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Busy construction season to include major repairs on Lake Cook Road
Bill Baltutis watches the presentations at the Transportation Management Association of Lake-Cook. They held a press conference for 2013 highway construction projects. | Joe Cyganowski~For Sun-Times Media
Updated: March 21, 2013 8:11AM
DEERFIELD — Two major road-building projects will commence this construction season in suburban Cook and Lake counties, aiming to improve traffic flow on busy highways.
In northern Cook County, repairs on Lake-Cook Road through Deerfield begin again May 1 with an Oct. 26 deadline.
State, county and tollway transportation officials met Friday morning at Baxter Healthcare in Deerfield to present the construction schedule for 75 projects in both counties.
The Lake-Cook Road project covers .94 miles near Pfingsten Road going east past Waukegan Road to Pinetree Road/Carlisle Avenue.
Improvements will include water main installations, reconstructing and widening between Deer Lake Road and Ellendale Road, new sidewalks and traffic signal modifications.
Much of the road is set for patching, said Mark McMillan of Cook County Department of Transportation and Highways.
“We’re trying for an early October finish date before Christmas shopping starts,” he said.
Incentives would pay contractors $17,000 a day to finish early, he said, and the same sum beyond Oct. 26 would be charged.
McMillan also said the east side of Waukegan Road will be widened for a second turning lane onto Lake-Cook Road.
Others scheduled improvements are LED street name signs and new continuous sidewalks east of Waukegan Road.
In Lake County, work on Rollins Road and Route 83 in Round Lake Beach starts in June and ends November 2014.
For years, the railroad crossing on Rollins Road only 90 feet west of Route 83 has caused significant traffic snarls, as more than 50 freight and commuter trains a day set off the stop signals, said Glenn Petko, an engineer for Lake County Division of Transportation.
In response, Rollins Road and Route 83 will be lowered 20 feet beneath the Canadian National Railway tracks that will stay at the same elevation on a newly-built bridge.
As a result, Lake County officials said a temporary road will serve as a detour for a 14-day closure this year.
“This was a six-year effort in the making,” Petko said.
In all, 37 road miles will be reconstructed or repaired this year in Lake County for $126 million, the most miles in county history, he said.
Petka said a .25 percent local sales tax increase in 2008 helped finance many transportation projects in Lake County.
