Barrington plans new road to Metra lot

A plan to create a new entrance to the Barrington Metra commuter parking lot from Northwest Highway passed another hurdle this week, a step that one village official said may be a precursor to the construction of a parking deck there.

The village board approved a nearly $250,000 plan to draw up design documents for the new road project, which also would add a lighted intersection to Northwest Highway south of Klingenberg Lane. The road itself would be a little less than 300 feet long and run past the Barrington Animal Hospital at 216 S. Northwest Highway.

The road and intersection would cost an estimated $2.3 million, with federal funding paying for about 80 percent of the bill and the village paying the rest, officials said.

Village President Karen Darch said at Monday night's village board meeting that the plan would allow direct access from Northwest Highway to the parking lot.

“The village purchased property adjacent to the animal hospital a few years ago seeking that as an entrance from Route 14 with a light at that entrance,” Darch said, “which is the only safe way to do it.”

Greg Summers, director of development services for Barrington, said because IDOT spends around six to eight months reviewing plans like this, he doesn't expect engineering work to begin until 2017. Construction might happen in 2018.

“That's the way the process works, unfortunately,” Summers said.

The plan to build the new entrance to the commuter lot on the north side of the tracks is one that predates Summers' tenure in the village, which started in 2008. He said the original the plan called for a new entrance along with a parking deck, but as federal and state grant money for big projects began to dry up, officials decided to split the plan into separate pieces.

Even with commitments from Metra, the village and federal agencies, a $9 million to $10 million funding gap remains for the parking deck, Summers said. Some federal grant providers said they weren't comfortable committing money to the parking deck because there weren't enough ways to access the commuter lot, he added.

“So by having this entrance built we'll be in a better position to apply for those funds,” Summers said. “And we'll get the benefit of the new access point sooner.”

The village will split the cost of the engineering work approved Monday night with the Federal Highway Administration's Surface Transportation Program.