Contracts awarded for Miller Road and Darrell Road as construction season in Lake County begins
Roadwork in Lake County will be heating up in coming weeks with the award Tuesday of about $8.37 million in contracts for the first two big projects of the season.
Utility and other advance work has been underway, with the meat of construction expected to start in about a month. Berger Excavating Contractors of Wauconda was the lowest responsible bidder for both contracts.
The first for $2.99 million is at Route 12 and Miller Road in Lake Zurich. The primary work involves adding dedicated left-turn lanes on the east and west legs of Miller Road. Drivers currently share left-turn and through lanes on Miller, causing delays.
"This will provide a pretty beneficial operational improvement," said Shane Schneider, county engineer and director of transportation.
Pedestrian crosswalks at all four legs of the intersection where none currently exist, and a sidewalk on the northeast side also will be installed.
Schneider said if a project proceeds on the northwest corner, which is now rural, developers will be required to dedicate right of way for a sidewalk at no cost to the county.
The project is intended to improve traffic flow and safety. The project is expected to be completed this summer. The area will be open to traffic with reduced lanes for the duration.
So is the second project planned on Darrell Road in the Wauconda area. The project, to be built over two construction seasons, involves realigning intersecting roads and installing three roundabouts.
The contract for part one is $5.38 million. Case and Neville roads, which intersect Darrell but are offset by several hundred feet, will be realigned to meet at a true 90-degree, four-way intersection with a roundabout in the middle, Schneider said.
"There's about 10,000 cars per day that travel Darrell Road, so this will be a big safety and operational improvement along that corridor," Schneider said.
Because it is major work, Darrell will be closed for 110 days. Detour information is pending.
Lake County Division of Transportation crews this winter, in advance of the project, removed trees to adhere to new guidelines regarding the northern long-eared bat.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service late last year reclassified the bat from threatened to endangered, prompting the Illinois Department of Transportation to issue new guidelines to protect its habitat.
"The intent there is to remove the trees outside their nesting period," to protect them, Schneider said.
Road construction typically begins about four weeks after bids are awarded, according to LCDOT. Another round of bids are expected to be up for approval at the county board's May meeting.
Among those projects is the widening about 1.2 miles of Aptakisic Road between Route 83 and Buffalo Grove Road in Long Grove and Buffalo Grove to two lanes in each direction with left turn lanes at various points.