Communities angle for their fair share of Lake Co. road funds

A bold road plan hasn't received formal approval, but communities already are angling for ways to get a share of millions of dollars for big projects.

On Tuesday, the Lake County Board is expected to approve a lengthy list of road improvements to be pursued over the next six years. Fueled by $29 million a year in new sales tax money, it includes $100 million in "challenge" bonds.

The idea is communities would work together, with the county and the Illinois Department of Transportation, to get long-sought projects from a pre-determined list ready to be built.

"The communities I think are very much interested in working together to accomplish something," said Marty Buehler, the county's transportation chief. "We're pretty happy about that."

Projects farthest along when the bonds are issued in 2011 would be eligible for a hunk of county money, even if it involves a state route.

One of those is a five-mile stretch of Route 45, from Route 83 in Long Grove and Mundelein through Indian Creek and Vernon Hills to Route 21 in Lincolnshire. The cost is estimated at $35 million.

"We want to meet with the adjacent municipalities and see if we can collectively try to push this ahead," said David Brown, Vernon Hills village engineer.

Plans for that stretch have been in progress for years. In late 2003, IDOT held an information session in Vernon Hills to solicit opinions on what improvements should be made to the two-lane road.

Phase 1 of the project, which involves initial engineering drawings, is nearly complete.

IDOT was to have hosted another public information session on the project in July. But that has been canceled because of budget constraints at the agency.

"That's on hold until we can come up with a little bit of seed money to have the open house," Brown recently told the village board.

Meanwhile, Vernon Hills and others will look to proceed to Phase 2, which is actual construction drawings that contractors use to build the improvements. The village portion alone could be as much as $1 million.

"We need to engage everybody," said Village Manager Mike Allison. A meeting hasn't been set yet, but the purpose is straightforward.

"Kind of map out a game plan," Allison said. "What do we need to do to get these projects ready."

Mundelein Mayor Kenneth H. Kessler says road conditions and traffic make up the bulk of complaints to the village, and Mundelein is happy to discuss solutions.

The village has more at stake than most, as three of the nine challenge projects are in its jurisdiction.

"We're quite pleased with it," Kessler said of the challenge format.

Because the village has set aside developer funds and done engineering work on the Route 60/83 project, for example, it is in a good position to take advantage of funds that might become available, Kessler said.

"We can act on this stuff very quickly."