Once the new facility is built, "the plan is to have someone look at the (old) building and determine structurally what the life use is," she said.