Comcast Newsmakers

Recently I taped Comcast Newsmakers which appeared last week on Comcast as a tie in to CNN Headline News, I have done this a few other times and always enjoyed myself. This time the topics I talked about were the 120 Bypass, Route 53 and finances. As always I had a great time. The video is about 5 minutes long.

Results from the 120 CPC meeting last night.

The 120 Corridor Planning Council reached one of the major decision points last night, which was to decide on the character of the road. There were 3 remaining options that were voted on.

13 of the 16 members were present so we had a good representation of key decision makers throughout the corridor.

Alternative 5-- 6 lane expressway with limited on and offs failed
2 votes to 11 votes

Alternative 4-- 6 lane expressway signalized arterial failed
1 votes to 11 votes

Alternative 3-- 4 lane boulevard (either signalized or with roundabouts) passed
11 votes to 2 votes

I cast the villages vote for Alternative 3, based on a few things, the first being cost, followed by land use issues along the corridor are easier to solve with alternative 3.

120 Corridor Planning Council takes big step tonight

Tonight at the 120 Corridor Planning Council we will make a big decision about the character of the road. But before we get to that I want to review what has happened to this point.

At the Lake County Transportation Summit in September 2005, an improved Illinois Route 120 corridor was identified as a consensus priority. The Corridor Planning Council was formed and tasked to look to the future, to 2030 and beyond, and establish the vision of what this new Illinois Route 120 corridor would be. The goal is to develop a plan that is technically feasible and will be preferred by the local communities along the corridor. This feasibility study will tell IDOT what is the locally preferred alternative and set the table for continued studies.

The project’s Purpose & Need was established and two alternatives, the No-Build Alternative (Alternative 1) and the Widening of Existing Illinois Route 120 (Alternative 2) fell short of meeting the purpose of the project and were eliminated. A decision matrix with 8 main categories and 26 total criteria was developed to help compare road character and road placement alternatives.

The four alternatives being considered represent what potential alternatives that would be both technically feasible and preferred by the local communities along the corridor. Each alternative has its advantages and disadvantages. All alternatives that meet the purpose and need of the project will be studied by IDOT again later.

All four alternates for road character include a bypass around existing Illinois Route 120 within the Villages of Grayslake, Hainesville, Round Lake, and Round Lake Park. Alternate 3A is a 4-Lane Roundabout Boulevard, Alternate 3B is a 4-Lane Signalized Boulevard, Alternate 4 is a 6-Lane Signalized Arterial, and Alternate 5 is a 6-Lane Expressway.

The next steps in the project are to study road placement, intersection types, and finally, the project’s financing strategy. A summary document will be prepared documenting the findings of the feasibility study and will be transmitted to IDOT.

Before construction would begin, IDOT would complete a Phase I Study that would further analyze the results of the feasibility study. At the conclusion of the Phase I study, engineering plans and specifications would be prepared for construction, and property would begin to be acquired. Depending on the availability of funding and other scheduling items, construction could begin no sooner than 6 to 10 years.

I favor alternate 3, I want more information on the differences between option A and B before I come to a conclusion on that issue, but we are getting closer!

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.

Route 120 Corridor Planning Council (CPC) Open House – Coming Up Fast!

Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Time: 6 pm to 8 pm
Location: Prairieview School
Address: 103 E. Belvidere Rd. (Route 120) Hainesville, IL

The Route 120 Corridor Planning Council has scheduled a Public Open House for November 12th. This is your opportunity to provide input and get updates on:

• Roadway characteristics
• Roadway alternatives
• Land use in the corridor
• Recent traffic studies
• …and more.

Anyone interested in the Route 120 study and traffic relief is encouraged to attend.

Report on the 120 Bypass (Part 4 of 5)

Today we are going to look at Scenario Four which is a 4 lane 6 Lane Arterial By-pass

NOTE: Please read part one for an explanation of the terms I am using in this post.

Scenario 4: 6 Lane Arterial By-pass

One caveat on these scenarios, is that they have been adjusted to take in the planned road improvements over the next 22 years, so for example Peterson's eventual widening to 4 lanes is taken into account. So using the same bullet points and spots we looked at in the earlier posts we see the following I am going to bold my observations on the changes.

• Look at the number for 120 at 83, 17,700 in 2008 but in 2030 the number is 19,100 indicating that the stretch of road is as full as it can be right now. However we have added a 6 lane bypass and traffic is 61,400!
  
• Interstate 94 has 113,000 ADT in 2008. The new number is 162,1300 in 2030. Very little change between the scenario 1, 2, 3 here! Huge number increase however from 2008.
  
• Peterson Road has 9,400 ADT between 60 and Alleghany in 2008. With the widening the road is heavily congested at 17,400 ADT in 2030. This is reduction in what we can expect.
  
• 60 has 14,200 just past Fremont Center in 2008. The traffic flow along 60 is now seriously reduced down to 9,600!
  
• Fairfield has 10,500 at Gilmer in 2008. The number now is 9,600 in 2030. We now see that the concept of a large bypass across the county does make sense because we see a drop in traffic on the subsidiary routes
  
• Washington has 15,800 at 83 in 2008. The number in scenario 1 is 14,900 in 2030. In scenario 2 its now 17,100, still very serious congestion. In scenario 3 the traffic is 16,100, and now its 14,900 in scenario 5.
  

I am stunned by the volume of cars that would travel on the 120 bypass in this scenario, if you delve deeper you see a reduction across Lake County of the ADT numbers as you see most commuters find the 120 bypass to their liking!

Report on the 120 Bypass (Part 3 of 5)

Today we are going to look at Scenario Three which is a 4 lane Arterial/Boulevard By-pass

NOTE: Please read part one for an explanation of the terms I am using in this post.

Scenario 3: 4 lane Arterial/Boulevard By-pass

One caveat on these scenarios, is that they have been adjusted to take in the planned road improvements over the next 22 years, so for example Peterson's eventual widening to 4 lanes is taken into account. So using the same bullet points and spots we looked at in the earlier posts we see the following I am going to bold my observations on the changes.

• Look at the number for 120 at 83, 17,700 in 2008 but in 2030 the number is 19,200 indicating that the stretch of road is as full as it can be right now. So in 22 years the entire 4 lane 120 is as congested as a 4 lane road can be! But we add in the new 4 lane arterial concept and at 120 bypass and 83 we have 46,200 on a four lane road. In addition we have 19,700 on old 120. Which does demonstrate that lots of people want to drive east west in the county!
  
• Interstate 94 has 113,000 ADT in 2008. The new number is 163,100 in 2030. Very little change between the scenario 1, 2 and 3 here! Huge number increase however from 2008.
  
• Peterson Road has 9,400 ADT between 60 and Alleghany in 2008. With the widening the road is heavily congested at 19,800 ADT in 2030. Scenario 3 reduces the traffic here by 2,000 ADT the road.
  
• 60 has 14,200 just past Fremont Center in 2008. Now the traffic flows onto Peterson and not down 60 so the ADT is reduced to 10,200. In other words this traffic will be the same as it is today.
  
• Fairfield has 10,500 at Gilmer in 2008. The number here is 15,000 (serious congestion) in 2030. The number drops in scenario 2 to 12,300 and in scenario 3 it drops to 10,200. Not much change here
  
• Washington has 15,800 at 83 in 2008. The number in scenario 1 is 19,100 in 2030. In scenario 2 its now 17,100, still very serious congestion. Now in scenario 3 the traffic is 16,100.
  

This is the first scenario where we look at actually have built a road separate from existing 120, and we can start seeing reductions in traffic flow at various intersections that we are spotlighting. If you look at this scenario you see that the bypass concept works and it does reduce traffic.

Report on the 120 Bypass (Part 2 of 5)

Today we are going to look at Scenario Two which is to widen existing IL-120 to four lanes and not build a bypass.

NOTE: Please read part one for an explanation of the terms I am using in this post.

Now we get to the interesting stuff Scenario 2: Widen existing IL 120 to 4 lanes and don't build the bypass.

One caveat on these scenarios, is that they have been adjusted to take in the planned road improvements over the next 22 years, so for example Peterson's eventual widening to 4 lanes is taken into account. So using the same bullet points and spots we looked at in the earlier posts we see the following I am going to bold my observations on the changes.

• Look at the number for 120 at 83, 17,700 in 2008 but in 2030 the number is 33,900 indicating that the stretch of road is as full as it can be right now. So in 22 years the entire 4 lane 120 is as congested as a 4 lane road can be!
  
• Interstate 94 has 113,000 ADT in 2008. The new number is 163,200 in 2030. Very little change between the scenario 1 and 2! Huge numbers however from 2008.
  
• Peterson Road has 9,400 ADT between 60 and Alleghany in 2008. With the widening the road is heavily congested at 21,800 ADT in 2030. Scenario 2 reduces the traffic here by 4,000 ADT so thats a positive, but the road is still at or about the congested numbers.
  
• 60 has 14,200 just past Fremont Center in 2008. Now the traffic flows onto Peterson and not down 60 so the ADT is reduced to 8,900. I am not sure I beleive this by the by.
  
• Fairfield has 10,500 at Gilmer in 2008. The number here is 15,000 (serious congestion) in 2030. The number drops in scenario 2 to 13,200.
  
• Washington has 15,800 at 83 in 2008. The number in scenario 1 is 19,100 in 2030. In scenario 2 its now 17,100, still very serious congestion.
  

We start to see some improvements in traffic flow, but the 4 lane 120 quickly fills up to congested levels and if you look at Rollins, Washington, Peterson and Grand the numbers and the congestion grow noticably. I would guess straining the roads to the limit. This scenario barely works in my opinion in 2030, intuitively I would guess it is a mess in 2032.

Report on the 120 Bypass (Part 1 of 5)

Last week we held one of our regular 120 Bypass Corridor Planning Council (CPC) meetings of which I am the Chairman. Our consultants TranSystems are getting into the meat of the matter with traffic projections involving all the major scenarios.

NOTE: This is an elaborate post involving many 11 x 17 pdfs so I am going to space the posts out all this week, my recommendation is to download the pdf and print it out while you look at them because its much easier to compare the scenarios and make observations.

The first item of business is to examine todays (2005 numbers are the most recent) of what is called ADT (Average Daily Traffic) counts, these numbers are gathered by IDOT (Illinois Department of Transportation). The numbers you see are only the cars on the actual roadway so to when a road crosses the route you need to add both ADT's to determine the flow for that intersection.

Some more information, when a two lane road reaches 15,000 ADT it is considered seriously congested, numbers past 20,000 indicate saturation and you literally can't put that many more cars on the road, for example 120 between Alleghany and Hainesville Road is 22,900 ADT right now. That number will not go much higher because the road just can't handle any more. Same thing for a 4 lane road 30,000 is serious congestion and 35-40,000 is as high as you can go, existing roads like this in Lake County today are Grand Avenue in Gurnee which is at 51,700 in some places.

Here is the first map which is existing conditions in Lake County right now. You can see that starting from US Route 12 and running East the entire route 120 is over the seriously congested aspect, hence the need for the 120 bypass or improvements to existing 120! Some locations I want to look at repeatedly on these maps are as follows:

• Look at the number for 120 at 83, 17,700! With train tracks no less! We can all visualize the long backups almost to Hainesville road in the mornings and the reverse backup in the evenings.
• Interstate 94 has 113,000 ADT right now.
• Peterson Road has 9,400 ADT between 60 and Alleghany
• 60 has 14,200 just past Fremont Center.
• Fairfield has 10,500 at Gilmer.
• Washington has 15,800 at 83.

I have driven all these roads at various times and can visualize these numbers in terms of how long I waited to get through intersections as I am sure all of you can as well.

Now we get to the interesting stuff Scenario 1: No improvements to IL 120. CMAP (Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning) has done extensive studies of the traffic patterns in Chicagoland and the numbers are the ones that IDOT requires us to use to determine future need. They are based on what projected traffic would look like in 2030. 22 years from now. So Scenario 1 is if nothing changes, no improvements nothing!

One caveat on these scenarios, is that they have been adjusted to take in the planned road improvements over the next 22 years, so for example Peterson's eventual widening to 4 lanes is taken into account.

• Look at the number for 120 at 83 now, 17,700 in 2008 but in 2030 the number is 17,400 indicating that the stretch of road is as full as it can be right now. But look along 120 east and west of this intersection, congestion has built everywhere. Essentially the feel of traffic along the entire 120 roadway will be the same as the 120 and 83 intersection in 22 years.
  
• Interstate 94 has 113,000 ADT in 2008. The new number is 161,400 in 2030.
  
• Peterson Road has 9,400 ADT between 60 and Alleghany in 2008. With the widening the road is heavily congested at 25,500 ADT in 2030.
  
• 60 has 14,200 just past Fremont Center in 2008. Now the traffic flows onto Peterson and not down 60 because there is some nonsense off the map there as well towards Mundelien.
  
• Fairfield has 10,500 at Gilmer in 2008. The number here is 15,000 (serious congestion) in 2030.
  
• Washington has 15,800 at 83 in 2008. The number here is 19,100 in 2030.

What is happening is that 120 has reached saturation, and commuters are seeking other routes, loading up on Peterson, Washington and Rollins (24,300 to 35,400) to go East. Traffic is quite frankly a disaster everywhere in the county.

Route 120 Corridor Land Use Visioning Workshop

I would like to invite you to the Rt. 120 Corridor Land Use Visioning Workshop, which is scheduled for 6:00 P.M. – Wednesday, March 12th, at the Prairie View Elementary School, at 103 Belvidere Road in Hainesville. The workshop will provide you an opportunity to review and comment on the project consultant’s initial land use concept plans for your community’s roadway segment. Participation by elected officials and staff is critical to the success of the workshop. Participation by additional community leaders, residents, and property owners is also encouraged.

120 Project Status Update

I just wanted to point out to everyone that the website has been updated. Please go to www.120now.com to review the changes. Click on the tab entitled “Feasibility Study” and review the changes there. On the 13th at 7pm at the Police and Public Works facility is the first of what will likely be one many meeting as this process unfolds.

120 Project Status Update

Recently I got an update from Transcom and the Lake County Department of Transportation on the status of the Illinois Route 120 Corridor Feasibility Study. We have a variety of task forces working on the project and this is an approximation of where we are.

Public Information Task Force

• Public Information Task Force leading the majority of the work with assistance from Lake County Partners Potential Task Force meeting to be scheduled for November

Environmental & Stormwater Impact Task Force

• Initial data collection completed including GIS from all task forces Data reviewed and base maps created Field visits by TranSystems and Roux scheduled for October 23 to evaluate sensitive environmental resources.

Land Use, Economic Development & Municipal Impact Task Force

• Reviewing data collection and task force studies Field visits by TranSystems and Lakota with Task Force Chair Dennis Sandquist scheduled for October 19 to discuss land use studies

Technical Task Force

• Received traffic data from County
  
• Requested traffic data from IDOT
  
• Traffic counts for the eastern portion of the corridor completed prior to IL 120 at I-94 construction began
  
• Traffic counts for the western portion of the corridor began after the completion of the Fairfield / Gilmer interchange and to be completed by October 18
  
• Met with CMAP regarding CMAP preparing regional traffic models for various scenarios
• Existing 2030 projected with LCTIP IL 53 expressway option and with IL 120 Bypass
  
• 2030 projected with LCTIP IL 53 arterial option and with IL 120 Bypass 2030 projected without IL 53 and with IL 120 Bypass
  
• 2030 projected without IL 53 and without IL 120 Bypass CMAP has completed the existing model and one of the four projected models and estimates completion of the final three projected models by the end of November
  

• TranSystems has begun creating sub-regional traffic models based on CMAP regional traffic models calibrated to provided traffic data and counts
  
• Character of Road studies to move forward after further traffic, land use, and financing studies
  
• Placement of Road studies to move forward after further character of road and environmental studies

Some Road Relief in Sight? Lets Hope So!

Tonight is a 120 Byapss Corridor Planning Council meeting at the Round Lake Police and Public Works Facility on Townline Road, we will finally have a consultant (pending board ratification) and the next few meetings we will be getting into the meat of the project! To that end I want to talk about transportation and funding. While I am not a 100% supporter of all this coalition is proposing I think alot of the ideas proposed here bear study. I bolded one section that is quite interesting. I have some comments and information at the bottom of the article.

The Transportation for Illinois Coalition (TFIC), a diverse group of statewide and regional business, labor, industry, not-for-profit and governmental organizations, calculates the State’s transportation infrastructure needs an additional $5 billion per year over the next five years. This can be achieved with an approximate $2 billion revenue increase through bonding with a multi-year payment schedule and pay-as-you-go financing.

“Transportation funding has not gotten its needed attention,” said Michael T. Carrigan, president of the Illinois AFL-CIO and TFIC co-chair. “Transportation is the resource on which everything else depends and putting off investment for even one more year is not an option. Every day sends our already deteriorating network into further disrepair, undermining our ability to pay for other vital government programs and ultimately putting Illinois’ economy, jobs and families at risk. The Governor and General Assembly must act now.”

New funds are critically needed to reverse years of decline and neglected maintenance in our
transportation networks, as well as, to finance expansion, modernization, and congestion relief. It is necessary to increase the taxes and fees dedicated to constructing and maintaining transportation networks from time to time because the funding sources do not keep up with inflation or the rising cost of building materials. Increased investment in our transportation networks is required to sustain commerce and promote job growth in Illinois, while making travel easier and improving the quality of life for everyone.

The Coalition also recommends increasing the sales tax that is levied within the six county RTA region to sustain public transit operations in Northeastern Illinois. The Transportation for Illinois Coalition supports for expansion of gaming in Illinois and recommends $500 million dollars of the new revenue generated from the gaming industry be dedicated annually to infrastructure funding for public transit systems. The Coalition further recommends that additional revenue generated from the gaming industry be used to halt diversions from the state road fund that are currently being used to finance governmental purposes other than investing in improving highway infrastructure.

“It is time that our legislators move forward with a bill that adequately funds Illinois’ transportation infrastructure,” said Doug Whitley, president of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce and TFIC co-chair. “We are the nation’s transportation hub and our entire economy is built on this infrastructure. It is imperative that we protect and advance this vital asset. TFIC is prepared to support new levies from appropriate sources to fund the needed investment.”

Except for a modest $200 million increase for mass transit, which falls short of the $2 billion a year in increased funding RTA needs, the Governor's proposed capital budget for FY2008 does not include increased funding for infrastructure improvements or new capital funding for airports, rail passenger improvements or the CREATE rail freight congestion program. Further, his proposed capital program only calls for $1.875 billion for highways, a cut of $100 million from this year's level.

Illinois’ last comprehensive transportation funding program was Illinois FIRST, enacted in 1999. The remaining funds under Illinois FIRST were disbursed three years ago. Since 2003, state capital spending for highways and transit has been cut by more than 60 percent ($1.2 billion a year), and the number of miles of state highways repaired and improved each year has dropped from about 1,200 in 2003 to a proposed 360 for 2007.

Without adequate funding, Illinois transportation systems are quickly grinding to a halt. Thousands of miles of highways, roads and bridges are in disrepair, bottlenecked rail lines in northeastern Illinois are affecting regional and national commerce and aging public transit systems, as well as ever worsening congestion on urban and suburban roads, are frustrating commuters.

TFIC is dedicated to working with the General Assembly to ensure the passage this year of a comprehensive transportation infrastructure bill that is sufficient to address the needs of highways, bridges, local roads, freight rail grade separations to relieve urban congestion, inter-city passenger rail, public transit, paratransit and local airport. It is imperative to assure adequate state funds exist to supplement federal dollars allocated for many of the state’s transportation projects.

TFIC is a diverse group of statewide and regional business, labor, industry, not-for-profit and governmental organizations that have joined together in a united and focused effort to support a strong transportation alliance for Illinois. The Coalition takes a comprehensive approach and seeks to speak with one voice for all of Illinois when it comes to transportation funding needs at the federal and state level. This comprehensive approach involves all modes of transportation, including rail, air, water, highways and mass transit.

For more information about TFIC, visit www.TFICIllinois.org.

Note: The bolded text in the article above referes to Senate Bill 572 which has an ammendment in the house which says on page 40 of the ammended bill:

One-third of those taxes collected in DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, and Will Counties under Section 4.03 shall be distributed by the Authority to those counties based on collections of the tax within each county. The County Board of each county shall use amounts it receives from the Authority to fund operating and capital costs of public transportation services or facilities or to fund other transportation purposes, including road, bridge, public safety, and transit purposes intended to improve mobility or reduce congestion in the county and to advance the goals and objectives set out in the Strategic Plan of the Authority.

Okay what does that mean in plain english, if this bill passes and is signed by the Governor. Lake County could potentailly recieve $29 million a year in transportation funding in addtion to what it gets now!

Don't get your hopes up becuause this bill has some nasty little other features that may not pass or may be stricken, but all in all if it does pass, its a sizeable chuck of change for county roads!

Mayors Speech Today at the Chamber of Commerce

Today is the Annual Mayors Speech at the Round Lake Area Chamber of Commerce. I have used this forum in the past to talk about the big picture needs of this area. Some of my topics that I spoke about have been the need for jobs in the area, the pressing need for transportation improvement, Downtown development, the 120 Bypass and of course lasts years call for a hospital in Northwest Lake County.

The themes of my speeches has basically outlined my big goals for my administration, and this year will be no different. I am going to talk about how our demographics have changed, give a status report on the 120 bypass, talk about Advocate Health Care, my wellness and community programs, and lastly our 100th Anniversary celebrations. The biggest part of the talk will be about how Advocate Health Care will bring positives to the area.

Tomorrow I will make a copy of my speech available in power point, and I also think that radio station WRLR will be broadcasting the Mayors speeches on tape delay, and I will find out the time.

120 Corridor Planning Council Last Night

Last night was a 120 corridor Planning Council Meeting, I am not going to write about the discussion of bylaw changes and discussions on how to get the Request for Proposal funding (RFP) moving, but I am going to include the copy of a letter that I wrote in my capacity as Chair of the 120 CPC to the Daily Herald and other area newspapers last week. This letter was published in the Daily Herald on Monday the 6th.

Get involved with Route 120 planning
The need for improved east-west corridors through Lake County becomes crystal clear as more than 500,000 motorists sit in traffic each day in a county that'’s one of the fastest growing in the state.
In particular, Route 120 from Green Bay Road in Waukegan in the east to the McHenry County line in the west, was identified as the number one priority at last year'’s Lake County Transportation Summit; part of a bipartisan effort to combine Lake County'’s 12 votes in Springfield to more effectively deal with transportation issues.
While the Lake County and Illinois Departments of Transportation pinpointed Route 120 as a critical traffic bottleneck, hundreds of residents also have expressed their concern by speaking at public forums and by posting Web site comments.
A state grant to begin feasibility planning for improving the corridor has recently been approved. The targeted area traverses Waukegan, Libertyville, Gurnee, Wauconda, Mundelein, Hainesville, Round Lake, Round Lake Park, Volo and Grayslake. In addition, we have obtained $2 million in federal funding for engineering.
While support for the Route 120 corridor has been overwhelming, some questions still exist that should be addressed.
First: the Route 120 corridor has no connection to plans for the extension of Route 53 --— an issue that has been shelved in Springfield for lack of a budget and has had a polarizing effect on residents. That said, highways can'’t be built in a vacuum. Existing Route 53 rights-of-way will be considered in the planning of Route 120 in order to save time and taxpayer dollars, and plans must incorporate north-south connections along Route 120, whether or not Route 53 is built. And while all sorts of options are being studied, the possibilities of roundabouts and other ways to speed traffic flow must be considered only in the context of future growth.
Second: although feasibility studies have not yet begun, residents have weighed in with assumptions and dire predictions about the effects of the corridor on area homeowners and visiting wildlife. While the exact location of Route 120 has not been determined, every effort will be made to ensure that the corridor is planned with care and an eye to protecting the quality of life as well as our precious natural resources.
To get the facts about the Route 120 planning and implementation process, we urge you to get involved. Meetings of the Route 120 Corridor Planning Council are open to the public; the dates are posted regularly in this newspaper and on the Web site, www.120now.com.
There, you''ll also find detailed information about the Route 120 corridor. Let's act now to ease traffic congestion and make Lake County a more enjoyable place to live and work.

Sincerely
Bill Gentes
Mayor of Round Lake
Chair, 120 Corridor Planning Council
Member, Executive Committee Lake County Transportation Alliance

We are a Series of Beats!

The Police Department has scheduled three "“Beat Meetings"” for the month of December. Each meeting will be specific to one police beat (section of the Village). The goal of the beat meetings is to offer a clear line of communication between the police department and the citizens they serve. The beat meetings will be held in the Community Room at 6:30 p.m. on the following dates: December 1st (Beat 1), December 8th (Beat 2) and December 15th (Beat 3). There will be some information on the next water bill and detailed information will be on the police section of the village website in the next few days.

For those of you wondering what beat you are in, as I was, here is a description. For those of you who want a visual representation of where the beat boundaries are I will send you a PDF map if you email me.

Beat 1
From Park Road on the north to Route 120 on the south. From our neighbor, Round Lake Park on the east to Fairfield Road on the west.

Beat 2
From Route 134 on the north to the southernmost section of Valley Lakes subdivision. From Fairfield Road on the east to our village limits on the west.

Beat 3
Everyone south of Route 120.

I will write a little bit more about these as we get closer to the actual dates.

Traffic Woes Coming

I was not going to post today because I was running late this morning, but as I drove to work and sat in traffic I noticed the sign indicating traffic information could be found at www.lakegov.info so when I got to work I went to the site and looked up the project at Fairfield and Gilmer (the one I was sitting at when I saw the sign) interesting site.

This intersection will contain a tunnel when they are done! Imagine that, 4 way stop sign to a tunnel, that's quite the jump in service level! Anyway what I could not find was when the road will shut down because a few months ago I read an article about the date of the shut down, and planned to blog on it, but got sidetracked. I will now be on a mission to find the information and post it here. I have some thoughts on how those of us who commute down Fairfield can avoid the mess as we go South on the 53-less county roads!

The Nippersink Forest Preserve

NOTE: This is a post that I ran last October about the Nippersink Forest Preserve Project, I have gotton a couple of questions about the project recently so I decided to repost it here. I would add that the proposed Synnesvedt project has a connection from the Millenium Trail to this park. One of my long range goals is to then get a crossing for 120 so we connect via a path to the homes on the south side of 120.

A couple of years ago I got frustrated with a series of developers who kept insisting that they need to build homes on Nippersink Road across from Village School. In a partnership with County Board Member Larry Leafblad we were able to chase off Neumann Homes and secure the 219 acre marsh to be added to the Lake County Forest Preserve. Now granted I did not do much other then frown and express dismay with the project and the Forest Preserve did the buying of the land. I do have issues with the Forest Preserve buying land and then not letting any one use the land that they buy, if you doubt me drive around and see all the land in the Forest Preserve, but this purchase made long term sense for the village and the area. Then about 2 years ago Toll Brothers wanted to bring 300 senior oreinted houses to the Country Lakes Resort on 120 across from Bacon Road. I had some conversations with the owners and the desire of the familly who owned the resort to sell the property. I then thought about it and referred to our comprehensive plan which led me to invite Bonnie Thompson Carter who is the President of the Lake County Forest Preserve and one of Round Lake's county board members. I drove her around the property which she knew well since her family owned portions of it way back when! I told her that I could prevent the development from happening if the Forest Preserve put up their money and bought the land for active recreation purposes. Kudos to her and the rest of the Forrest Preserve for carrying through. Last week I attended the sneak preview of whats coming and the graphic above is a representation of what is coming. The result of all of this is the Nippersink Forrest Preserve area in Round Lake. The Millenium Trail will also be coming through the area as well which is a wonderful addtion to the area.

Route 53 Editorial

NOTE: This editorial was in yesterday's Daliy Herald and I thought was quite interesting and worth repeating. When I get some more time I am going to discuss this issue in a little more depth.

Public interest in Route 53 extension will not fade A little advice for both sides in the Route 53 extension debate, which has recently resurfaced among Lake County leaders:

Proponents would do well to avoid getting excited about any possibility of this project getting done in the near future. Why? Because the odds against such a development remain overwhelming.

Skeptics and outright opponents, meanwhile, would do well to realize that unless 53 is extended northward eventually, the idea will not simply fade. Why? Because Route 53 as now configured is the very definition of an unfinished project, a glaring impediment to moving north-south traffic effectively through northwest Cook and western Lake counties.

Route 53’s extension has been stalled for decades, blocked for a variety of reasons — some more legitimate than others, none as compelling as the reasons to build it. But its relegation to a dusty “someday in the distant future” file was further assured when the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority, citing a lack of consensus among Lake County leaders, left it conspicuously off of its major redevelopment plan announced in 2004.

That’s about the time that Lake County leaders, stung by the criticism of their absent leadership on transportation issues, initiated a laudable drive to prioritize manageable and realistic proposals and to stand united in completing those projects. This process, culminated by an annual transportation summit, has spurred progress on such badly needed projects as a Route 120 bypass and the widening of Route 45. No one involved in this process expected 53 to appear on the agenda. With the toll authority rejecting it and the state having no money for freeways, there was no point wasting time even discussing such a large and expensive undertaking.

But Lake County residents, who know a traffic snarling point when they see it, mentioned Route 53 during public comment periods preceding last week’s annual summit. These public comments came just as state Sen. Jeff Schoenberg began talking about selling or leasing the tollway system. That idea — half-baked though it may be — has spawned hearings, serious debate and, of course, visions of a gold mine to be devoted on a long list of state needs, from pension funding to highway building.

Reasons abound to view a sale or lease skeptically, which does not mean that an administration and legislature desperate for cash won’t implement it anyway after the fall election. Even if they do, though, competing demands will be so intense that there is no good reason to expect that any or enough revenue would be earmarked for Route 53. Hence, the advice for proponents to keep near-term expectations low, very low.

The staunchest critics of the Route 53 extension fear the mere existence of tollway lease talk will breathe new life into an idea they want to kill. But the idea will not die because the extension offers benefits far too obvious. Some opponents argue environmental concerns, which could be addressed. Some argue that an extension would crowd traffic onto arterial roads throughout Lake County, as if scattering most of that traffic throughout Lake County and moving some of it on toward Wisconsin more effectively would be more onerous than the current 53 configuration dumping all of its traffic onto such roads as Dundee, Lake Cook and Routes 12 and 83.

A more legitimate concern is raised by those who worry that injecting Route 53 into the summit process now could siphon time, energy and attention from affordable and doable improvements to arterial roads and innovations that will improve traffic flow now. That would be an unfortunate result. But there’s no serious sign of that occurring. Yes, a majority of participants in last week’s summit voiced support for extending 53, but only on the explicit conditions that it not drain money from smaller projects on the drawing board that no serious planning be done unless, somehow, sufficient money shows up.

Under those conditions, why not reaffirm long-term interest in 53?

Letter to the Editor in Todays Daily Herald

NOTE: This appeared in the letters to the editor in todays Daily Herald. I would love to hear some feedback on the comments section. More then likely I will respond with a counter letter refuting some of the obvious inaccuracies.

Act now to block Route 53, again

Recent events should raise the fears of concerned Lake County residents that recent efforts to “improve” Route 120 have been a ruse to revive the moribund Route 53 extension.

The current plan for Route 120 is essentially the east-west segment of that failed effort. The Route 53 plan failed because it did not address the transportation patterns of the impacted areas of our county very well, and was outrageously expensive.

For decades, the battle over Route 53 has sapped the money and efforts that could have been used to progressively improve the key arterial roads in our county. That is what transportation experts have repeatedly concluded needs to be improved to handle the current and expected traffic flows. Put simply, wasted efforts to force Route 53 through Lake County are why the county’s roads are in the mess they are in now.

At the Sept. 20 transportation summit, your elected officials got the opportunity to “vote” to put Route 53 back on the county’s transportation agenda. This year’s “vote” had the same odor as last year’s rigged vote. The 2005 summit organizers put Route 120 as the lone project in one of five categories, allowing the proponents of a six lane superhighway to make the claim that there was “consensus” that the project should be funded.

Several concerned Lake County residents have been keeping tabs on the Corridor Planning Council as they clumsily disregarded Illinois’ Open Meetings Act requirements such as announcing meeting subjects and locations in advance. CPC leader Bill Gentes even announced that the recent $2 million grant obtained through the efforts of Rep. Melissa Bean would be used to fund Stage 1 Engineering for his pet plan. But doesn’t this skip the legally mandated Feasibility Study and Environmental Impact Statement?

They may seem inconvenient when you are convinced that your plan is the only desirable one, or perhaps when you think nobody is watching.

Or maybe they would highlight the fact that a boulevard alternative proposed by leading planners would handle expected the traffic flow at a lower cost, and without destroying some environmental treasures, and creating a concrete barricade across affected neighborhoods.

Now their true plan is out of the closet. The people who want a plan that will genuinely benefit the area’s current and future residents will now have to swing into damage control.

The momentum that had been started is in danger of grinding into the gridlock of the false choice of Route 53 or nothing.

Contact your municipal, township, county, and state representatives now and tell them that we are tired of this stalemate. Tell them to take 53 off the table now, before the damage multiplies. Your legislators may be red-faced as they realize they were duped, or worse, that their scam has been exposed. But better that they are embarrassed than us all having to endure another 15 or more years of stagnant investment into our transportation infrastructure.

Ted Lazakis
Long Grove

A Chronology of 47 Years!

Today is my birthday, I have been told it happens once a year! The picture captures me at my finest in mayoral excellence! Sound asleep, plotting evil on Volo, whipping the other 9 chumps in the Mayoral fantasy football league, mayhem on assorted trustee's, paving over the anti 120 forces all at the same time!

47 Years Ago-- I was born in Port Jefferson New York. (1959) Oddly enough the White Sox clinched an American League pennant that day.
46 Years Ago-- My sister Gaye showed up to steal all the attention! (1960)
38 Years Ago-- My Dad did a sabbatical in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico where I went to school in a one room school house with 15 other kids ranging from 1st to 8th grade. (1968)
36 Years Ago-- My parents both took early retirement and moved to Guadalajara Mexico, where my sister and I attended Mexican schools until we went to college. (1970)
32 Years Ago-- My grandfather took me to the Montreal Olympics (hooking me on Track and Field) and the Baseball All-Star game in Philadelphia. (1976)
28 Years Ago-- I went to college, where a few years later I would emerge with a degree in History and a minor in English Literature from Texas Pan American. (1978)
25 Years Ago-- I bought my first car a white 1973 Toyota Corona for $400, it had 73,000 miles on it. Sold it for scrap 6 years later with 201,000 on it. I would still be driving it if had not self destructed. (1979)
24 Years Ago-- I got my first "real" job. I was a warehouse manager in New Orleans and then later Dallas. (1982)
20 Years Ago-- I moved from Dallas to Chicago (1986)
19 Years Ago-- I met the First Lady of Round Lake, a couple of shotguns, a few slaps upside the head and I was married! (1987)
18 Years Ago-- I played golf at Renwood with my father in law and was amazed that civilization existed outside the city of Chicago. My first exposure to Round Lake.
16 Years Ago-- The first kid arrived, my daughter Denise. (1990)
14 Years Ago-- I lost my mom to a long struggle with cancer. I miss her to this day. (1993)
12 Years Ago-- We moved to Round Lake buying a townhouse in Tree House in the Woods. I also purchased my first Big Gulp at the Rollins Road 7-11 one of nearly 100,000 since! (1994)
10 Years Ago-- I was appointed to be a trustee of the Round Lake Area Library District.
8 Years Ago-- Was appointed to be a member of the Round Lake Planning Board (1998)
7 Years Ago-- Became Chairman of the Round Lake Planning Board (1999)
6 Years Ago-- I lost my dad miss him everyday as well. (2000)
5 Years Ago-- Elected Mayor of Round Lake, what was I thinking? I also resigned from the Library Board where I had won re-election twice. (2001)
4 Years Ago-- I weighed 283 pounds (2002)
3 Years Ago-- I weighed 194 pounds (2003)
2 Years Ago-- Re-elected Mayor, this time my eyes were open, and I knew what I was getting into.
1 Year Ago-- I still weigh under 200 pounds (barely) but damn I look good.
Today-- I am 47, I look great, I have a colossal ego, and I think the world revolves around me. What else could I ask for!

Full Report on the Transportation Summit

Last night was the second annual Lake County Transportation Association Transportation Summit, this year many more elected people attended and many more audience members were there as well. There were roughly 60 elected officials voting. The voting was boiled down to 4 buckets and 2 advisory votes. Follow this link for the ballot. I would also caution you that the project ranking does not prohibit choices that finish lower then first to receive funding; in fact in some cases all projects can receive funding. What we are doing is telling our state representatives what our priorities are in ranking order. I was impressed last year many people had no real concerted idea about what was going on, this year everyone was fully dialed in!

Bucket One-- Projects Ready for Preliminary Engineering
There were 12 projects in this bucket, those that would receive a realistic chance of receiving funding were those that finished in the top six. My vote was for (FW) which was for the Route 60, stretching from Fairfield to 176. This project easily finished in the top 6, although not first, HG did which is Lake Cook to Route 45. I would put the results here, but they divided the projects into 2 brackets and then took the top 10 and re-voted, I was not fast enough with my pen to get all the percentages.

Bucket Two—Projects Ready for Design Engineering
There were only 4 projects ready for this phase the results were easier to capture. My vote was for GE.
33% GF—US 45 from 60 to 21
26% GE—IL60/83 South of 176 to the EJ&E Railroad
25% GC—IL 131 Wisconsin State Line to Sunset Ave
16% GD—Milburn Bypass

Bucket Three—Projects Ready for Construction
This was the good one we had 5 candidates, my vote was for GL, my rationale was this areas traffic flow will improve traffic downstream on 45 and 60
73% GN—US 21 South of IL Route 120 to IL Route 137
12% GL—US 45 Washington to 120
8% GG—IL 83 Wisconsin state line to Petitie Lake Road
3% GJ—US 45 132 to Rollins Road
3% GK US 45 Rollins to Washington

Bucket Four—Regional Corridor Projects
Last year this was the 120 Corridor bypass vote, this year it was US 41 from Delany Road to Lake Cook. My vote was strongly agree.
45%--Strongly Agree
31%--Agree
11%--Neutral
5%--Disagree
8%--Strongly Disagree

Advisory Ballot-- Enhanced Public Transit Service
The next things on the ballot were both advisory votes the first was for Enhanced Public Transit Service. All of these things are quite needed, the one I supported the highest was reverse commuting. The five items on the ballot that we talked about were as follows. The voting moved so quickly that I could not make heads or tails out of my notes this morning.
1. Comprehensive Para-transit
2. Connectivity Rail-Bus/Multi Modal Hubs
3. Express Service Rail-Bus
4. Rail Extensions
5. Reverse Commute.

Advisory Ballot—Route 53
The last advisory was the level of support for Route 53. I voted for strongly agree, considering that we had 60 people voting in the room and the mayors and the township supervisors, and county board members who are “traditionally” anti-53 there were 12 anti 53 votes and 42 pro votes. Overall I was quite pleased with the way this vote went, obviously I would have preferred 100% unanimity, but a consensus of nearly 70% has emerged in my mind.
61%--Strongly Agree
8%--Agree
3%--Neutral
6%--Disagree
21%--Strongly Disagree

Two caveats were added before the vote on 53, which were 53 will not be pursues and the expense of improvements to existing arterials, and 53 will only be pursued if other funding (i.e. toll way privatization) becomes available.

Regional Housing Assessment

NOTE: This was a post from last October which while I was rereading the blog (shamelessly for ideas on what to write this morning) I thought that this illustrates some of the issues facing the county with transportation.

A few weeks ago I attended the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus. There were numerous presentations that gave some big picture looks at the six county Chicagoland Area. One of the talks was on a Regional Housing Needs Assessment for the region. I got the presenter to send me the slide show, so I could present it to the Village Board because I thought it was important for them to have this overview in the back of their minds. I gave the presentation a few meetings ago to them and the public as well.

However there were some very telling slides that explain exactly what we are facing in the terms of "where we live" and "where we work" and to me this illustrates the need for transportation improvements which in turn will/should lure employers closer which will then reduce congestion even more.

The first slide below shows the housing increase from 1990-2000 taken from Census records. Round Lake is not as colorful since a vast majority of our growth has taken place since the 2000 census. However the Round Lake Area did grow thanks to Round Lake Beach. You can clearly see the area on the graph below.

The next image (below) is where the jobs are in 2000. You can see that they are either along the 294, Lake Cook corridors or downtown. As an observation the Baxter facility on Wilson and 120 does not even register and they have 2,300 plus jobs there.

If you then take the two pictures and graph them over each other, you get a look at the Housing vs. Jobs mismatch for the decade of the 90's

What does this mean to us? It's something that any resident intuitively understands while commuting or trying to drive anywhere during rush hours. However I think it illustrates the need for the 120 bypass and traffic improvements in the area. The construction of the 120 bypass will attract more business/jobs to the area which will reduce our commutes and ease congestion. However large employers are not coming to our area if they don't have road improvements, so its a catch 22 type of situation. Which is why the next 2-3 years are so important as we try to get the Route 120 bypass off the drawing board and on to the ground.

The Cedar Lake Road Extension

This is an old article from last year, but since I attended a meeting of the Lakewood Orchard HOA last night where the Cedar Lake Road extension was a topic of discussion I thought I would reprint it.

I was asked an excellent question by a Prairewalk Resident named Doug Pentek that I decided to respond to here since I am sure many people have the same questions.

The answer requires a full discussion of the Cedar Lake Road Extension and the plans Round Lake has made for the extension and the plans Lake County are making for it. So thanks to John Gutknecht for the updated map!

First however an overview.

When I took office 4 years ago one of the primary commute methods to Route 60 from Round Lake was 120 to Bacon to 60. Anyone who has lived here longer then 3 years recalls that actually the South end of Bacon was actually more dangerous then the North end. When Lakewood homes was in a first draft stage of the their development we were able to insist that Lakewood homes build the extension of Cedar Lake Road to its present point (#3 of the photo above) from Route 60.

Lake County has on its books the extension of Cedar Lake Road north from 60 all the way to 120. (that's the heavy black line on the map) However money is tight, the project is expensive and referendums for more transportation funds keep failing. So the project is going to be done in stages.

Stage 1 which is the 60 to Bacon Road portion right now is done, only some connection work to the Stage 2 and the cul de sac of Bacon (#5 on the photo)

Stage 2 I am pleased to say will extend north to Townline Road (#2 on the photo) and bids will be going out in October of this year, construction will start in the spring of 2007 and finish in the Fall of 2007. The village is going to improve its portion of Townline Road to Bacon to handle the traffic flow westwards from the T intersection and in front of our new Police and Public Works Facility (#6 on the photo). In attain the village required Neumann Homes and Concord Homes to provide funding to improve and enhance Townline Road East of the intersection all the way to Curran.

Stage 3 is scheduled to be bid out in 2008 and finished in 2009. This is clearly a shame but is a direct consequence of the two failed traffic referendums in the county in the last two years. However when it gets done a traffic light will be built at Townline and Cedar Lake (#2 on the photo), and at 120 and Cedar Lake (#1 on the photo).

So once this all get accomplished Bacon Road will be a cul-de sac on the South End about where it merges with Cedar Lake now (#5 on the photo). There has also been some discussion on making it a dead end on the North End as well.

However to finally get to Mr Pentek's question the state has looked at putting a light at Bacon and 120 and is currently doing a tentative survey of it, but my guess is since within 5 years the need for it will have vanished I am thinking it will not get done. My only advice is don't drive that way, I avoid those intersections if I can.

$2 Million for the 120 Bypass

We got some good news yesterday from our Congresswomen Melissa Bean on the 120 bypass. She was able to get the 120 CPC $2 million for the Phase 1 study in the form of a fiscal year 2007 Federal earmark. The picture is from the press conference where Congresswomen Bean announced the earmark. In the picture I am talking a little about what the congresswomen has done for transportation in the 8th district. She has delivered $30 million for her district which encompasses parts of 4 counties, but $16 million of it has been here in Lake County! There was a nice crowd of Mayors, County Board Members, media and the general public! The Daily Herald had an article about it here, and the News Sun covered it here.

Road Improvements Along 120 and Curran

I have seen some interesting comments about holding developers accountable for traffic issues. Coincidently I got some pictures of the road improvements that we insited on from Pulte and Centerville as a result of their residential and commercial projects. Centerville assumed responsibility for management of the roadwork project. The roadwork was essentially completed on Friday with the final installation of landscaping and grass mat.

I would like to make a couple of comments about past developments that I was involved with and the traffic issues that we held developers accountable for. As a general rule of thumb traffic improvements rank in the top 3 issues we want to address from a potential developer.

• Lakewood Homes-- They were required to do away with Bacon Road, and build from scratch the intersection, the extension of Cedar Lake northwards from 60 and then dedicate the remaining right away for the Cedar Lake Road extension. Off the top of my head Lakewood forked over in excess of $5 million dollars for traffic improvements from 800 homes.
• Madrona Homes-- In some respects we are not seeing the benefit from the traffic improvements from them yet, but hopefully the foresight the village had to make them set aside the 300 foot right away for the 120 bypass comes to fruition. In addtion we also set aside right away for the Cedar Lake Road extension from 120 to Townline Road. In partnership with Neuman Homes at Prairie Walk they also were required to improve Townline road which is a free benefit to District 46's "sometime" new school. I have no idea how much money the right away is, but its substantial based on roughly 800 homes.
  

I do wish that more could be done to route 60 specifically the light at 60 and Petersen. I did get a copy of the Lake County Transportation Plan for 2006-2011, and intersection improvements are slated for 2008. If the counties traffic refererendum had passed the intersection and many other needed improvements would be here much sooner.

120 Open House and Public Forum is Quite Successful

One of the 120 public forum's was held last night from 4-7 at the Hainesville Village Hall. We had an excellent crowd in fact sometimes it was an overflow. There were opportunities to review and then to comment on the project. The review aspect consisted of a quite a few informational flyers and then we had large maps that covered the major aspects of the project, environmental, traffic and land use. The maps illustrated the projects various facets ranging from the ADT (Average Daily Traffic) counts to the type of land in the corridor.

I was very gratified to see a strong contingent of Round Lakers! Al Villasenor, Michael Blum, Liz Nelson, Tim Latta, Deb Jones, and Todd Wright among many others who I missed! We also had a strong contingent from the county board and from mayors and elected officials as well. A special guest was Congresswomen Melissa Bean, who along with Congressman Mark Kirk are advocating on both sides of the aisle for our next step in funding, which is the Phase 1 engineering! We are asking for $15 million and we are quite hopeful.

120 Public Forum Today in Hainesville

Today is one of the public forums for the 120 bypass. Its at Hainesville's Village Hall which is at 100 N. Hainesville Rd. Which is just north of the intersection of Hainesville Road and 120.

Please please do come! The 120 bypass is critical to Round Lake and its future. Not to mention critical to the county and it's 1,000's of commuters as a vital East-West corridor.

For more information on the project the web page is at www.120now.com.

120 Public Forum is This Wednesday in Hainesville

On Wednesday, May 31st, the Route 120 Corridor Planning Council (CPC) will be hosting a Public Open House from 4 to 7 pm at the Hainesville Village Hall (100 N. Hainesville Rd., Hainesville, IL).

Come find out more about the Route 120 CPC, the study area, and why the council was founded. You will also have an opportunity to review the environmental, transportation, and land use constraints and opportunities mapped to date and speak with Route 120 CPC members regarding the presented information.

Please stop by walk through, and above all, give your comments, this is what it's all about!

In addtion there is the new website at www.120now.com check it out and bookmark it. Since it will be ever evolving!

Had an Active Mayoral Day on Thursday

I had a variety of missions yesterday, I had a meeting with the Hospital Task force which is progressing quite well currently. More to come would be the operative phrase here. Ask me about it if you see me.

The second meeting was a committee meeting of all the 120 Corridor Planning Council at the College of Lake Counties University Center. Well attended (see picture) all the committees reported with maps and details on the progress to date. What we need now is the funding from the Illinois tomorrow grant which Senator Link and Representative Osmond have procured for us. Arrival date is next month or so. Then we can hire a consulting firm to do the actual pre phase one feasibility study.

The next thing I did was attend the monthly meeting of the Storm Water Management Commission where I am a board member representing 12 communities including Round Lake on the SMC issues. All I can say is I heard the word's "nutrient farming" and nutrient management bank" and was still quite interested in the presentation.

In addition the board was presented with a mason jar full of sludge that apparently either A. Satan B. Antioch C. SMC or D. Corporate Evildoers were spreading out on this gentleman's property either intentionally or intentionally. At one point the sludge was being waved around directly over my head, which made me yearn for the comfort of the village halls dais and not the cramped board room at SMC.

The Mayors Email Basket

One of the things that I get a lot in my inbox is some irate resident with about 100 complaints about usually 99 things that either I have no control over, or had nothing to do with. But you need to blame someone and the Mayor (or any elected official, HOA President etc) is an excellent venue to vent on. As many of you know if you ask me calmly and rationally about something I generally respond via email or the phone. You may not like the answer, but you get one. I think its important to be responsive to the people who elected me.

So a few days ago I got this email that literally has all the "more irate" residents triggers in it. So to save the emailer some embarrassment I have removed any reference to where they live and who they are. I am leaving the email exactly the way it was sent to me, however I have placed XXX where it would identify the location of this resident.

Mr. Gentes -

It is not a common practice of mine to write emails such as this. I must express my current stress level in regards to what the XXX Park at XXX has turned into. If I wanted living like this, I would have remained a resident of the city of Chicago.

My husband and I moved to Lake County in 1998 with the hopes of living in a peaceful environment. Since we have moved here, it has continued to become a burden. I am at the ends of my rope with the park here at XXX. It wasn't bad enough that the XXX Builder lied to us when they told us the park would remain with the residents of XXX. So all of us that were told this lie swallowed the news and put up with what it has turned into.

The soccer groups that are here during the week have taken things over. This includes safe access through our streets. They conjest the whole area. God forbid if an ambulance needed to get through. At what life's cost is a soccer game. They have kicked out children who are playing in the park just so they can have their soccer practice. They leave their garbage on the ground. I have been to your meetings, you instructed me to call the police number anonymously. I'm tired of being questioned by the police for my address even after I have mentioned your name and what you instructed me to do. And I know one of the officers has told one of the soccer coaches who it is that called the police to report the parking issues. Who are they serving and protecting?

It's not bad enough that I spend 3 hours everyday fighting traffic going to and from work - which is only 16 miles one way. Most of my compute time is spent in Round Lake, Hainsville and Grayslake. Then I work 8 hours. That totals 11 hours so far and now I must come home to all this traffic and numerous soccer groups right out in front of my house. By the time they leave, I have to go inside because now all the mosquito's have come out. I am a prisoner of my own home.

I HATE IT HERE NOW. I wished I had never moved here. Clearly I feel you only care for the residents you want to care for. Where did all these soccer groups play before XXX was built? I have seen schools with playing fields that are empty why can't they use these areas?

The Director of the Park District tells me the XXX Park at XXX is not in a residential area. I don't know what he is looking at but there are homes that go around this park on all 4 sides. Not to mention it is situated right in the middle of our subdivision. Whats not residential about that.

There are kids that hangout in this park at night to do who knows what. I thought the park closed at dusk- at least that's what the sign say's that's at the entrance of the park. Maybe the rules only apply when we feel like enforcing them. Where are the Park Ranges why don't they patrol. Isn't that what our taxes help pay for.

The gazebo has been torn apart by these punks. They damaged numerous mail boxes.

How much do we have to take?

I have a heart condition and the amount of stress this is causing is getting to be more than I can deal with. If something doesn't happen soon to make this a peaceful park again, you leave me no choice but to consult legal advise to see how much stress and harassment one must take before they themselves can take action.

I know if it was my responsibily to hold a position such as yours, the residents which I represent would be my number one priority. How much do you know about us? When are things goings to start changing for the good for the residents of Round Lake.

We keep paying higher taxes but it's you that reeps the benefits. I haven't seen anything other than more houses being built, my compute time getting longer and a park that's attracting gang bangers.

Would the village like to pitch in for the gas our vehicles are burning because WE CAN'T MOVE. STOP BUILDING ALL THESE HOUSES UNTIL YOU CAN DO SOMETHING ABOUT THE ROADWAYS. Or maybe you want to send your child into a park to play with used needles, used rubbers or maybe you can let them swing on a swing next to a drug dealer.

I would love to see the police more round here. Believe me, it's safer for us with them here.

Maybe, we need a new Mayor! Clearly you have heard what I have to say in your monthly Village meetings. My mother had a phrase for people who didn't respond "IN ONE EAR AND OUT THE OTHER" I hope that's not your plan on dealing with the issues I'm bringing to the table.

I AM WAITING FOR YOUR RESPONSE - so please don't low this off.

Well this hits the whole range of things I hear about. More then likely given the fact that we have worked with this resident numerous times and taken quite a few proactive steps to allay there concerns I would just acknowledge the email and move on. In my service as Mayor I have learned there are a segment of people who you can't make happy, and no matter what you do, they will never be satisified.

This is the response that I'd like to give but I know I won't because I'm sure the writer is a good person but just highly frustrated at daily issues that have no immediate solution.

Dear Un-happy Person
I received your email last week, you raise many points. Let me attempt to address them one by one.
First. The developer lied to you, okay join the club! Its not an exclusive club, I would guess there are a couple million people in it in Chicago alone. I am a member as well.
Second. You bought a home directly across from a park. What did you think was going to happen in a park? Kids would not play? Kids would not make noise? If you had such an issue why not choose a home site well away from the park? There were and are lots of those around.
Third. The soccer groups that play in "your park" are in Round Lake Area Park District operated parks and are 100% legitimately able to be there. Oh by the way I drove over to the park to see the soccer hooligans damaging mail boxes, shooting up, and then leaving used condoms all over the place. You know what I found? I found your neighbors coaching teams of kids who live right in XXX development. They range from maybe 6 years old to 14 years old. That's the danger age right there. I would suggest that these dangerous thugs are better off playing in organized leagues rather then out pillaging and looting.
I also met Jose, who holds a masters degree in engineering, who takes time from his job to coach his kids and his neighbors kids in AYSO soccer, he lives exactly 4 blocks from you. He tells me you harass him and only him, I wonder why? He does not know you.
Fourth. I told you to call 911 if you saw something offensive, the dispatchers do not ask your name if you do not want to use your name. You might actually know this if you actually called 911 about something.
Fifth. You sit in traffic! Wow really imagine my surprise! You must realize that traffic is a county, state and federal issue, but however it's easier to blame me. Maybe you should see that I am very actively pursuing traffic improvements throughout the county, including one that is crucial to Round Lake, the 120 bypass.
Sixth. Mosquito's make your life unbearable. The village agressively sprays 6-8 times a year, as best I can tell there is no problem right now. If mosquitos drive you inside I am sure they drive the thugs inside as well, so this might be a good thing.
Seventh. You are going to sue? For what? Buying a house? Kids playing soccer? Giant bugs? Traffic Jams?
Eighth. There is a lot more here in the email that kinda starts to ramble so I am going to stop responding because the rest is just ranting.
Ninth. When you list your house, make sure your realtor uses the words "right across from the park" I hear it's a selling point, and people pay more to live right across from the park.

Sincerely yours
Bill Gentes
Mayor of Round Lake

120 and the Rotary!

Yesterday morning I was up early giving a speech to the Libertyville Sunrise Rotary at Lambs Farm, about the 120 bypass and the 120 Corridor Planning Council. There were about 75 members present and I was quite impressed by the level of commitment and dedication of the members. There was a lively give and take about the pressing need for transportation improvements of all kinds throughout the county. I also saw Mayor Tim Perry of Grayslake and Mayor Jeff Hager of Libertyville as well.

It was interesting to hear the feedback from the mostly Eastern side of the county people to traffic improvement in the western end of the county. The business people certainly understood the need to get people to work more efficiently and the ability to compete with Wisconsin and Cook County for businesses and jobs!

The New Cedar Lake Road

The Cedar Lake Road Extension and the plans Round Lake has made for the extension and the plans Lake County are making for it. So using the USGS mapping service and a service called Terraserver I was able to find a 2002 aerial picture of the area. Using my limited graphics experience I labeled 7 key areas in the plan.



First however an overview.

When I took office 4 years ago one of the primary commute methods to Route 60 from Round Lake was 120 to Bacon to 60. Anyone who has lived here longer then 3 years recalls that actually the South end of Bacon was actually more dangerous then the North end. When Lakewood homes was in a first draft stage of the their development we were able to insist that Lakewood homes build the extension of Cedar Lake Road to its present point (#3 of the photo above) from Route 60.

Lake County has on its books the extension of Cedar Lake Road north from 60 all the way to 120. (that's the heavy black line on the map) However money is tight, the project is expensive and referendums for more transportation funds keep failing. So the project is going to be done in stages.

Stage 1 which is the 60 to Bacon Road portion right now is done, only some connection work to the Stage 2 and the cul de sac of Bacon (#5 on the photo)

Stage 2 I am pleased to say will extend north to Townline Road (#2 on the photo) and bids went out in October 2005, construction will start in the spring of 2006 and finish in the Fall of 2006. The village is going to improve its portion of Townline Road to Bacon to handle the traffic flow westwards from the T intersection and in front of our new Police and Public Works Facility (#6 on the photo). In attain the village required Neumann Homes and Concord Homes to provide funding to improve and enhance Townline Road East of the intersection all the way to Curran.

Stage 3 is scheduled to be bid out in 2009 and finished in 2010. This is clearly a shame but is a direct consequence of the two failed traffic referendums in the county in the last two years. However when it gets done a traffic light will be built at Townline and Cedar Lake (#2 on the photo), and at 120 and Cedar Lake (#1 on the photo).

So once this all get accomplished Bacon Road will be a cul-de sac on the South End about where it merges with Cedar Lake now (#5 on the photo). There has also been some discussion on making it a dead end on the North End as well.

Rumbling Around

I am speaking at two coffees today. Mostly about the 120 bypass, but I usually take questions and will cover the wide range of topics affecting Round Lake. Traffic always seems to come up however! I wonder why?

I have been up early today and driving around looking for garbage and other stuff. I found some but not much to be candid. I also identified a few street lights that were out as well. If you have any street lights that need work email our Director of Public Works Davis Clark and let him know where they are.

I did notice a lot of garbage on the north side of 120, that high wind we got last Sunday night did those of us who put our garbage cans out over night no favors. 70mph wind gusts take over full garbage cans in a heart beat! So maybe on windy nights we should leave garbage inside until the morning. At least the new recycling garbage cans have lids, for those of you who recall the old bins, you can just imagine how much trash would be in our yards!

120 CPC Logo Debuts!

The new logo has been designed for the 120 Corridor Planning Council. I got a first look at it today and I like it.
In addition quite a bit of information on the CPC is available on the Lake County Partners website. All the minutes and agendas along with some background information are available.
Soon the website for the 120 CPC bypass will be up and running. As soon as I know its up and running you will know!

Bike Trails---An Update

Loyal reader Brad Ogilvie asked me a question a few weeks ago about bike trails. I wrote some of this way back in October but I think some of it bears repeating. The Lake County Forest Preserves have a project called the Millennium Trail which is a trail network connecting an area from the Indiana border to Milwaukee.

Here in Round Lake the trail is coming sooner rather then later, when it does come it will go up through the south side of Valley Lakes, across the back of the new Ryland Development and then it will go up the Com Ed right away into Round Lake Beach. One of the alternatives that I am pushing is a connection throughout the Synnesvedt property to the new Nippersink Forrest Preserve off of 120. If that's the way it goes then we want to explore a way to get some connector trails across 120 and into Madrona and the down all the way to Lakewood homes. We are not sure how right now, but I am going to figure out something. In addition I want it to connect to the future downtown development district.

Busy Mayoral Day

Today I have a meeting of the Hospital Taskforce at 10. An interview with for a needs assesement with Mano a Mano at noon. Mano a Mano is the local aid agency located in Round Lake Park. I served a term on the agencies board a few years ago. It's a worthwhile agency that does some needed things for the area.
Then in the afternoon I have two meetings one internal and the other a planning meeting for some issues with our Downtown development district. Lastly I am going to go to the Lakemoor village board meeting at 7 with one of our county board members Bonnie Thompson Carter to make a presentation to them on the "wisdom" of joining the 120 corridor planning council. Other then that I have nothing going on!

The Day of Meetings!

It seems like every once in awhile there is a day where all I do is have meetings! Yesterday was such a day. I had a morning meeting at the hall ironing out some issues, then it was off to a meeting with Dick Hilton Director of Lake Counties GIS Department (maps!). For those of you unaware of what the county has for free go to this website right now! There are some really interesting things you can do there. The picture at the left is of the land where Great America currently is! Somewhat changed I would say.

From there it was a dash to the Lake County Department of Transportation where I attended as a spectator the set-up meeting of the 120 Corridor Planning Council's Steering Committee. It was interesting to hear some of the experts thoughts on the 120 process!

Then tonight it was Stormwater Management, I am the municipal representative of the Fox Watershed all with the county representative and County Board member Bonnie Thompson Carter. There are 12 members from the 4 watersheds, its quite interesting at times but quite dull at others. No comments on which it was tonight however!

Its Alive! The 120 Corridor Planning Council is Live!

The organizing meeting for the 120 Corridor Planning Council was tonight. I hosted it at the new Police and Public Works facility. It was very well attended, with the Mayors of Grayslake, Round Lake, Round Lake Park, Hainesville, Gurnee, Waucounda and Mundelein all attending or having representatives there. In addition County Board Chair Suzi Schmidt and the other 4 board members were there as well. The communities of Park City, Volo and Waukegan were unable to have there mayors attend. There were about 30 people in the audience.

The meeting was mostly all organizational with the adoption of bylaws and election of officers. I was elected Chairman, with County Board Member Diana O'Kelly as Vice Chair (she is the Chair of the county boards transportation committee and is an excellent fit), and Mayor Tim Perry of Grayslake was elected Treasurer.

I am very excited about the whole process and over time and it will take time, we are going build this needed transportation improvement. Of course I made some remarks which I will post below, with some edits for clarity.

I want to thank everyone on the council for there confidence in me. When I was thinking about what to say, there were three phrases that jumped out at me

• The first was "“Consensus" --—10 Municipalities and a substantial part of the county board leadership are here today and back the eventual construction of this needed traffic improvement. This is truly impressive and shows the importance we attach to transportation improvements.
• Second is the "East-West Transportation Solution"”-- this project is about exactly that, East-West, not North-South and specifically not 53.
• Third is "Optimism" the Route 120 bypass will get built, I doubt all of us would be sitting here, and staring ahead at a project of this magnitude and timeline if it were not because we are optimistic about the inevitability of this project taking place.
  
• There are many different ideas on how the road should end up. All of these ideas will and should be evaluated by our committee structure and the best solution will emerge. I think we can all promise that they will be heard and evaluated.

Obviously there will be much more happening in the future and of course you will be hearing quite a bit about it when those things happen!

A Driving Hurry! To fix our traffic problems!

Today is a busy one for me, at 10 I am attending a board meeting for the Lake County Transportation Alliance (LCTA) where I am on the executive committee, then in the evening is the initial organizing meeting for the 120 Bypass Corridor Council. More on that in Thursdays post I would imagine. By the way I have had 33 posts that have the word transportation in it in the last few months....gee I wonder why?

Some background on the Lake County Transportation Alliance
How many times have we heard from State Officials that there is no perceived agreement on priority transportation projects in Lake County? We lose out on funding to other counties that have an organized, single voice advocating for transportation improvements.

As you may recall, the transportation projects voted on at the Transportation Summit were either identified during the seven public hearings conducted by Lake County in the Fall of 2004 and or developed from the 10-year Lake County Road Improvement Plan or during the first Lake County Elected Officials'’ Meeting convened on July 13, 2005 by State Senator Terry Link, State Rep. Kathy Ryg, Lake County Board Chair Suzi Schmidt, Lake County Chair of the Public Works and Transportation Committee Diana O'Kelly, and Mayor Elliott Hartstein of Buffalo Grove.

In order to keep Lake County's transportation needs in front of our legislators, we've set up a new organization to spearhead transportation advocacy. This new membership organization is called the LCTA and among other things, LCTA will develop an Annual Action Plan, work with State and Federal Officials to support them in their efforts to secure transportation funding, and convene an Annual Transportation Summit to develop the next year'’s Consensus Transportation Agenda.

Despite LCTA's very recent establishment, we've already begun taking action. We've already provided Governor Blagojevich and Illinois DOT'’s Executive Director, Tim Martin with a letter detailing Lake County's FY 2007 Transportation Agenda. The signatories include State Senator Terry Link, State Rep. JoAnn Osmond, Lake County Board Chair Suzi Schmidt, and LCTA Chair JoAnn Eckmann.

LCTA is forming the Route 120 Corridor Planning Council to advocate for the Route 120 Bypass, the top regional transportation planning priority identified at the Summit. Twelve communities and the County are on board working cooperatively to pursue a $340,000 Illinois Tomorrow Planning Grant.

The Proposed Route 120 Bypass

As promised earlier here is a map of the 120 bypass as it was constituted when it was a part of the Route 53 bypass a few years ago. The picture above is a rough JPEG of this PDF file of about 1.4 MB.

NOTE: for some reason I can't get the PDF to post here, so email me and I will send you the file

A few disclaimers on the map as you look at it.

• The final version of the route will more then likely not be on this path. There are points that it will have to go through. Such as where it crosses Wildspring in Round Lake.
• All the improvements around intersections are also provisional. In other words how the exits and entrances from the bypass will actually appear is highly speculative.
• This is not I repeat not the Route 53 bypass, it is the 120 Bypass.
  

However in the absence of anything else this shows the intent of the 120 Corridor Planning Council (120 CPC) towards developing a "Pre Phase One Engineering Plan" for IDOT and our State and Federal Legislators. My guess is that this will take us about 18 months.

Next Wednesday the 11th at 7pm is the set-up meeting of the 120 CPC which will adopt the bylaws of the organization, elect officers and get a committee structure manned and moving. Once the housekeeping is done, the 120 CPC will meet on a more formal basis on a regular schedule. Since we are a public entity we will certainly be open to the public and of course entertain public comment. In addition we will be having public hearings where we will actively invite public comment on the plan as the process goes forward. The regular board meetings of the 120 CPC will be held at the new Round Lake Police and Public Works facility at the corner of Bacon and Townline Road in Round Lake.

The Regional Picture for Lake County

The Economic Development arm of the county is a highly effective organization that has slowly been positioning the county to solve many of the underlying problems with our economic base. This organization called Lake County Partners recently retained Deloitte & Touche Consulting to segment its business attraction and retention markets based on the Lake County's strengths and weakness (labor force, site, building availability, cost of doing business, quality of life, business climate, etc.).

• A large concentration of Lake County's resident worker force lives in the northwest quadrant (North of Rte. 60 to the Wisconsin Line, west of Route 21 to the McHenry County line) of the county; they go to work in the southeast quadrant of the county.
• 90 to 95% of these communities' EAV is residential based; the fastest growing non-residential uses in this area are retail and personal services, which pay at the lower end of the wage and salary scale.
• 60% of Lake County's existing businesses require only a high school degree for entry level positions; therefore, Lake County is a net importer of these entry level workers.
• 70,000 Lake County residents with a BA degree or higher exit Lake County daily for work because there are not jobs requiring their skills or knowledge in Lake County so we are a net exporter of knowledge workers;
• There is a dearth of large improved shovel-ready sites for new professional office and industrial locations;
• The greatest opportunity to develop shovel-ready sites is in the central portion of the northwest quadrant;
• The prime barrier to these sites being developed is the lack of a transportation infrastructure that would allow companies to cost effectively move components and workers in and out of the area.

• Deloitte & Touche, and the 120+ Lake County public and private business leaders were involved in the process and they identified bio/pharma corporate headquarters, R&D and professional back-office operations; medical diagnostic equipment/services headquarters, R&D and professional back-office support operations; Professional, Technical, IT, FIRE and Logistical Services' divisional/corporate headquarters and back office support operations as Lake County's target industries.
• These industries are projected to grow faster than the projected average growth rate for all industries, for the next 10 years.
• Deloitte & Touche cautioned Lake County's public and private leadership that its long-term economic future was tied to its ability to redress its transportation system deficiencies and the lack of shovel ready sites.
• The State of Wisconsin and Southeast Wisconsin have targeted the same industries that Deloitte & Touche identified as Lake County's growth industries. They have re-structured their incentive programs to attract these industries and are in the process of finalizing the development of Prairies Wood corporate Park, a 500+ acre improved business park at the Rte 165 Exit of I-94 less than 3 minutes off the Interstate, where companies can efficiently transport raw materials, components, finished goods and labor into and out of the area.
• During peak commute periods; from the Gurnee and Grand Ave. I-94 on-ramp it can take a Lake County resident commuting to his or her job in the Route 137, 60, 22 and Lake Cook corridors 45 to 60 minutes to get to their desk; by heading north from the same on-ramp, those same Lake County residents can be at their desk in the new Prairie Wood Corporate Park at the I-94, Rte 165 off ramp, in 15 minutes.
  

These are some interesting facts about the county but a lot of them revolve around traffic improvements, which I believe is the single biggest issue in this county today.

The Year that was-- 2005

2005 was the year of the Rooster, and here in Round Lake we have plenty to crow over. We have two new Trustee's Brian Brubaker and Bob Del Prato a new Police Chief in Cliff Metaxa and a new Director of Public Works Davis Clark. Some of the other highlights are:

• We finally adopted a new human resources plan that encompasses employee reviews, job descriptions a fair an equitable pay plan.
• Restructuring of the Police Department is well under way, with a modern efficient and more effective police department starting to emerge.
  
• We are moving full speed ahead on the Downtown Development Project and hope to have it done by 2008 (our 100th anniversary)
  
• We have familiar faces in new places with Terre Eyzk moving up into the Chair of the Planning Commission (my old seat), Hans Zigmund moving up into the Chair of the Architectural Review Committee (ARC) and Steve Skinner moving from the ARC to the Planning and Zoning Commission, former trustee Dale Multerer is now the president of the Police Board.
• Sean Gillette led a wonderful group of people who planned and organized the second annual Streets of Summer festival this summer. Lonnie Brooks headlined and 1,000's attended!
• New commercial development is coming online at the Centerville Commons on Route 60 and Cedar Lake Road, Curran Commons at 120 and Curran, and more development at the corner of 134 and Fairfield to go along with the CVS Pharmacy. More will be happening in 2006 as well.
  
• The construction of a new $7 million 35,000 square foot Police and Public Works Station on the corner of Bacon and Townline road. This facility is big enough for our current population and for our future needs. It was designed and built so it can and could expand if needed in the future.
• Many of the housing projects that we have been hearing about for sometime are finally complete or nearly so, with Valley Lakes, Madrona, Lakewood Homes, Bradford Place, and Silver Leaf Glen reaching that point.
  

On a personal note I am thankful for the opportunity you gave me in April 2005 to lead the village for another four years. Serving as Mayor is the single most rewarding thing I have ever done in my professional life, and I thank you for your support. I aim to make Round Lake the best possible place it can be.

120 Bypass and a Map

I had an interesting meeting with a couple of companies looking to get involved in the 120 bypass project. What a surprise! An estimated half a billion dollars, potentially, on the table and consultants are interested. The best part of the meeting was one consultant provided me with a map of the entire corridor from US-94 to IL-60 with the route overlaid on an aerial picture. Makes for interesting viewing. I instantly asked for the map in an electronic version! Which as soon as I get I will have here for our viewing pleasure. There are some interesting observations you can make out about where and how the bypass must flow to make sense.

Madrona Homeowners Association

I was invited to speak at the Madrona Homeowners Association meeting last night at the Village Hall. I talked about some areas of concern that directly affect Madrona Homes.

• The 120 Bypass that runs through the grassy set aside corridor in the middle of Madrona.
• The Cedar Lake road extension and its timing and how its going to work.
• District 46's intention to NOT staff the new school until the 2007-2008 school year. Which means the building is vacant for well over a year.

For those of you wondering what the picture means for this post its an inside joke and attendance at the meeting is how you understand it!

Article in Saturdays's Daily Herald

Rt. 120 bypass will be built, mayor assures

By Jason King
Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted Saturday, November 05, 2005

Two central Lake County mayors hope to capitalize on an emerging consensus to improve Route 120.

Round Lake Mayor Bill Gentes and Grayslake Mayor Tim Perry are leading an effort to create a corridor planning council for the road. They say it would do much of the groundwork for the desired improvements.

“The first phase of a road program is called the ‘phase one engineering.’ It maps out the corridor, gets the logistics out of the way. It’s a big picture look, if you will,” Gentes said. “That’s what we want to accomplish.”

In September, during a transportation summit staged by the Lake County Partners, work on the Route 120 bypass emerged as the main desired regional road improvement.

Perry said there’s a good reason for that.

“Grayslake and Round Lake are the most directly impacted. But it’s not just those residents getting bogged down in traffic, it’s the entire county,” he said. “It impacts every business in central Lake County, as well as the rest of the county.”

Gentes said the planning council ideally would consist of leaders from 11 communities along Route 120 and the proposed bypass, along with the five county board members whose districts include the road.

The bypass would be a four-lane divided highway running about 7.5 miles between Wilson and Almond roads south of Route 120. Cost estimates range up to $500 million.

Gentes said each municipality would pony up $5,000 to get the effort rolling and be expected to make its professional staff available for the project.

Most of the municipalities contacted have indicated they’d join the council, Gentes said.

“If we come up with every community on the corridor, every county board member and we’re all saying ‘yes’ and present it to our legislators and banged the public relations drum, it would be very difficult for the state to not put that very high on the priority list,” he said.

Perry said the need for improving Route 120 is too important for decision-makers to ignore.

“Transportation is the No. 1 impediment to the expansion of the local economy and our nonresidential tax base,” he said. “If business users identify that they can’t move goods, services, employees or customers through the area, they could make the decision to hopscotch over Lake County.”

Gentes said he expects the council to begin its work in January, with an eye toward presenting its information to the Illinois Department of Transportation and local legislators next fall.

“I think all of us speaking together in one voice will cause Lake County to get our fair share (of transportation funding),” he said. “The Route 120 bypass will be built.”

Traffic Counts at 7 Intersections

The Village Board recently ordered new traffic counts on seven intersections in Round Lake. We did this for the International Shopping Center Show we attended last week. However I think its instructive to see what those numbers are and how they have changed since the last time we did this study in 2003. We use these numbers extensively for our discussions with commercial land owners to help them with thier marketing efforts.

The seven intersections are as follows:
134 and Fairfield-- 24,156 cars a day an increase of 13%
134 and Cedar Lake Road-- 19,364 cars a day an increase of 10%
120 and Wilson-- 25,246 cars a day an increase of 8%
120 and Fairfield-- 30,221 cars a day an increase of 8%
120 and Wildspring-- 19,598 cars a day an increase of 22%
60 and Fairfield-- 24,110 cars a day an increase of 3%
60 and Bacon-- 19,202 cars a day an increase of 9%

These numbers are one of a series of numbers used by retailers to determine market suitability for store placement. The other major ones are population figures from the census (the village has done one special census where we went from 5,400, to 10,100 and is doing another in the spring where we anticipate being in the 14-15,000 range), household income, and population inside of radius circles of 1, 3 and 5 miles. By the way I fully intend to blog more about this is the next few weeks.

Mayor Blogs on Traffic Congestion from the Future-- 2030

As a follow up to the post on Housing and Jobs the same presentation had a portion dedicated to traffic congestion The first graphic above is traffic in 1996, the second and more troubling graphic is the one of the traffic congestion in 2030. Again a reason to push traffic improvements and the 120 bypass! Do I sound like a broken record. By the way as near as I can tell, Round Lake is right near the L in Lake county on the graphics.

If anyone is interested in the complete slide show I made it into a PKzip file with each slide as a jpeg It's 2.7mb in size!

Congestion (and I don't mean the flu!) 2005 with a dollop of Housing!

A few weeks ago I attended the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus. There were numerous presentations that gave some big picture looks at the six county Chicagoland Area. One of the talks was on a Regional Housing Needs Assessment for the region. I got the presenter to send me the slide show, so I could present it to the Village Board because I thought it was important for them to have this overview in the back of their minds. I gave the presentation a few meetings ago to them and the public as well.

However there were some very telling slides that explain exactly what we are facing in the terms of "where we live" and "where we work" and to me this illustrates the need for transportation improvements which in turn will/should lure employers closer which will then reduce congestion even more.

The first slide below shows the housing increase from 1990-2000 taken from Census records. Round Lake is not as colorful since a vast majority of our growth has taken place since the 2000 census. However the Round Lake Area did grow thanks to Round Lake Beach. You can clearly see the area on the graph below.

The next image (below) is where the jobs are in 2000. You can see that they are either along the 294, Lake Cook corridors or downtown. As an observation the Baxter facility on Wilson and 120 does not even register and they have 2,300 plus jobs there.

If you then take the two pictures and graph them over each other, you get a look at the Housing vs. Jobs mismatch for the decade of the 90's

What does this mean to us? It's something that any resident intuitively understands while commuting or trying to drive anywhere during rush hours. However I think it illustrates the need for the 120 bypass and traffic improvements in the area. The construction of the 120 bypass will attract more business/jobs to the area which will reduce our commutes and ease congestion. However large employers are not coming to our area if they don't have road improvements, so its a catch 22 type of situation. Which is why the next 2-3 years are so important as we try to get the Route 120 bypass off the drawing board and on to the ground.

Village takes step to adress Metra Parking Issues

The higher price of gas has pushed Metra ridership upwards in the last months by almost 5%. What does this mean to the village? Well for one thing our 360 parking spaces are full almost every other day. We usually are at 90% capacity everyday with small spikes upwards each Monday and Tuesday.

I directed the village engineers and public works department to plan a quick fix to some of the issues we are facing with this overload of Metra riders.

In the next few days the area (marked with the yellow line) in the picture will become 12-14 temporary parking spots for Permit Parkers only!

The village is also taking steps to better manage the traffic flow of the stations southwest lot by restriping and making traffic flow one way only. We feel this will get cars out on the road and off to home slightly faster then currently.

Lastly once we move into the Police and Public Works facility this winter, the old public works area will become available for almost 100-120 more spots, at some point in early 2006.

120 Bypass Corridor in Madrona

This is looking slightly East at Madrona, the swath of green down the center of the picture is the placement of the 120 bypass corridor.

Lots of Fall Events Today!

Busy day today, home coming parade at Grant HS, Nippersink Forest Preserve Sneak Peak, and the Valley Lakes festival. I will be at all of them!

While Nippersink is not yet open to the public, you can catch a sneak peek of this Preserve at this special Preview Event.

Come learn about this exciting Preserve. Get a grand view of planned trails and other amenities on guided tours. Review land use plans and talk to Forest Preserve staff. Fun, free activities including wagon rides, birds of prey demos, music, info stations, refreshments, and more.

Enter the Preserve from Route 120 (Belvidere Rd) west of Cedar Lake Road in Round Lake.

Helicopter Trip over Round Lake Yesterday

Clarke Mosquito was kind enough to let me tag along on one of their survey trips yesterday. I took about 40 high resolution pictures of various sites on our trip over village. The four pictures are the new police and public works department, the Metra Station, the route 60 and Cedar Lake intersection and Valley Lakes. I took some shots that will illustrate a few things like the 120 bypass route and some other things. There are days when Mayors get to do really cool things! Today was one of those days.

Ground Breaking at Curran Commons (Curran and 120)

This post could also be entitled. "People with large heads should not wear large hats! At leaast in my case! There was a ground breaking today for Curran Commons which is on the Southeast side of 120 and Curran.

In the first picture I was talking (... its a rare thing!), surely the first thing you thought was what pearls of wisdom was the Mayor dispensing? Well I was illustrating how the village board insisted on Pulte Homes deeding the 5 acres of land to the village in the Bradford Place Subdivision PUD. The subsequent resale of the Curran Commons land netted us just over $740,000 which we used to pay off the $1,070,000 dollars we spent on the 39 acre site where our Police and Public Works site that is now being built. Since then we have now sold approximately 5 acres of the 39 to the Round Lake Area Fire District for $150,000 for a fire station. We have basically bought 39 acres of land for $190,000. Of course I paraphrase because I talked much longer then that!

In the second picture Trustee's Bob Del Prato, Don Newby, Pat Blauvelt, Brian Brubaker, Village Clerk Jeanne Kristan, Finance Director Maggie Molidor, Police Chief Cliff Metaxa and me all dig in to get the project underway!

Observations and Clarifications on Traffic Improvements in the Area.

I have noticed a variety of comments to some of my posts on the 120 bypass and decided that rather then answering them piecemeal I would answer them in one larger post.

Since the day I moved here I have been keenly aware of the need for some form of major traffic relief and minor traffic relief as well. The original idea and concept I read about was the route 53 extension. The right of ways and the plans had been bought and studied for nearly 50 years, municipal support was and still is overwhelming. The political realities of the last 20 years in this county have precluded any concerted effort to get the route 53 extension here. Its useless to point fingers and have recriminations now. I don't think the Route 53 bypass will get done in my lifetime. But it is wonderful to have 98% of the county on board with the 120 bypass now!

As many of you know this county for some reason voted down two transportation referendums in the last few years that would have provided over $100 million dollars of infrastructure improvements to the county. I believe this referendum could have gone a long way to improving traffic flow in the county. However it failed and more then likely the county board will never put it on the ballot again because they will be on the next few ballots, but that's politics!

I won't go into the recent transportation summit issues because I have already covered it here and here. However I would like to outline what the village has done for traffic inside its borders.

Cedar Lake Road Extension (article here)
When the village was considering the Lakewood homes annexation we recognized that traffic would be a major issue so we insisted that Lakewood build one third of the counties proposed extension of Cedar Lake south from 120 to 60. This would do away with the ultra dangerous intersection of 60 and Bacon. The Cedar Lake Road extension project is being phased and ultimately will provide a huge traffic relief to North and South commutes. The cost to the taxpayer and the village was zero, Lakewood paid for all the intersection improvements at 60 and Cedar Lake, and the improvements all along the mile long stretch of road.

Traffic Intersection at 60 and Fairfield
We worked closely with the county and state on this project. Even though it was not in the village we were able to illustrate the needs and wishes of our residents. Its certainly a lot better then a 4 way stop sign that it was.

Traffic Intersection at Wilson and 134
Again we worked with the state and county to illustrate the needs for traffic flow management here.

Intersection Improvements at Fairfield and 134
With the new commercial area at this corner (CVS corner) we were able to make the developer improve the turn lanes and make traffic flow smoother through the area. The intersection already had a light but enhanced turn lanes and signals make it easier to manage.

Signalized Intersection at 134 and Cedar Lake
This is one where we made a mistake, the board voted to not allow the state to develop a light there. Then Trustee Kohlmeyer convinced a majority of her colleagues that it would adversely affect some of the businesses in the area. I think we made a mistake here, but that's why we elect people to decide things.

Intersection of Fairfield and Nippersink
When the Valley Lakes PUD was completed in 1997 it had a $400,000 fund set aside for intersection improvements as they related to the Valley Lakes development. When there were a variety of accidents and a fatality at this intersection the board unanimously voted to seek a partnership with Avon Township, Lake County and ourselves to put up a temporary traffic light two-three years in advance of the counties programmed construction of such an intersection and use the $400,000 as our share of the proceeds for the construction.

We recognized that a business was on the corner of the SW side and we attempted to work closely with them and the property ownership to plan the transition including offering planning assistance to move the bins out of the right of way where they currently exist.

This has suddenly become a political hot potato so I won't go into the details, but we will get it done and this intersection will have all the needed intersection improvements which will improve the flow of traffic.

Signals at Rosedale and Cedar Lake Road
We have been able to get funding from the state for a traffic signal at this busy intersection that serves the Round Lake High School. I don't have all the details as to when it will be installed but we will update when I have more information.

The 120 Bypass
This plan stretches from Wildwood and 120 where existing Route 120 narrows to 2 lanes, to Wilson Road near Baxter. The plan flows south of existing 120 and will go over train tracks and avoid the choke points in Grayslake, it will then angle up and through Madrona homes where we have a 300 foot corridor planned for it. There are 4 exits and entrances, Route 45, Allegheny, Fairfield and Wilson. If you want to visualize what it will look like it should be similar to the stretch of highway between 94 and Hunt Club Road on current Route 120.

I am sure I am forgetting some of the improvements but my fingers are getting tired so I will blog and addendum at some later point.

120 Corridor with Townline and Wildspring on the side!

I have received numerous questions regarding the path of the 120 corridor as it runs through our town. Particularly its path through Madrona Homes. This link to a PDF on the village website which also details the construction timelines for the Wildspring and Townline road improvements has the actual 120 bypass corridor marked out as it passes through Madrona.

Eventually we will get a picture from our engineers that shows the actual route as it moves across the county so you can get a handle on exactly how vital this project is to transportation and job creation here in the Round Lake Area, but sadly I could not find anything on my laptop this morning that fills the bill.

I would also point out that the village actively reviewed Madrona Homes marketing materials at numerous times over the last few years and had mystery residents "shop" the models to make sure that Madrona was accurately portraying what may happen in the future to that large grassy corridor behind some residents homes. I do realize that there will be people who are unaware or will claim they are unaware of what was happening behind them! We did try to make it as open as possible.

Report on the Transportation summit

We took a big step forward with the Transportation summit yesterday! There were about 130 attendees and a very bipartisan spirit of cooperation. The good news was and is, that the 120 bypass has emerged as the "big" project that we are all going to support.

However we heard that the road forward is going to be tough, the average 4 lane cross section of highway is $12 to 15 million dollars per mile. I would name names of the people that I saw but this entry would get way to long. The best news was 11 of the 12 members of the Lake County state delegation were on hand!
There are some articles that cover it better then I do here Daily Herald and Chicago Tribune. The picture above is (L to R) State Representative Kathy Ryg, Joanne Osmond, Mayor Ila Bauer and Lake County Board President Suzi Schmidt.

120 Coverage in the Chicago Tribune

Got some coverage in Today's Chicago Tribune on the 120 bypass issue. Front page of the Metro section.

Illinois 120 bypass plan could be a team effort Traffic woes prompt countywide summit

By Robert Channick, Special to the Tribune
Published September 13, 2005

A decades-old plan to alleviate east-west traffic may soon hit the fast lane if the efforts of some Lake County officials are successful.

Grayslake and Round Lake simultaneously approved resolutions last week supporting construction of a new four-lane road, joining the County Board and other municipalities along the bottlenecked corridor that back the project. Officials hope to use a countywide transportation summit Thursday to build momentum for an Illinois Highway 120 bypass from Waukegan to Volo.

"There's no transportation east and west in this county that isn't a two-lane road," said Round Lake Mayor Bill Gentes. "Traffic is choked up here. We're all getting to this point where enough is enough, we have to do something, and the 120 bypass is clearly the thing we need to do."

Narrowing to two lanes just west of the Tri-State Tollway, Illinois 120 traffic often grinds to a halt for miles in both directions during rush hour, due in part to booming residential development along the once-bucolic central Lake County route, according to Gentes.

Gentes and Grayslake Mayor Tim Perry say they expect to have 60 letters of support in hand before the summit, scheduled from 8 a.m. to noon at the College of Lake County in Grayslake.

More than 3,000 business and government leaders have been invited to the event, which is designed to prioritize county road projects to accelerate funding and construction.

Representatives of the Illinois Department of Transportation and the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority are also scheduled to participate, and local officials hope they will respond to a unified message.

"One of the problems we were hearing from the funding sources at the state level, the tollway and the federal level was that we never presented them with projects that had the backing of the community and the region," said state Rep. Kathy Ryg (D-Vernon Hills). "We really were missing out on the funding for our roadway improvements because of our lack of consensus."

Born in the wake of the county's failed April sales-tax increase for a laundry list of road improvements, the summit has a goal of voting on three or four targeted projects annually, according to organizers.

"In order to get projects of regional significance, you've really got to form a consensus," said David Young, president of Lake County Partners, the not-for-profit economic development corporation that planned the summit. "The Highway 120 bypass appears to be emerging as the next big regional project."

An offshoot of the proposed Illinois Highway 53 extension, which stalled several years ago over the objections of several communities along the north-south route, the bypass would likely jut south near Wildwood and reconnect with Illinois 120 on the western end of the county. Support has been widespread, according to officials.

"It is nice to see communities that may not look like they're immediately impacted by a road project come on board with it," Perry said. "I think that speaks volumes about how everybody understands the nightmare that is traffic congestion in Lake County."

Expected to cost more than $100 million, the project should not require additional tax dollars, backers say.

"We anticipate this being paid for out of existing tax dollars," Perry said. "We get back pennies on the dollar for what we already pay in, with a disproportionate amount being spent Downstate. It would be nice to see a few more dollars flow back to the area."

While the bypass is expected to accommodate traffic demands for the year 2030, proponents hope to have it running a couple of decades sooner. Importantly, much of the right of way for the new road has been obtained, according to officials.

"In Grayslake and Round Lake, we have developments that have been around for years that have this giant 300-foot strip right through the middle of them, where the 120 bypass is coming," Gentes said.

South of the Grayslake Metra station, the upscale Village Station Townhomes feature a long row of back porches that look out over the open fields from which they sprouted. On village planning maps, however, the bean crop would eventually yield to the designated bypass at the center of a 900-acre mixed-use development.

"People who think they have an enormous back yard now, in the future may not," Gentes said.

The Drive for the 120 Bypass Heats Up

Tim Perry the Mayor of Grayslake and I have taken the steps of asking all taxing bodies in Lake County to pass the following resolution in support of the 120 bypass in preparation for the upcoming transportation summit here in Lake County. We sent a letter signed by both of us explaining our feelings and including the resolution below for them to pass. We have received overwhelming support as resolution after resolution has been passed and been mailed to our offices.

We believe that a result of the upcoming transportation summit will be the united front from municipalities, the county and state officials to make the 120 bypass the number one issue for the county to get accomplished in the next few years.

RESOLUTION SUPPORTING
THE CONSTRUCTION OF A NEW ROUTE 120 HIGHWAY
BETWEEN McHENRY COUNTY AND THE CITY OF WAUKEGAN

WHEREAS, Central Lake County and McHenry County are, and will continue to, experience growing traffic congestion, and

WHEREAS, a major cause of congestion is lack of road capacity on Illinois Route 120, and

WHEREAS, this Illinois Route 120 congestion in increased traffic congestion, severely impacts the travel for the transport of our student body at School District 127, and

WHEREAS, this Illinois Route 120 congestion results in increased traffic congestion throughout the Lake County road network as traffic seeks alternative routes, and

WHEREAS, this Illinois Route 120 congestion and the resulting congestion throughout the Lake County road network adversely limits road access in McHenry County, and

WHEREAS, these conditions severely and adversely impact the quality of life of the residents of Lake and McHenry counties and the regions'’ travelers who use the area'’s road network, and

WHEREAS, these conditions harm existing businesses and hamper the creation of new businesses in northeastern Illinois, thereby reducing economic activity and job creation, and

WHEREAS, based on forecasted population growth, these existing conditions will grow substantially worse in the next 20 years, further harming our quality of life and the area'’s economy,

Transportation Meeting Last Night

Last night State Representative Kathy Ryg hosted a transportation forum for elected officials at the Libertyville high school. There was a nice turnout of about 60 people, numerous state reps and senators, Lake County board members, mayors and township officials.

We heard presentations from Lake County, the Illinois Tollway Authority and the Illinois Department of Transportation. Mayor Elliott Hartstein led the discussion from the mayors perspective, Diana O'Kelly from the Lake County Board talked from the Township's perspective, Suzi Schmidt the Lake County Board Chair talked from the counties perspective, and Senator Terry Link talked about the state issues.

• Some of the major discussion points were the 120 bypass, Route 83, Route 60 and Route 41.
• An equal and fair redistribution of the Motor Fuel Tax (MFT)
• September 16th is a Transportation summit hosted by Lake County Partners where some consensus will hopefully emerge on which project or projects will have consensus.

Overall it was interesting to hear different viewpoints and ideas for solving problems. Hopefully we will start seeing results on getting some highways built in the county and in the Round Lake Area.

The Cedar Lake Road Extension

I was asked an excellent question by a Prairewalk Resident named Doug Pentek that I decided to respond to here since I am sure many people have the same questions.

The question was about the need for a stop light at Bacon and 120 and could we expect one?

The answer requires a full discussion of the Cedar Lake Road Extension and the plans Round Lake has made for the extension and the plans Lake County are making for it. So using the USGS mapping service and a service called Terraserver I was able to find a 2002 aerial picture of the area. Using my limited graphics experience I labeled 7 key areas in the plan.

First however an overview.

When I took office 4 years ago one of the primary commute methods to Route 60 from Round Lake was 120 to Bacon to 60. Anyone who has lived here longer then 3 years recalls that actually the South end of Bacon was actually more dangerous then the North end. When Lakewood homes was in a first draft stage of the their development we were able to insist that Lakewood homes build the extension of Cedar Lake Road to its present point (#3 of the photo above) from Route 60.

Lake County has on its books the extension of Cedar Lake Road north from 60 all the way to 120. (that's the heavy black line on the map) However money is tight, the project is expensive and referendums for more transportation funds keep failing. So the project is going to be done in stages.

Stage 1 which is the 60 to Bacon Road portion right now is done, only some connection work to the Stage 2 and the cul de sac of Bacon (#5 on the photo)

Stage 2 I am pleased to say will extend north to Townline Road (#2 on the photo) and bids will be going out in October of this year, construction will start in the spring of 2006 and finish in the Fall of 2006. The village is going to improve its portion of Townline Road to Bacon to handle the traffic flow westwards from the T intersection and in front of our new Police and Public Works Facility (#6 on the photo). In attain the village required Neumann Homes and Concord Homes to provide funding to improve and enhance Townline Road East of the intersection all the way to Curran.

Stage 3 is scheduled to be bid out in 2009 and finished in 2010. This is clearly a shame but is a direct consequence of the two failed traffic referendums in the county in the last two years. However when it gets done a traffic light will be built at Townline and Cedar Lake (#2 on the photo), and at 120 and Cedar Lake (#1 on the photo).

So once this all get accomplished Bacon Road will be a cul-de sac on the South End about where it merges with Cedar Lake now (#5 on the photo). There has also been some discussion on making it a dead end on the North End as well.

However to finally get to Mr Pentek's question the state has looked at putting a light at Bacon and 120 and is currently doing a tentative survey of it, but my guess is since within 5 years the need for it will have vanished I am thinking it will not get done. My only advice is don't drive that way, I avoid those intersections if I can.

Comments on Residential Development

Yesterday at the village board meeting we had a public hearing on the Ryland homes parcel which is South of Dawn Marie and running down to Route 120. The project will bring our sewer to the corner of Wilson and 120 and trigger a large commercial and industrial park in the area bounded by Fish Lake Road, Route 60, Bacon Road and Route 120. At the public hearing there were some questions about the Ryland project which has evolved over time into something a little more palatable to the village.

One of the questions was about when are we stopping development? How can we continually approve new development every meeting? While these questions were out of left field factwise, since the village has NOT approved a new development in over a year and a half. As an aside I would point out that in the last few years the village has approved 2 new developments and 2 add on's in the last 3 years. The largest of these projects was the 180 senior oriented homes for Pulte on Curran Road and 120 and the first senior project in the area.

Lets face the facts, the village is on the downside of residential development. Over the last few years I have consistently spoken out with the same thoughts and premises about residential development. Let me reiterate them:

• Any residential development must meet and serve the large vision established by the village's comprehensive plan.
• It must have a missing need for a type of housing in the village (estate residential, senior housing etc.).
• It better be awfully good for the village with some large amenity and or benefit.

I have been repeating this at the village hall, in speeches to the chamber of commerce, at presentations to other taxing bodies and its been written about in the papers. But actions speak louder then words, so take some time and look at the residential development that has been done. Evaluate it, understand it and then realize the village is indeed sticking to the big goals in our comprehensive plan. So come in out of left field, and join the progress the village is making towards making the area a better place to live.