Next Phase of Randall Road Expansion Gets County Board Approval

Today the McHenry County Board approved Phase II of the probably the biggest capital improvement project in McHenry County history.

The vote was 15-7, with Michele Aavang, Yvonne Barnes, Diane Evertsen, John Hammerand, Donna Kurtz, Ersel Schuster and Michael Walkup voting in the negative.  (Sue Draffkorn, Jim Heisler and Sandy Salgado were absent.)

Phase I cost over $4 million and Phase II weighs in at $9.1 million toward a road improvement that some estimate will total $119 million.

The project will expand Randall Road from four to six lanes–a non-controversial proposal–plus revamp the intersection at Algonquin Road.

The Phase I preference for a Continuous Flow Intersection or CFI was the bone of contention during an extended morning debate.

Proposed access points for a Continuous Flow Intersection at Randall and Algonquin Roads.

Proposed access points for a Continuous Flow Intersection at Randall and Algonquin Roads.

The alternative discussed was a more traditional two left-lane configuration.

There was general agreement that the corner is a failure.

Current travel time from Crystal Lake’s Ackmann Road to County Line Road is 28.9 minutes, according to McHenry County Transportation Department data quoted by Donna Kurtz.

Widening the road and putting in two left-turn lanes would cut travel time by eleven minutes.

The CFI would cut time by 9.3 minutes.

So, the difference, as Kurtz pointed out, it less than two minutes.

The difference in cost is about $1.3 million, with the CFI costing about $12 million and the two left-turn lanes coming in at $10.7 million.

Kurtz contended the $12 million estimate did not include acquiring the Phillips gas station and the Bank of America building.  All of both parcels would not have to be taken for the left turn-lane alternative, Nick Chirikos said.  He estimated those acquisitions would cost an additional $2 million.

Kurtz added that the lack of inclusion of the cost of the two properties kept the intersection comparison from being “apples to apples.”

Also up engendering debate as the Phase II expenditure authorization of $1.1 million for what John Hammerand called “public relations.”  (There was another $1 million in Phase I.)

Supporters of the spending called it “community outreach.”

Land acquisition funding of $5 million was included in the proposal, which will require acquisition of about 100 properties.  Additional money would be appropriated later.

Diane Evertsen was interested in the change of traffic pattern resulting from opening Longmeadow Parkway just over the Kane County line.

“How can you assume it won’t take any traffic off Algonquin Road?”  she asked.  [That, of course, was the goal in proposing the new crossing of the Fox River south of Algonquin Road.]

Evertsen also wondered if the County would have to return any money to the Federal Highway Administration if the CFI were not constructed.

“Between $1 and $3 million” was the answer.

“Everybody agrees on expanding from four to six lanes,” Mike Walkup pointed out, wondering if it could not be possible to split that widening from the intersection question.

“The directions that was given was to move forward on the CFI,” County Engineer Joe Korpalski replied.

Looking north on Randall with a Continuous Flow Intersection.

Looking north on Randall with a Continuous Flow Intersection.

Walkup also wanted to know if Federal funding would be endangered by municipal (Lake in the Hills) opposition to the project.

The County Engineer allowed that there was a “lot of competition for a very limited pool of dollars.”

Questions were asked about the seemingly over optimistic population projections, which were required to be used, but which will be revised in October by the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP).

Walkup also wondered why none of the existing CFI’s examined already had “intensive commercial development.”

Algonquin Village President John Schmitt spoke in favor of the resolution during the public comment period.

He revealed that the village’s annual citizen survey showed 82% believed regional transportation in and around Algonquin was miserable.  Only that taxes were too high received a higher response.

His talking to businessmen led him to the conclusion that Randall Road has to be improved or “ten years down the rod, they’re out of here.”

Algonquin Village President John Schmitt explained his Board's opposition to electronic billboards.

Algonquin Village President John Schmitt explained his Board’s opposition to electronic billboards.

There was irony that I’m not sure many in the room picked up when Schmitt talked about being “the proverbial newbie.  I stood up here and said, ‘Don’t build it.'”

The difference between “newbie” Schmitt’s fight against the Haegers Bend bridge (which would have run very near his home at the time) and the Continuous Flow Intersection was that Schmitt’s side won and it appears unlikely that its opponents, led by Lake in the Hills, will succeed in stopping the project its village fathers and mothers oppose.

“The engineers are not like us.  They’re not working on re-election.

“The project you [are considering] is actually going to solve a problem.”

Referring to the prospective Federal funds to pay for most of the CFI’s construction, Schimtt pointed out, “Without money you don’t get it built.  To do a project like this we need Federal and state money.

“The elephant in the room is the CFI.

“Lake in the Hills hates it.

“Algonquin hated it in the beginning.

“We sat down and started to work it out…solutions you have never seen.

“We’ve been able to to work through these solutions.”

Schmitt pointed out that the owners of the Jewel and Caputo’s are “not ecstatic.  They’re going to lose some curb cuts.”

Urging a favorable vote, the Algonquin Village President suggested, “We can solve the problems or we can just say, ‘No.’

“Please allow the process to continue.

“We need Randall Road to continue to function.”

In counterpoint, Lake in the Hills Village Trustee Robert Huckins told of his village’s consistent opposition to the CFI.  He criticized to “overstated population projections.”

    The Lake in the Hills web site features its opposition to the Continuous Flow Intersection at the intersection of Randall and Algonquin Roads.

The Lake in the Hills web site features its opposition to the Continuous Flow Intersection at the intersection of Randall and Algonquin Roads.

Huckins read a letter from new Village Trustee Paul Mulcahy.

“…the creation of a CFI at this intersection is not warranted based on the excessive cost of design and construction and the negative economic ipact it will create.”

Pointing to the money for purchase and demolition of the Phillips 66 gas station and the Bank of America building, which “are only necessary if the CFI is built,” he complains about “the assumption that the CFI design has already been selected.”

He argued there was no need to commit to “all $9,000,000 in consultant fees at one meeting.”

“Once the design is approved, then the County will have adequate information to determine whether or not SB Friedman needs to be retained to perform an Economic Development Analysis of CFI intersections across the United States…”

Lake in the Hills Village Trustee Steve Harlfinger was next to the podium.

Steve Harlfinger at a parade.

Steve Harlfinger at a parade.

“The contract scares me because it basically reads CFI,” he said.

“When the Randall Road [advisory committee] met, they never gave…the nod to a CFI.”

He said that this was “not only Lake in the Hills stomping its feet.

“Ten of the 14 elected officials have concerns-reservations about a CFI.

“Ask me outside and I’ll tell you what I really feel.”

= = = = =

Tomorrow


Comments

Next Phase of Randall Road Expansion Gets County Board Approval — 6 Comments

  1. Thank you Michele Aavang, Yvonne Barnes, Diane Evertsen, John Hammerand, Donna Kurtz, Ersel Schuster and Michael Walkup for voting in the negative (which means NO). This is another example of Ready, Fire, Aim and Figures never lie but…

    1. How is this really going to be financed and what are the true costs of each option? The state and feds are over promising and under delivering (or continuously increase our debt to our children). The estimates of costs (land, construction, and increase commute time during “phases” need to analytical for “apple to apple” comparisons.

    2. As was indicated, how are all of the other projects going to effect traffic patterns? No analysis from latest 40 year plan of all projects and if there will be synergy to help flow. It appears each project is in its own little world.

    3. “Current travel time from Crystal Lake’s Ackmann Road to County Line Road is 28.9 minutes, according to McHenry County Transportation Department data quoted by Donna Kurtz.” Sorry Donna, don’t believe this number. I travel this road almost every day and my average usually is 5 minutes or less between Ackman and County Line. Rush hour, 10 minutes. Was this a worst case scenario number?

    4. This project sounds like another 3 years of mess without stating before and after results for accountability of decision so the people driving the road can buy into the pain to follow during.

    5. What are we using for these figures? The Algonquin Township population in the 2010 dropped 16% from 2000. The county is down 2%. Are majority of people using Randall/Rakow as a flow through and maybe the traffic needs to be on Rt. 31 or 47 or heavens forbid, a true highway for our area?

    6. How much of the flow is improved just by adding the right turn lane (should have been there in the 1st place), adding the 3rd main lane, and this CFI two lane left turn? The full CFI configuration looks dangerous. Wasn’t a right continuous flow tried on Randle and Huntley and it was change to a stop, no turn on red? Again, statistics used?

    7. Why does one government (county) keep pushing without the other governments (cities) in agreement? Is the CFI the right option?

  2. So much for looking / considering other options! Korpalski:

    “The directions that was given was to move forward on the CFI,” J

    ust like the tyvek tower was a disaster, this is another one.

    Unions win another one!

  3. All I can say is try driving through a CFI when it snows and you can’t see the lines!

    I’ll put up the “DISASTER AHEAD” signs…

  4. “Current travel time from Crystal Lake’s Ackmann Road to County Line Road is 28.9 minutes”.

    That is absolute baloney.

    I travel Randall Road a lot, and it takes me maybe 10 minutes to go that stretch almost anytime except after midnight, when it’s quicker.

    If that’s the quality of the data used to support this project, we are being fed a pack of lies!

    And what will be the supposed benefit? An average of two minutes per trip? Sorry, not worth the cost.

    And speaking of cost, $115 million to fix — FIX not BUILD — three and a half miles of road? Outrageous!

    Boy, I’ve been complaining about the plans to expand MCC, but these guys make the community college look like a bunch of amateurs!

    This vote is enough to make me start working very actively against certain board members.

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