Favorable weather a factor in early finish for Peterson Road widening
Mild weather has provided a winter bonus for thousands of motorists who use Peterson Road in central Lake County, as the second section of a multiyear project has wrapped up well ahead of schedule.
All lanes are open and the construction speed limit lifted as the widening and reconstruction of Peterson Road, from just west of Route 83 to west of Alleghany Road, is in the books. Remaining landscaping work is planned for the spring.
"They had all the way until June 30 to open up all the lanes so they're that far ahead," said Glenn Petko, engineer of construction for the Lake County division of transportation.
Besides that 1.6-mile stretch through Grayslake and Round Lake Park, a half-mile of Alleghany Road north of Peterson was rebuilt and widened and nearly two more miles resurfaced.
County officials were so pleased with the progress, they nominated the joint venture of Lake County Grading Co., LLC and Alliance Contractors Inc., for "Contractor of the Year" through the Illinois Road and Transportation Builders Association for cooperation and coordination in completing the work.
The companies worked around utility conflicts and other delays, completing work not always in the same order as planned, according to Brooke Hooker, spokeswoman for the division of transportation. People noticed, she added, with positive comments about the continued progress as crews worked long hours, most Saturdays and on some Sundays.
"This provided the 20,000 daily drivers in the area a new, smooth road with added capacity eight months sooner for the winter commute," Hooker said.
At an estimated cost of $15 million, this segment of Peterson Road was among the most expensive county projects in 2015.
The first part, from west of Route 45 to west of Route 83, took much longer. While the new lanes were completed and opened for winter 2014-15, the raised concrete medians were not and lanes closed this past spring to build and landscape them.
Petko said warmer and drier weather helps contractors get more done late in the year despite less daylight. Road work, in general, was much busier than in a normal year when crews work until about Thanksgiving, he added.
"The last two years were very short," Petko said of the cold, snowy conditions. "Everything turned on us in November."
The respite also allowed for landscaping to be done until almost Christmas on the River/Roberts Road multilane roundabout project in Lake Barrington, and for substantial progress on the Washington Street underpass of the Canadian National tracks in Grayslake.
"We got to the critical points," of the $21 million project. It is scheduled to be complete by the end of the year.