Construction to challenge Gurnee's revitalization plan
Gurnee's plan to boost a long-struggling business corridor on the east side will face the additional challenge of a significant construction project at Route 41 and Grand Avenue.
About $100,000 has been set aside in Gurnee's 2017-18 budget to improve sidewalks, install new landscaping, upgrade barren parkways and more in the East Grand Avenue corridor. The section of thoroughfare runs from Route 41 on the west to Gurnee's border with Waukegan at Green Bay Road on the east.
The village also has a $10,000 marketing budget that might pay for small outdoor special events in the summer or fall on East Grand. The gatherings could include food trucks and music to draw people who would not ordinarily visit the corridor.
But one of the challenges will be navigating what's expected to be a two-year intersection improvement project led by the Illinois Department of Transportation at Grand and Route 41. Full-fledged construction work on the Route 41 bridge was set to start Monday, village officials said.
Gurnee Economic Development Director Ellen Dean said the long-term gain will be worth the commuting nuisance. Drivers will benefit from synchronized signals in both directions of Grand and Route 41, unlike the current staggered setup in which traffic lights are red for one side of the street and green on the other, causing backups.
"In the future, when this is done, it will be a regular-functioning signal and it'll be night-and-day difference," Dean said.
East Grand Avenue has been a sore spot in Gurnee for about 20 years, with its mix of empty storefronts, thrift shops, nonstandard sign heights and overhead power lines - a contrast to the busy thoroughfare's more thriving section west of the Tri-State Tollway. A team of consultants last year recommended Gurnee embrace East Grand's thrift stores.
Dean reviewed the highlights of Gurnee's plans for East Grand Avenue this year at a recent meeting of the advisory economic development committee. She said the village intends to make it known the area is open for business during the Route 41-Grand construction and won't be heavy handed trying to get private property owners to make improvements.
"They're going to be struggling for every customer they can get through their door," she said. "So, our approach to code enforcement this year and the next couple years will be, 'You just work with us here. We're all partners in this. Everybody's invested.'"
Trustee Karen Thorstenson, who chairs the economic development committee, said an idea of having Gurnee Boy Scouts volunteer to tidy the East Grand corridor surfaced at an April 10 "meet-and-greet" for residents and business owners.
As for the construction, it'll include Grand Avenue widening and new turn lanes along with the traffic signal improvements. Work is to be finished in summer 2019, according to IDOT.
IDOT said westbound Grand, between Ferndale Street and Estes Street, was reduced to one lane Monday to accommodate pavement work. Westbound Grand in that area will be one lane for an unspecified period of time during daytime hours Monday through Friday.