Schaumburg questions sequence of county road repair work

Sometimes doing a job twice can look like not doing it at all.

Schaumburg officials are questioning the efficiency by which Schaumburg Road is being repaired and restriped by Cook County.

Wednesday, county-hired crews were restriping the roadway with new paint on both sides of Roselle Road before repairs were made to the potholes and broken blacktop along the winter-ravaged surface.

Schaumburg Road is both owned and maintained by Cook County.

Bharat Patel, a highway engineer for the Cook County Highway Department, said restriping is handled by outside contractors who work out their own schedule.

Road repair work such as filling potholes is done by the highway department itself. When potholes are especially prevalent, the order of the work is often determined by need and not the schedule of the restriping contractors, Patel said.

Nevertheless, Schaumburg officials were skeptical that some preparation of the roadway couldn't be made for restriping, if only clearing away loose chunks of asphalt.

"It's an unfortunate situation where county workers and county contractors can't coordinate work appropriately," Schaumburg Trustee George Dunham said.

Village Manager Ken Fritz said the village uses contractors to restripe its own roads but is able to coordinate that job with repair work.

Even if two different parties are responsible for both efforts, it speaks of a problematic lack of internal communication, Fritz said.