Round Lake Park's long-sought lighting plan to begin
Work on a decorative street lighting project, the long-sought final piece of an effort to improve the commercial area along Route 134 in Round Lake Park, is scheduled to begin next week.
The Round Lake Park business district lighting will be the final phase of improvements along a half-mile of what is known in town as Main Street, a modest collection of small businesses.
Village trustees last week approved Hometown Electric's bid of $678,785 for new street and pedestrian lighting, regarded as the cap for previous parking and landscape improvements. These final construction improvements are scheduled to be complete in October.
"The sidewalks were a big thing. Plantings were a big phase. This is the final thing, but it's the biggest," Mayor Linda Lucassen said.
Continued restoration of the main drag was among Lucassen's priorities when she ran for mayor three years ago, but the idea goes back a decade or more and spans the tenures of three mayors. Village leaders in 2008 called for a study of downtown revitalization options.
"It's long overdue," Lucassen said. "This Main Street is dark in the evening. What we're hoping for is it will bring life to Main Street (and) attract businesses."
The project involves installing 17 decorative streetlights, each 35 feet tall, on the north side of the street, and 31 pedestrian light poles on the south side, said Marek Klonowski, senior project manager for Weaver Consultants Group of Chicago. The pedestrian lights are each 12 feet tall.
Klonowski said the lighting project involved review and approvals by the Illinois Department of Transporation and Metra, the commuter rail agency.
"That's the main reason the project took so long," he said. "There will be lights on the east and west side of the tracks. We are lighting the entire stretch of Main Street within the village limit."
Advocates say the lighting will improve safety and curb appeal.
Ray McCarty, who has owned R&M Auto Body along Main Street for about 35 years, has been critical of delays and even circulated petitions to get things moving. Improving the area's appearance will help businesses and the community by increasing village revenue, McCarty contended.
"It's the final stages to beautify an area day and night to attract people," he said. "We need to have people come here. In order to do that, we need to look worthy of it."
Lucassen said the village has had the money earmarked for this project for several years.
"We would have liked to have had a more substantial lighting project but this meets the IDOT criteria, fits with what the business owners want and fits in the budget," Klonowski said.