Lake County roadwork will cause more traffic headaches

Driving north or south through southern and central Lake County already is difficult because of roadwork on Route 83 near Long Grove.

Now it's about to get worse.

And once again, Illinois Department of Transportation road construction will be the culprit.

In addition to the Route 83 patching project, which began last week, more than two miles of Milwaukee Avenue in Vernon Hills and Lincolnshire will become a construction zone next week.

Asphalt patching is planned to begin midday Monday and last three or four days, IDOT spokesman Guy Tridgell said.

The dual projects will leave Buffalo Grove Road as the only long north-south roadway in that part of the county that isn't under construction next week.

Most of Buffalo Grove Road in that area is one lane in each direction, however. If motorists who normally use Route 83 or Milwaukee Avenue to get to or from work converge on Buffalo Grove Road, traffic backups there could be significant, said Marty Buehler, the county's transportation director.

"There's going to be a lot of congestion as people try to find alternative routes, of which there aren't many," Buehler said.

Tridgell said the projects will create "a short-term inconvenience that will result in a much safer roadway entering the winter."

The Milwaukee Avenue patching will be between Route 60 in Vernon Hills and Route 22 in Lincolnshire.

No permanent lane closures are planned, only temporary blockages, Tridgell said. Additionally, asphalt patching generally isn't done during rush hour and crews leave the area overnight, he said.

In contrast, barricades will be up for weeks on Route 83 because the roadway there is concrete. Patching concrete is a more involved process and takes longer, Tridgell said.

Motorists seeking construction-free routes may have to consider driving east to Riverwoods Road or the Tri-State Tollway, or west to Quentin Road or Rand Road, depending on their destinations, Buehler said.

Those options are sizable detours that will add time to commutes. But drivers don't have many choices in the area.

"Unfortunately, there are only so many routes than can be used (to go north and south), and a lot of them need work," Buehler said.

The county transportation division has put some electronic message signs on Route 83 to warn motorists of the construction there. The department doesn't have enough signs for Milwaukee Avenue, however, Buehler said.

No signs are planned for Buffalo Grove Road either, he said.

The work on Route 83 is being done in two parts. Right now, the stretch between Buffalo Grove Road and Route 22 is being patched. When that's done in a few weeks, barricades will shift to the stretch between Route 22 and Route 45, near Mundelein.

The second stage should take three to four weeks, officials have said.

Whether sticking with their regular routes or taking detours, affected motorists should figure in extra time to get where they're headed, Buehler advised.

After the patching work is done on Milwaukee Avenue, crews will return to the Lincolnshire area to resurface a section of Olde Half Day Road that runs east from Milwaukee Avenue to Route 22, IDOT's Tridgell said. An exact starting date hasn't been set, but he's aiming for late September.

People can visit Lake County's transportation information website, lakecountypassage.com, for traffic updates.