Rt. 31 + repairs = delays
It may be a frustrating drive this fall if you're headed along Route 31 through Elgin and South Elgin.
Illinois Department of Transportation officials say to expect daily lane closures from now until Nov. 16 for patching and resurfacing work through Elgin.
And portions of Route 31 through South Elgin also will be closed this fall as workers prepare for an extension of Stearns Road between Route 25 and McLean Boulevard.
The South Elgin construction is expected to run from Hancock Avenue at the village's southern end to just south of the former Illinois Central Railroad tracks.
Drivers can take McLean or Randall Road to get north or south through town.
Previous reports had the lane closures expected until December in South Elgin.
In Elgin, the repair work will stretch about 3½ miles from north of the Northwest Tollway to south of Route 20 -- essentially the length of the city.
Transportation officials say the project also will mean delays on Route 31 north of Big Timber Road while they make repairs to the bridge over Tyler Creek.
"It's a project that is needed," IDOT spokesman Mike Claffey said. "We're glad to get it under way. The goal is to have it wrapped up before snow and ice season."
Officials ask that drivers look for alternate routes where possible and watch out for construction crews and equipment.
"With the kind of traffic you have on 31, anything they do is going to be disruptive," Elgin public works director John Loete said. "It's definitely needed after last winter, spring, the pothole problems we had out there.
"But the job is going to seem a lot longer for the drivers than it does it for the workers," Loete said.
The $3.9 million project is being handled by Hoffman Estates-based Plote Construction.
Company representatives said they still are working with IDOT on a construction timeline.
Right now, they said, they don't know exactly where and when along the 3½-mile stretch that drivers should expect lane closures.
"Once we have the pre-construction meeting with IDOT, we'll know more," said Tom Arizzi, Plote's general superintendent in charge of asphalt. "Right now they're going over the logistics."