Gurnee is one step closer to beginning repairs on the intersection of Washington Street and Hunt Club Road, after an ordinance was approved at Monday’s Village Board meeting, approving a temporary construction easement.
The easement will allow the village to begin using that property for construction.
Plans for the intersection improvement project include widening the street to add dual left-turn lanes, as well as a right-turn lane at every point of the intersection. The project will also add a bike path to the intersection, which will extend down Hunt Club Roa, from Washington Street until it connects with the ComEd bike path near Dada Drive, as well as pedestrian accommodations, water main and landscaping improvements.
According to a memorandum issued by Gurnee’s director of public works Heather Galan and village engineer Nick Leah, the intention of the project is to facilitate the free flow of traffic and improve safety for drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians.
In the memorandum, the village says it will update the lighting at the intersection, replace traffic signals, make drainage improvements, construct new sidewalks after the existing ones are removed, add new landscaping and medians. The project will also include water main modification, replacement and extension.
Gurnee has red light cameras at the intersection, and said that once construction on the project begins, it will take the cameras out and can reapply for a permit to reinstall them three years later.
The village is working with Lake County as part of an intergovernmental agreement to help complete the project. They have had conversations about improving the intersection for several years, officials said.
Gurnee will be responsible for all the costs of removing and replacing the existing sidewalk and multiuse path near the intersection, water main replacements and extensions, sanitary sewer adjustments and median landscaping.
During the meeting, the Village Board approved an additional ordinance that ceded a section of land to the county. That section of land, which measures 50 feet wide and 250 feet long, lies just east of Gurnee’s Fire Station 2, according to Muetz, and will be used as a public right of way by Lake County.
“It’s technically the village’s property right now, but the county is looking to take that over and we’re perfectly fine with that,” Village Administrator Patrick Muetz said.
During the meeting, Trustee Karen Thorstenson asked about “four to five homes” located near the easement area that would no longer be able to access part of the road near their homes, and Muetz said the village had followed up with Lake County to make sure that it had spoken to the homeowners.
Construction is scheduled to begin later this year. When the project is completed, the village will be responsible for the continued maintenance of the intersection.
