Parking relief coming to Libertyville

Long-sought relief for tight parking in downtown Libertyville is near with the pending opening of an $8.6 million parking deck.

The ground and upper levels of the deck at Lake Street and Brainerd Avenue, just west of the downtown, are expected to open for traffic Thursday. Construction equipment is still housed on the lower level, which will open in coming weeks. A ceremonial ribbon cutting for the completed project is scheduled for Sept. 22.

Alternate parking lots will remain open for now as landscaping, lighting and other work is completed on the 360-space deck.

There are 248 spaces on the second and third levels that will open this week for 4-hour parking. There is no charge to park. Once complete, the deck will be monitored with several video cameras and contain six emergency communications stations.

A parking deck had been on the village's wish list for years but there were snags when the trigger eventually was pulled.

Construction was to begin in summer 2008 and run through the busy holiday season. But the bids were higher than expected and concerns about the construction schedule caused the village board to rebid the project last September.

Ground was broken in early January and the project is more or less on schedule and on budget. The deck occupies space that included about 130 surface parking spots, meaning there will be a net gain of about 200 spaces.

Businesses and others have weathered a sometimes congested situation near the construction site, said John Heinz, public works director.

"Their patience, cooperation and understanding have been really great," he said. "From what I hear (from the contractor) it was about as tight a space as they get."

The surface lot adjacent to the deck will be cleaned and restriped as soon as possible. More extensive improvements in that area are planned for next year.

The deck was funded with money from a special financing district, established in the downtown area more than 20 years ago.