Road work set to begin in Libertyville, Lake Zurich
Lake County drivers can expect construction-related delays in the weeks ahead as resurfacing and other work begins on three major roadways.
The Illinois Department of Transportation said intermittent road work on Milwaukee Avenue in Libertyville and Vernon Hills will begin Monday, April 6, weather permitting. Various lane closures will be needed between 7 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., according to the agency.
Resurfacing also will take place on a stretch of Rand Road (Route 12) in Lake Zurich beginning Tuesday, and construction on Peterson Road in Libertyville and Grayslake is scheduled to resume Monday.
Libertyville officials were vexed with delays in the two-year widening/reconstruction of Milwaukee Avenue on the north end of town, which was completed last year.
In hopes of speeding the process with the upcoming work, crews will be allowed to work at night on the resurfacing project, which spans about two miles from Church Street in downtown Libertyville to Route 60 in Vernon Hills.
"It's a little bit of inconvenience for what I think is the greater good," said Public Works Director John Heinz.
Village trustees on Tuesday agreed to the request from Plote Construction Inc., the contractor for the project, to do grinding and resurfacing operations from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. Night work will be allowed from April 1 through June 1, with progress to be reviewed at that point.
"While I hate to see us do it at night, they'll be able to do it much quicker," Mayor Terry Weppler said.
The work also will include manhole adjustments as well as the removal and replacement of portions of curbs, medians and sidewalks, which all is expected to occur during the day.
Kerry Field, senior project manager for Plote, said curb repairs could start as soon as Monday.
"The major operation, which is the grinding, that seems to disrupt traffic the most," he said.
Night work will not be continuous but done in three separate chunks to grind 2¾ inches of the surface, apply a leveling binding substance and finally apply new asphalt.
Field said he expects there to be 13 nights of grinding. Plote asked the village for permission, saying the inconvenience for drivers and residents will be greatly reduced by doing the work at night.
"I'm pretty sure by mid-July we'll be wrapping up," Field said.
He said the company will be following the same procedure on Roosevelt Road in Geneva, for example, and is becoming commonplace in areas with heavy traffic.
IDOT said Rand Road resurfacing from Lake-Cook Road in the Kildeer area to Ela Road in Lake Zurich will begin early next week. The initial focus will be between Quentin Road and Ela Road. Rand will be reduced to one lane in either direction during the project, which is expected to be finished by the end of July.
Back in the Libertyville area, work is scheduled to resume Monday on Peterson Road. Traffic will use the outer lanes while work on the medians from west of Route 45 in Libertyville to west of Route 83 in Grayslake is completed. Once that is done, traffic will be switched to the inner lanes to finish the road shoulders, a turn lane and landscaping.
To the west, the next portion of Peterson widening from west of Route 83 to Alleghany Road is expected to begin soon. That project is expected to last until June 2016.
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