When the calendar flips inevitably to August, summer might seem like it’s running away. But construction season is always here to remind us that there is plenty of sun left to shine on the warm-weather months.
In fact, at least one major project just got underway this week — and it will be cutting things very close to the wire when it comes to construction season colliding with the return of school traffic.
Let’s take a look at that white-knuckle deadline in this roundup of late-summer roadwork in and around Lake County:
— As fans of twisted central-county traffic will tell you, Fremont Center Road near Mundelein has exactly two uses — first a cut-through path between Route 60 and Gilmer Road, and also as the one and only point of access to and from Fremont Elementary and Middle schools. One imagines the students walking home through the surrounding corn fields if meteorites blocked the north and south ends of the road.
Well, the good news for motorists in that area is that the Lake County Division of Transportation wrapped up a much-needed resurfacing job last month of about 1.75 miles of Fremont Center Road, starting at a point just south of where a significant upgrade at the intersection with Route 60 is scheduled to take place next year.
The possibly not-so-good news is that with the resurfacing now complete, LCDOT has moved on to another item on the Fremont Center Road to-do list — replacement of a culvert beneath the roadway at meandering Squaw Creek, a task that will require the entire road to be closed for through traffic at the creek for an estimated 21 days.
The trouble with this estimate is that with the project having started on Tuesday, a 21-day window brings the whole deal very close to the start of school at the Fremont campuses … which are scheduled to welcome reluctant students back to reality on Aug. 21.
Even those of us who are STEM-challenged can do math on that one. There is a very narrow margin for error on this project, though it is duly noted in an LCDOT statement that “traffic will have access from Illinois Route 60 south to the Fremont School campuses” while work proceeds.
Everyone involved no doubt has their fingers crossed that this Squaw Creek culvert work doesn’t encounter problems similar to those experienced last fall on Rollins Road at Eagle Creek, when a culvert replacement experienced “unforeseen circumstances” that included a car crashing into the work zone. That culvert replacement went from a scheduled 14 days in mid-October to an eventual completion after Thanksgiving.
— Next on the list is another project impacting nearby schools: Modernization of Wilson and Nippersink roads near the entrances to Bog Hollow Primary, Elementary and Middle schools. Under construction since spring of 2018, this installation of turn lanes and a traffic signal at an often overloaded four-way stop is nearing the finish line, at least according to an LCDOT report.
“The signal poles and arms have been installed and an activation date will be scheduled once power has been provided,” reads a current update at the project’s website. “Crews are continuing to prepare the site for the milling of the existing pavement scheduled for the week of (Aug. 5). Following the milling, a corrective layer of asphalt will be placed in selective areas to prepare the site for the final surface.”
The update added that the current weaving traffic pattern “will be adjusted to the final permanent configuration once the roadway has been primed and all existing striping is covered. This will allow for each approach to the intersection to have a dedicated left-turn lane.”
In other words, it appears possible that Big Hollow students might be treated to a new-and-improved intersection when they return to school on Aug. 21, a gift that will surely blunt the sting that comes with the end of their summertime freedom.
— Up next is another of those periodic railroad-crossing repairs that wrecks havoc on local traffic when they occur on major roadways. This time, Cedar Lake Road through downtown Round Lake is on the agenda, with Metra contractors scheduled to close the road to through traffic at the crossing just north of Route 134 at 6 a.m. this coming Wednesday, Aug. 7.
If all goes as planned, the road will remain closed for replacement of the crossing bed until late afternoon on Aug. 14, according to an alert issued by the county.
Those who have to use Cedar Lake at that crossing know that it’s already a problematic area for traffic, since it is plagued by not only commuter trains that usually sit across the road while loading and unloading but also by a nearby four-way stop sign that no one seems to know how to navigate. Your detour will send traffic to tiny Hart Road west of the Metra station, so the phrase “expect delays” is even more ominous than usual.
— To wrap things up here, we have another in the recent spate of ramp closings on the Tri-State Tollway and/or the Edens Spur as work continues on both the Spur and around the Deerfield Road and Lake Cook Road interchanges on the Tri-State.
According to an Illinois Tollway statement, a monthlong closure of the ramp carrying southbound Waukegan Road traffic to the westbound Edens Spur in Deerfield is scheduled to begin Monday for reconstruction of the ramp.
The ramp work is part of an ongoing Edens Spur Improvement Project that will remove and replace all existing asphalt pavement along with replacing or repairing bridges. According to the Tollway, additional work includes “replacing the Pfingsten Road Bridge, repairing the Waukegan Road Bridge over the Edens Spur, constructing the barrier separated median with stormwater improvements and upgrading ITS and roadway lighting.” All the Spur work is scheduled to be complete in 2020.
Last weekend, all this resurfacing and ramp work produced healthy slowdowns and backups at various times on the Tri-State in the Deerfield area, and most especially if you were unlucky enough to get caught up in southbound escape-from-Wisconsin traffic on Sunday afternoon.
Consider all of this to be fair warning for everyone looking to squeeze in a weekend getaway — or jump aboard a school bus — as the last month of summer winds down.
