With a decision by the Illinois Department of Transportation to pay 90 percent of the cost of an engineering study on the proposed widening of a congested portion of La Grange Road, the long-awaited project has suddenly picked up steam.
“This is just tremendous news to us. This is something we wanted to get done,” said Orland Park Mayor Dan McLaughlin of the study on La Grange from 135th Street to 179th Street. Meanwhile, officials in nearby New Lenox received a consultant’s study about what can be done with Cedar Road. The report was not optimistic about improving traffic flow through a narrow bottleneck.
IDOT informed Orland Park in a letter dated Sept. 18 that the department will reimburse the village 90 percent of the study’s $1.2 million cost.
The study will examine environmental issues, right-of-way acquisitions of property from businesses along the road, interchange improvements, the addition of turn lanes and traffic counts.
Six years ago, IDOT did its own study of the roadway, which the state considers to be a “strategic regional artery.”
McLaughlin said the agency concluded that it should be a six-lane highway, with preliminary cost estimates of $30 million to $35 million. That would include widening the viaducts that carry Southwest Highway and the railroad tracks over La Grange Road.
“This [road project] doesn’t just impact Orland Park. This is a major north-south roadway that serves Frankfort and Mokena as well as Palos Park, Palos Hills and Palos Heights,” McLaughlin said.
“There are a huge number of cars traveling the road and just a small number are actually staying in Orland Park.”
IDOT’s traffic studies have shown continued growth on the roadway.
In 1986, 21,200 cars passed over the county line at 183rd Street and La Grange Road on a daily basis. By 1998 the number had almost doubled to 41,800 cars, according to IDOT statistics.
The latest study also showed 41,400 cars daily passing through the La Grange intersection with 143rd Street, as well as 39,200 cars at 151st Street and 39,200 cars at 159th Street. The number dropped to 35,600 cars traveling at 179th Street and La Grange.
“Those numbers represent that a pretty good chunk of the cars traveling La Grange Road are passing through Orland Park,” said Village Trustee James Dodge.
He added that the current road counts exceed the state’s guidelines of 30,000 cars a day for a four-lane road.
To help get the widening started, village officials allocated $1.5 million in the municipal budget over two years for the first phase of the engineering study. They hoped that would bump up the project in IDOT’s five-year plan.
La Grange had been slated for improvements but not on a specific timetable.
The village already had a traffic study of the 143rd and La Grange intersection in connection with a Main Street retail development proposed for 64 acres of the northeast corner.
The village’s commitment to pay for the engineering study upfront triggered IDOT’s action, McLaughlin said.
In August, McLaughlin met with IDOT Secretary Kirk Brown and told him of the village’s strategy. McLaughlin said Brown encouraged him to proceed.
McLaughlin recently received a letter of intent from IDOT setting out the terms of the engineering study and stating that the department will reimburse the village 90 percent by 2006.
Dodge said the study and IDOT’s approval are big steps forward for the village.
“This puts us in the first phases of a five-year plan for IDOT and, secondly, it shows Orland Park’s leadership is spending its resources wisely,” he said.
IDOT is studying La Grange Road beyond 179th Street to 191st Street as a result of the planned improvements to the Interstate Highway 80 and La Grange interchange, McLaughlin said.
McLaughlin would not speculate on when construction might begin without having all funding in place. He said he plans to travel to Springfield this fall when legislators are in session.
“I plan to start to work with state legislators to get us on the five-year program and to get funding for construction,” McLaughlin said.
Meanwhile, a consultant told the New Lenox Plan Commission that spending money to improve traffic flow on Cedar Road will maintain the status quo but will not improve the flow dramatically. Traffic estimates are based on growth statistics, said consultant Rob DuBoe of Metro Transportation Group, hired by the Village Board to study the town’s major north-south roadway.
“Villages are looking at spending money and improving traffic capacity to basically stay where they’re at,” DuBoe said.
The study estimates the cost of such improvements as turning lanes, traffic signals and realigning the road’s dogleg intersection at Haven Avenue at $1.4 million, said Robin Ellis, the village’s planning and development administrator.
Financial estimates do not include the cost of legal work and preliminary engineering, Ellis said.
The consultant’s recommendation is less expensive than an earlier suggestion because it does not call for demolishing a home or a business at the intersection.
Another recommendation is closing the Cedar Road exit from the Metra commuter rail station and directing traffic to U.S. Highway 30.
DuBoe said commuters heading north on Cedar would be making a right turn “and right turns do not tend to congest the intersection.”
