Sinking economy closes Elgin road

The sagging economy has forced Elgin to pull the plug on maintaining a half-mile portion of Highland Avenue between Reinking and Damisch roads, officials said Friday.

The gravel road, which the city closed Thursday until further notice, is on Elgin's far west side, right by Pingree Grove.

It would cost $30,000 upfront to lay down additional gravel and make it a "passable" road, said Dave Lawry, Elgin's general services director.

The road's future maintenance also proves a costly proposition, Lawry said.

"Because there is no real value to Elgin and because it was going to cost money ... we felt it was more prudent from an Elgin perspective to close it," Lawry said.

Under an agreement with Sho-Deen Inc., the developer would take over maintaining that stretch of road from Elgin, once it began building a nearby subdivision.

But the development has not yet materialized, which means Elgin is still responsible for the road, Lawry said.

"It functions more as a convenient shortcut; it doesn't provide any needed access," Lawry said.

Although the closure won't affect Elgin residents, it will put out a few people in Pingree Grove, said Village President Wyman "Clint" Carey.

"Realistically, for a few residents there's probably some hardship, but the majority of people can go down half a mile or whatever it is and head out to the roundabout (on Reinking Road)," Carey said.

Emergency vehicles will still be able to cross the road, after personnel set the barricades to one side, Lawry said.

For years, the road was a part of unincorporated Kane County and handled farm and light residential traffic, officials said.

But all of the new vehicles in Pingree Grove in recent years has poked large potholes into the road, thus expediting its disintegration, Carey said.

"That road cannot handle the growth that happened out here," Carey said.