County plans to improve intersection near DuPage Airport
Construction is slated to begin in August on a nearly $1.8 million project to improve the intersection of Powis Road and North Avenue near DuPage Airport in West Chicago.
The Illinois Department of Transportation did some work at the intersection several years ago when it reconstructed North Avenue between Kautz Road and Route 59 and widened the road from four to six lanes. But the intersection upgrades couldn't be completed until now because the airport needed to get permission from the federal government to use airport land along Powis.
"The substantial delay was due to the DuPage Airport Authority acquiring federal approval," said Don Puchalski, chairman of the DuPage County Board's transportation committee. "That took a lot more time."
On Tuesday, the county board's transportation committee is expected to review a proposal to hire Martam Construction, Inc. to do the intersection improvement project.
The full county board will vote on the contract next week. If the deal is approved, the Elgin-based company will be paid $1.79 million to widen Powis north and south of the intersection. In addition, traffic signals will be installed and drainage improvements will be made.
"This is long overdue," Puchalski said. "We're glad that we're finally going to be able to update the intersection, modernize it and widen it."
DuPage will be the lead agency overseeing the construction. IDOT is going to reimburse the county roughly $700,000 for the project. The final price tag is roughly $300,000 below estimates.
Work is expected to begin in August and be completed in spring 2018.
The intersection improvement project is part of DuPage's roughly $21.3 million highway construction program for 2017.
Other major projects in the program include improving the intersection of 75th Street and Book Road in Naperville, which is slated to be completed by the end of August. Upgrades to the intersection of County Farm and Schick roads in Hanover Park are expected to be finished by early September.
Meanwhile, work is scheduled to begin next week on a planned resurfacing of County Farm between Schick and Lake Street. It will start with repairs to the bridge carrying County Farm over the West Branch of the DuPage River. The resurfacing project is expected to be completed by mid-November.