Route 21 bottleneck gets state attention
The scramble for county funds to pay for state road projects is expected to become more competitive with the Illinois Department of Transportation's plan to deal with a perennial bottleneck.
IDOT intends to proceed with the $32 million widening of Milwaukee Avenue north of Route 137 in Libertyville, said Marty Buehler, Lake County's transportation chief. In doing so, it wants the county to designate that amount from a planned $50 million in "challenge" funds to be available in 2011.
The county's public works and transportation committee is expected to consider the request next month, and approval from the full county board would be needed.
If that happens, the amount left for other projects, including widening five miles of Route 45 from Route 60 in Long Grove to Route 22 in Lincolnshire, would be substantially reduced.
"To be honest, we anticipated that," Vernon Hills Village Manager Mike Allison said. "We knew that one was kind of a slam dunk unless the state came up with the funds."
That county pot of money will become available through a bond issue backed by an increase in the county sales tax designated for road projects.
The Milwaukee Avenue project runs about two miles from Route 137 to south of Route 120, a notorious two-lane funnel between four-lane segments.
Work would include an upgrade of the Route 137 intersection, as well as a tunnel beneath Milwaukee to connect a Libertyville Township trail system with the Lake County Forest Preserve District's Des Plaines River Trail.
It was one of five major projects involving state routes designated last year as being eligible for the challenge money. The idea is projects that are furthest along in planning and design would get the green light.
"They're telling us they'll have it ready," Buehler said of the Milwaukee Avenue project.
Vernon Hills officials had hoped the Route 45 work, which is largely in the village, would make the cut.
IDOT on Tuesday hosted a public information session regarding that five-mile improvement, which also includes portions in Mundelein and Indian Creek.
Road projects generally take about six years from inception to completion. Initial engineering or Phase 1 takes about two years, as does Phase 2, which results in construction ready documents.
The Route 45 project is still in Phase 1, which won't be complete until early 2010. That puts it behind Milwaukee Avenue, which has been in the pipeline longer and is farther along in the process.
"IDOT is doing all the work now to make it ready," Buehler said. "They're in design and right-of-way acquisition."
Public comment on the $61 million Route 45 project is being accepted until June 5.
A landscaped barrier median, bike paths and sidewalks were added as a result of comments received at the last public session in 2003.