Mount Prospect asks motorists to avoid Busse, Algonquin intersection

Last weekend’s rain has complicated efforts to repair a collapsed sewer main on Busse Road just south of Algonquin Road in Mount Prospect, adding to the traffic woes plaguing the intersection and lengthening the time the repair will take.

Village officials now are expecting all northbound through traffic on Busse to be detoured east at Oakton Street to Elmhurst Road until the repair is completed about the end of April, although that plan still requires final approval from the Illinois Department of Transportation.

“It’s going to be chaotic out there” during rush hours until the repairs are completed, police Cmdr. Mike Eterno said Wednesday.

Southbound traffic also is restricted, with only one lane open. Eterno advises motorists to avoid the area, especially during rush hour.

The collapse of the 3-foot diameter sewer, located 23 feet below the road, was discovered March 29. Workers are digging a 15-foot-wide by 30-foot-long trench to repair the 35-year-old pipe.

Weekend rain undermined the road and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, which is in charge of the repair project, determined that all northbound traffic should be diverted because an additional lane had to be closed.

Mount Prospect officials issued a news release Tuesday night, but later learned IDOT hadn’t approved the closure and wouldn’t allow it, resulting in major problems as traffic coming from the south was forced to use a right turn lane and turn right on Algonquin rather than continuing north.

Because of the problems Wednesday, Eterno said the detour likely will be approved.

“We sympathize with all those people” who were stuck in traffic, he said. “We apologize.”

The work, originally expected to take three weeks, now is expected to take a month.

“This is an ever-evolving story,” Eterno said.