Portion of Washington Street to close for road project
Lake County officials will determine at the end of this month when they plan to close a stretch of busy Washington Street near Round Lake Park as part of an ongoing construction project.
The $8.5 million road widening and improvement project between Hainesville and Cedar Lake roads was slated to close to through traffic by mid-August. However, neither construction nor road closure have yet to happen due to what assistant county engineer Al Giertych said are utility delays.
Giertych said the original “very aggressive” construction schedule, slated for finish at the end of this year, is no longer accurate.
“I can say at this point it is very likely that at least some portion of the road construction is going to be pushed into the spring of 2014,” he said.
Utility delays are a normal part of the road construction process, but they can eat away at the construction schedule. Giertych said they generally occur when utilities, such as sewers and telephone lines, are in the way of planned improvements on a road, and must be relocated by the controlling company.
“It’s always a challenge to get utility relocations complete in advance of construction. That occurs in every project,” he said.
Some of the improvements planned for the section of Washington Street include adding a center-turn lane, bike lanes, a storm drain, curbs and a sidewalk on both sides of the road. Round Lake Park Mayor Linda Lucasson said in June the planned improvements to the busy road are “long overdue.”
Giertych said the Hainesville-Cedar Lake section of Washington Street sees about 15,000 vehicles per day. Despite that traffic volume, he said, the road will have to close to through traffic eventually — possibly sometime this fall before winter weather shuts down the road construction season.
“Probably at about the end of the month we’ll have to make a decision, because the weather is a deciding factor,” he said.
By then, Giertych hopes to have a specific plan for the timing of the construction and road closure, how long the road will be closed and possible detour routes for nearby residents. He won’t know what affect the closure will have on traffic until those decisions are made.
Giertych said plans for widening the last two-lane section of Washington Street, located between Lake Street and Hainesville Road, are currently unaffected by the Cedar Lake-Hainesville project utility delays. Both Cedar Lake-Hainesville and Lake Street-Hainesville projects are part of the larger Washington Street improvement project the county has worked on since 1992 that will ultimately cost about $90 million.
The Lake Street-Hainesville Road project will be done in two separate sections, one between Haryan Way and Lake Street and one between Haryan Way and Hainesville Road.
Giertych said both are on track for contract letting in September 2014.