Storm, ice lead to 'bizarre' road conditions in northern suburbs

How ugly are the roads in Lake County today?

So bad that Illinois Department of Transportation spokesman Mike Claffey called descriptions of the surfaces -- many of which are covered in 2- or 3-inch sheets and strips of ice for miles at a time -- "bizarre."

"Obviously we got an incredible amount of snow in the north of our area," Claffey said.

Plenty of that snow remained compacted on Lake County roads during the morning's rush hour, giving motorists bumpy and often slow commutes.

More Coverage Links Latest storm makes a mess of the suburbs [02/07/08]

State roads such as Route 60/83, Route 45 and Route 137 were particularly brutal.

Fifty-seven IDOT trucks -- including 18 deployed from southern Cook County Wednesday night -- were out overnight and again today in continued efforts to clear the state-controlled streets.

It's been slow going so far.

"When we have an event like that, it takes time," Claffey said.

Lake County legislators have spoken with IDOT officials since Wednesday afternoon about dealing with the storm.

State Sen. Terry Link of Waukegan and state Rep. Kathy Ryg of Vernon Hills had a series of meetings with IDOT officials following a snowstorm in December 2006.

Back then, equipment and manpower wasn't sent to Lake County in a timely manner because of a communications gap, Ryg recalled today.

"The Schaumburg office didn't know how bad it was up north (that winter)," she said.

A direct link has since been established to crews in Lake County, according to Ryg, who also is on the contact list.

"They have an enhanced communication system in place at IDOT, based on our meetings last year," she said.

In those meetings, IDOT acknowledged it had an aging fleet and a lack of resources, Ryg said.

"Certainly the resources aren't sufficient to meet the need. It all comes down to having the funding in place," she said.

State crews also face another problem that needs to be addressed, she said.

"They're fully aware of the issue of the potholes. This weekend, they'll have crews out patching the potholes," she said.

Today's problems aren't limited to state roads.

Lake County transportation division crews have been working nonstop since Tuesday afternoon to keep the roads clean. It's been a losing battle on some stretches, particularly those that don't get a lot of traffic.

"We've got some roads with some ice pack," said Kevin Kerrigan, an engineer of maintenance with the transportation division. "We've got some roads with some wheel tracks."

Delaney Road near Zion and Kilbourne Road near Wadsworth were among the worst roads this morning, Kerrigan said.

Trucks are on all 25 county plow routes today, Kerrigan said.

Those rigs have plenty of salt for the roads. More than 1,000 tons of salt are in the county's storage dome in Libertyville, and 5,000 more tons have been ordered, Kerrigan said.

The county uses 11,000 tons to 20,000 tons of road salt during a typical winter, Kerrigan said. So far this year, his teams have gone through more than 17,000 tons.

With only light snowfall expected over the next few days, Claffey hopes the weather will cooperate long enough to allow the plow and salt truck drivers to do their jobs.

"And it would be really nice if we could get some sun out there," he said.

Daily Herald staff writer Mick Zawislak contributed to this report.