Lake County planning $111 million in roadwork
Spring will bring another batch of road projects for Lake County drivers to dodge, though the main hot spots of congestion should be familiar.
While there are plenty of new projects on the 2016 list, the three representing the bulk of the $111 million program began last year and are carrying over to a second construction season.
Work already has resumed on the reconstruction of Hawley Street in Mundelein and widening two segments of Washington Street in Grayslake, which account for $73 million and are considered the Big Three for 2016. About $38 million in new work is scattered geographically and includes nine resurfacing projects amounting to about $15 million.
While $111 million is a considerable amount, it's down from $135 million last year and $166 million in 2014, which also included carry-overs.
“This is like the third year of our surge in construction on some of the bigger-sized jobs,” said Glenn Petko, who oversees the program for the Lake County Division of Transportation. “It's still a really big number historically compared to what we usually have done.”
Some other big projects this year include an intersection improvement at Ela Road and Route 12 in Lake Zurich; reconstruction of Deerfield Road in Deerfield and resurfacing the road in Highland Park; and resurfacing on segments of Ela, Hunt Club, Buffalo Grove, Wadsworth and Miller roads, Kenosha and Lewis avenues and 21st Street.
Plans also include paving about six miles of the North Shore bike path along Route 176 from Mundelein through Libertyville and Green Oaks to Route 43 in Lake Forest.
But at nearly $37 million, the granddaddy this year involves the reconstruction and widening of the final two segments of Washington Street from west of Hainesville Road to Haryan Way and from that point east to Lake Street in Grayslake. The work will include a new railroad bridge to lower Washington Street beneath the CN/Metra tracks near Lake Street.
Once complete, the 11-mile length of Washington Street from Round Lake east to Green Bay Road in Waukegan will have been widened and improved in segments in a process that began about 25 years ago.
“That's like the end of the end,” Petko said. “Washington (Street) will be in its final configuration.”
Though not as complicated as lowering Rollins Road beneath the tracks at Route 83, the result in reducing congestion due to trains will be similar, he said.
“We believe it's helped everybody out,” he said of the Rollins project, completed last year as the most expensive and complex undertaken by the county.
Bigger projects have their own websites, but more detail on all projects will be made available when the county debuts an enhanced website April 4. The enhanced site will have photos and details from engineers on the jobs as to what to expect in a given week, for example, or explanations of conditions that may affect travel.
For 2016 details, visit www.lakecountyil.gov and go to the transportation department.