New Road Projects on Horizon

From Yesterday's Daily Herald.

Five road projects, some too complicated and expensive to have been realistically considered before, are on Lake County's fast track.

Transportation officials on Wednesday unveiled a list of road work projects to be paid for with increased sales tax revenue, authorized last year as part of a Regional Transportation Authority reform.

Nearly $11 million is being proposed for the required first stage of study for five major projects. The county board's public works and transportation committee supports the choices, which go to the county board next week for official approval.

The suggested projects are:

• $3.54 million for Route 83/Rollins Road/Canadian National Railroad/Hainesville Road intersections.
• $2.14 million for Route 45 at Millburn Road.
• $980,000 for Route 176/Fairfield Road.
• $1.92 million for Route 134/Fairfield Road/Metra railroad intersections.
• $2.15 million for Washington Street, Hainesville Road to Lake Street and Canadian National railroad crossing.

In each case, the money is being designated for preliminary engineering, also referred to as Phase 1 of a given project. That process takes about two years.

"The purpose of the Phase 1 study is to find out what's the best solution," said Marty Buehler, director of transportation. "We're looking for the long-term improvement."

The solution could be an overpass or underpass, which is much more involved than adding lanes or widening an intersection. The Route 83/Rollins project in Round Lake Beach, for example, would have a major impact on businesses.

County officials say the projects will include a significant amount of public involvement, such as a business task force for the Route 83/Rollins project.

The concerns would be different at Fairfield/Route 176, which has forest preserve property on all four corners. In that case, environmental impacts would be the main concern.

Whatever the decisions, the county is making a point of moving as quickly as possible to use its new source of revenue.

Collected since last summer, the sales tax is expected to provide the county with more than $29 million a year in new revenue - more than doubling its current road work budget.

"We wanted to put the money to work as quickly as possible so people see we mean business to get projects done," said Paula Trigg, director of planning and programming for the division of transportation.

The list presented Wednesday is not the first expenditure of the new sales tax funds. About $3 million already has designated as a local match for the reconstruction of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive from Sheridan Road to Green Bay Road, a $12 million project.

Last year, the county board voted to spend all the new sales tax money on road work, although other uses such as public safety projects also are allowable.

About 60 percent of the county funds are designated for state road projects that are considered perennial bottlenecks the Illinois Department of Transportation has not had the funding to pursue.

Lets Talk Roads

Route 53! Is it the great white whale? Or is it the solution to all Lake Counties Traffic ills? I do know what it is, probably the single most polarizing issue in Lake County for the 20-30 years.

Anyone who drives a car through western Lake County can see that the old country roads are woefully inadequate to today's traffic-that wider, faster roads like the 53 extension are sorely needed. It's simple common sense-so why the big fuss?

The real opposition, the moneyed, vocal opposition, is coming from a different group: the NIMBYs. (NIMBY stands for "not in my back yard.")

In some ways, it's understandable. Given a choice, most everyone would prefer not to have a major thoroughfare running right by their neighborhood. If it were possible, we'd all like to live in the peace and quiet of a quaint nineteenth century village, while having all the modern conveniences at the same time. But, of course, that isn't possible. There are always tradeoffs.

Think about it: any highway that services a highly populated area is going to have to run close to someone. To those who live in proximity to the proposed route I say instead: let's work together, rather than against one another. The need for adequate roads is a fact of modern life, like the need for power lines, water mains, and rail lines. Rather than cooking up transparent "reasons" against 53 to hide NIMBY, why not make sure that anyone genuinely disadvantaged is fairly compensated, and that everything (like soundproofing walls, landscaping, wide roadway shoulders) are provided to minimize the impact of needed roads on those living nearby? That will create a "win-win" for everyone.

Having said all that I am not terribly optimistic that it will get done, while I and probably 95% of the Round Lake area support 53 we need to focus on doable projects like the 120 bypass. I would gladly lead and champion a realistic effort to build 53. However I am going to continue to push a project that I believe will happen-- the 120 bypass. I will of course advocate for 53 no matter where I am as an elected official, but we should also be pragmatic and focus on the doable.