Hoffman Estates ends tollway interchange task force
Hoffman Estates trustees Monday acknowledged success in their long-range transportation plans by officially disbanding the long-running Barrington Road Interchange Task Force, even as they approved more than $6 million for this year's street revitalization program.
While this specific task force was created around 2000, it carried on work from the late 1980s to build support among the public and private sectors for a full interchange at the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway and Barrington Road, Mayor Bill McLeod said.
The quarter-century-old effort finally reached its goal this February when Gov. Pat Quinn announced the state funding that will make the $68 million project happen.
Though Hoffman Estates is responsible for $5 million, Alexian Brothers Health System is contributing $1 million itself toward the village's share. Quick and efficient access to St. Alexius Medical Center near the intersection has been long cited as a public-safety reason for the tollway interchange.
But despite the fact that the full interchange represents such a long-held goal of Hoffman Estates, the village will pay more for this year's street improvements alone than for its share of the tollway ramps.
Trustees Monday approved a $5.9 million contract with low-bidder Arrow Road Construction of Mount Prospect for Hoffman Estates' 2014 street revitalization project.
Director of Transportation Mike Hankey said that at a time when the village's annual road improvements are already costing a bit more than their $2 million to $3 million norm, this year saw a few additional aspects push it over the budgeted $5.5 million.
This extra work includes full reconstructions of some streets, a few curb and gutter replacements, improved lighting on Volid Drive and the replacement of a large storm sewer on Kingsdale Road.
The village board also awarded a $95,000 contract to Applied GeoScience Inc. of Schaumburg, specifically to do materials testing for the revitalization project.
Hankey said it's standard procedure to employ a separate company to do independent testing of materials used by the main contractor for such road projects.