Traffic needs in Volo, Lakemoor area to be studied

Physical changes are years away but transportation planners are preparing to study how to better move traffic in the busy area near routes 120 and 12 in the far west-central part of Lake County.

The work initially will focus on limiting access to Gilmer Road at Route 120 and routing traffic further east to Ellis Drive. Gilmer, which has a traffic signal, is just east of Route 12. Back ups are common at certain times of day because of the proximity.

Under the proposal, motorists would only be able to turn right from Route 120 onto Gilmer and right from Gilmer onto Route 120, rather than the current full access.

“The plan has always been to move the traffic signal from 120 and Gilmer to Ellis Drive,” said Chuck Gleason, project manager for the Lake County Division of Transportation.

The Lake County Board on Tuesday appropriated more than $2.2 million, to include potential contingencies, for a contract with TranSystems Corporation of Schaumburg for the preliminary engineering work.

The work also will address future traffic needs in the Volo and Lakemoor communities.

“It’s a large area that’s going to be looked at to see what some solutions may be,” for traffic issues at routes 120 and 12, Gleason said. “What we want to do is study the whole area.”

All four corners of the Route 120/12 intersection are in Lakemoor but adjoining properties are in the Volo village limits. Both envision large-scale commercial developments in the area but plans have been stalled by the economy.

The Gilmer/120 intersection is included in the Illinois Route 120 Unified Vision Plan, which was adopted by county officials in late 2009.

Ellis Drive runs south and west from Route 120 to Gilmer Road, the location of the long proposed but stalled 90-acre Volo Marketplace, a 750,000-square-foot commercial development.

“To my knowledge there hasn’t been any change in the status,” said Eris Tison, Volo’s assistant village administrator. “It was a significant project.”

Gleason said the study would include the possibility of extending Ellis Drive west as a ring road to connect with Route 12 and continuing west to loop back into Route 120.

“Certainly the extension of Ellis Drive is key to that property,” Tison said.

Volo already has state approval for the intersection of Ellis and Route 12, Gleason said.

About 80 percent of the contract with TranSystems will be paid with federal funds, he said. The county has received three federal grants totaling about $2.4 million for Route 120-related expenses. The state has to approve the contract, which could take three or four months, Gleason said.

Public information sessions will be scheduled as the study progresses.

In the bigger picture, local officials in late 2009 approved a vision for Route 120 from Route 12 east to Route 41 in Waukegan, including a seven-mile bypass in the Grayslake area, as a four-lane limited access highway. That portion would be incorporated as the top of the “t” in the extension of Route 53 north from Lake-Cook Road, which is being considered by a blue ribbon committee assembled by the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority.

A decision on the pursuit of that project is expected this summer.