Lake County to assist state with snowplowing
Lake County crews will plow and salt 107 miles of state roads to assist the Illinois Department of Transporation this winter.
The agency needs help with snow control as it awaits delivery of new equipment, and has been shopping the idea of paying other entities to pick up some of the workload. That pitch also was made in other geographic areas, but the locations and status are unclear.
In Lake, officials want to ensure snow removal on county roads would not be affected and recommended taking half the mileage requested.
"We picked up the roads that would have the most impact if they weren't plowed," said Bonnie Thomson Carter, chairwoman of the county board's public works and transportation committee, that on Wednesday recommended approval of an agreement through April 30. The finance committee also recommended approval, and full county board will vote on the agreement Tuesday at its regular meeting.
Under the agreement, Lake County plows will cover: Route 45 from Route 60 to the Wisconsin state line; Route 21 from Adler Drive in Libertyville north to Route 41; and Route 134 from Route 12 to Route 120. The state will pay the county $268,463 or $2,509 per lane mile. Half that amount would be paid up front, with the remainder split at the end of January and April.
Kevin Kerrigan, the county's engineer of maintenance, calculated a 10-year average cost for salt, fuel, labor hours, maintenance and other factors to determine the total. Lake County has 26 routes and 28 plow trucks to cover 844 lane miles.
The committees on Wednesday also recommended emergency appropriations totaling $315,310 from the county highway tax and motor fuel tax funds to cover related costs and include a 17 percent contingency.
"Route 45 is the backbone of the county; we have seven routes that intersect with Route 45. It made sense for us," Kerrigan said. "Our plan is to provide the same level of service on our existing roads."
The county purchased trucks from Lake Villa Township and Buffalo Grove that would have been traded in or auctioned and will equip one of its own old trucks and hire additional paid-on-call plow drivers.
IDOT has said it was looking for help because new equipment purchases had been frozen for two years. Although authorized this summer as part of the stopgap budget, it takes as long as a year for the equipment to be assembled and delivered.
Kerrigan said the snow forecast is for "a little heavier than normal" this winter.