Info still sought on Milwaukee Avenue project
Given the bitter cold, road construction might not top the list of motorists’ concerns.
But local officials are keeping close tabs on a pending project in the Libertyville area guaranteed to be disruptive once it starts.
Plans are to widen Milwaukee Avenue north of Route 137 and also add turn lanes to the intersection, a project that has raised a number of questions for businesses, the village and the Lake County Forest Preserve District. Plans call for widening Milwaukee for more than 2 miles, to eliminate the last major two-lane section.
Limiting access by a barrier median that is planned to extend 400 feet from each corner of the intersection is one aspect of the project that concerns businesses owners, who worry that customers will bypass their establishments if it’s too hard to get to them.
How work on the intersection will be staged is another question. Mayor Terry Weppler noted that the Milwaukee Avenue widening at Route 22 in Lincolnshire went well past the expected completion time.
“We want to be assured that the construction in Libertyville will be managed better than that project,” he said. “We have a number of successful businesses in that area that we want to protect.”
The village on Tuesday is scheduled to vote to sell a sliver of land and provide a temporary construction easement as part of the project.
To the north, the forest preserve district, which owns about a mile of property bordering the road on the east side of Milwaukee Avenue, is still waiting for details on several aspects of the project.
An underpass will be installed near Casey Road to connect and extend a trail system, and a traffic signal will be installed at Casey Road.
“We haven’t received a tunnel design, which is important for us so we can make plans for the connections on the east and west sides of Milwaukee Avenue. That’s a real important aspect,” said Tom Hahn, executive director of the forest preserve district.
Forest district officials in early January sent letters to top IDOT officials as well as local state legislators to hasten the flow of information.
“I think they sensed our collective frustration,” said forest Commissioner Pat Carey. “It seems to be moving along. We have a ways to go.”
Since then, the forest district has received some information, but not all it needs.
The district has received information on two detention areas to be built on its property, but they are for typical designs, not the more natural look the district seeks.
Hahn said the district also needs to know the final road configuration as it will have an impact on the trees and the appraisal of the property.
A forest preserve request to extend a path from Milwaukee Avenue east to the main entrance of the Independence Grove forest preserve also has not been addressed, although Hahn said IDOT told him more information would soon be coming.
IDOT is managing the $31 million project because it is a state route, but Lake County is paying for it with proceeds from a regional sales tax increase approved more than two years ago.
Spokesman Guy Tridgell said IDOT plans to coordinate with all involved parties, and plans are still for the project to go out to bid in June, with construction to start later this year.