McHenry County Blog

I’ve ben on pothole patrol recently.

When a long, narrow one opened up on the Tollway between Randall Road and the toll booth, I emailed newly-sworn in State Senator Karen McConnaughay.

The next day it had been filled.

She told me she had a hard time finding someone at the tollway who would take a pothole complaint.

That reminded her of the displeasure she would express to her staff while she was Kane County Board Chairman when a simple complaint made it to her phone.

I saw potholes on Route 62 going up the hill from Route 62 and emailed State Senator Dan Duffy and State Rep. David McSweeney.  I haven’t been back on that road since my communication, but I hope one of them had someone call IDOT to send a crew out before they widened enough to swallow a tire.

On Route 176 I saw a pothole going east over the railroad tracks to McHenry that could have swallowed a kid’s wagon. I emailed State Rep. Barb Wheeler and discovered it filled the next day.

Russel Court is the name of the dead end street that traffic coming from the south on Route 47 take to get a parking space at the McHenry County Courthouse.

As I was driving there this morning, a Sheriff’s Deputy’s car came way over the center line into my lane.

Here are a couple of challenges of getting one’s car out of the Courthouse parking lot.

I soon saw why.

You can see some of the potholes at the entrance to the Courthouse parking lot here.

I was lucky enough to catch this pickup truck as its front tire was leaving a relative deep pothole near the entrance to the Courthouse.

You can see this pickup truck did not miss one of the potholes.

The City of Woodstock has left large potholes go unfilled.

The ice in these potholes show why they get larger and larger as the freeze and thaw cycle occurs.

A pothole filled earlier.

It is not as if Woodstock Public Works folks don’t fill potholes on Russel Court, named after Bill Russel who was County Board Chairman when the Courthouse was sited.

How big are the potholes now?

Take a look at the one below behind which can been seen a drainage grate.

This pothole is east of the Courthouse entrance, so gets almost no traffic. Note its size in comparison to the storm sewer grate.

With the Courthouse being one of the main reasons that people from the rest of McHenry County visit Woodstock, wouldn’t you think the City fathers would take better care of this street than they do?

Then, again, the tax dollars have already been spent building the County Government Administrative Complex.  It’s not as if there’s any chance the buildings will be re-located.

Filled pothole on Russel Court on the way to the McHenry County Courthouse.

Or should the headline be “Pothole Fill”?

On Sunday, July 31st, Woodstock Advocate Editor Gus Philpott wrote an article on a big and growing pothole on Russel Court on the way to the Courthouse.

Photo and everything.

I saw the pothole on the way to court August 1st.

The afternoon of Monday, August 1st, it was filled.

So were other potholes on the street.

Gus beat me to the story, but only because we went out on the boat on Crystal Lake last night.

In any event, we now know that someone from Woodstock city government reads Woodstock Advocate, even if the administration won’t provide him with crime reports and press releases (which Woodstock also refuses to send McHenry County Blog).

I guess the folks that fix potholes are more responsive than those who don’t want electronic media to be able to report on local crime and other topics deemed worthy enough to pay a city employee to write a press release about.

Here's the reason the Woodstock Advocate scooped McHenry County Blog on the pothole story.

You have to wonder about the road improvement priorities of Governor Rod Blagojevich.

I don’t often take Route 31 between Crystal Lake and McHenry.

To put it bluntly, its surface is abysmal.

Near Terra Cotta, the big valley, I’ve labeled the Valley of the Potholes.

It’s not that one cannot find beauty in potholes, but hitting them can cause expensive damage to one’s car. One at the edge of the McHenry Blacktop even cost me a new tire.

You will notice from the tire track in the hot patch that temporarily fills a large pothole in Route 31, that the repair is recent.

And temporary.

Permanent repairs are being constructed by Alliance Construction on the four-lane portion of Route 31 south of East Crystal Lake Avenue.

And someone in the Illinois Department of Transportation tell me the logic of fixing a median strip when the road down the hill is in shambles?

You have to wonder about the road improvement priorities of Governor Rod Blagojevich.

I don’t often take Route 31 between Crystal Lake and McHenry.

To put it bluntly, its surface is abysmal.

Near Terra Cotta, the big valley, I’ve labeled the Valley of the Potholes.

It’s not that one cannot find beauty in potholes, but hitting them can cause expensive damage to one’s car. One at the edge of the McHenry Blacktop even cost me a new tire.

You will notice from the tire track in the hot patch that temporarily fills a large pothole in Route 31, that the repair is recent.

And temporary.

Permanent repairs are being constructed by Alliance Construction on the four-lane portion of Route 31 south of East Crystal Lake Avenue.

And someone in the Illinois Department of Transportation tell me the logic of fixing a median strip when the road down the hill is in shambles?

This one is in water in a pot hole on Route 31 last Sunday before it started snowing.

It’s of a tree on the east side of the road.

There was no wind in the valley except for that created by the cars hurtling past.

None hit this one while I was taking pictures.

The hole had been patched once, but obviously needed a second treatment.

After driving down from the Wisconsin line, I concluded that there is going to be a tax increase to fix roads that Illinois residents will swallow.

I would hope taxpayers would not bite their tongues while being jarred by one of numerous potholes that are even on Randall Road in McHenry County.

I have never seen roads as bad as this in Illinois…not even when Governor Dan Walker called for a $50 million supplemental specifically to fix potholes.

This one is in water in a pot hole on Route 31 last Sunday before it started snowing.

It’s of a tree on the east side of the road.

There was no wind in the valley except for that created by the cars hurtling past.

None hit this one while I was taking pictures.

The hole had been patched once, but obviously needed a second treatment.

After driving down from the Wisconsin line, I concluded that there is going to be a tax increase to fix roads that Illinois residents will swallow.

I would hope taxpayers would not bite their tongues while being jarred by one of numerous potholes that are even on Randall Road in McHenry County.

I have never seen roads as bad as this in Illinois…not even when Governor Dan Walker called for a $50 million supplemental specifically to fix potholes.

Before the snow started Sunday afternoon, I drove south on Meridian Street from Broadway to get home.

Look at the incredible potholes I found in the ice on Gate 12 in Lakewood.

I’m glad the snow removal is better on the north side of Lake Avenue, where we live.

Before the snow started Sunday afternoon, I drove south on Meridian Street from Broadway to get home.

Look at the incredible potholes I found in the ice on Gate 12 in Lakewood.

I’m glad the snow removal is better on the north side of Lake Avenue, where we live.

Sunday morning we drove back from the Milwaukee area.

Because of the bad weather predictions I couldn’t even sleep in.

Across the bottom of the television screen church closings were being announced.

Even under the ad for John McCain, the only presidential candidate spot I have seen this year.

But the temperature was rising.

35 degrees.

When we learned it was getting warmer, we decided to get a quick breakfast.

It was a dangerous trip.

The parking lot was icy.

When I went out to get the car, I misjudged the depth of the water next to the car, which had been dry the night before.

Thank goodness my shoes were waterproof.

I stepped into water that almost was too deep.

Just getting out of the Brookfield Suites parking lot’s frontage road the water was so deep it hit the bottom of my wife’s Toyota Camry.

I could see the storm drains, but snow and ice were blocking the flow of run off.

There was water at various places on Moorland Road, the four-lane local road connecting the hotel to I-43. Had we wanted to drive to Milwaukee, we could not have gotten on the Interstate from Moorland.

But, we were heading west where there was no problem getting on the road.

It was closed past the roundabout.

Under too much water.

Arriving the night before, we took one too many lefts (my mistake) and ended up going in the wrong direction. A semi did not make the circle and had to be towed out, slowing our arrival at a dinner significantly.

There were potholes on Interstate 43 in Wisconsin in Walworth County.

That’s an unusual experience.

At a rest stop, the Walworth County Sheriff’s deputy told me it has been constant spin out calls since 6 AM.

We saw the red one that had been featured on the local news.

There were others.

The parking lot was so bad that I didn’t think I would be able to back up the car. Couldn’t get traction on the ice at first.

Fog was pretty bad for some parts.

The roads had ice until we reached the Lake Geneva exit to Route 12. The temperature finally started rising above 32-33 degrees.

By the time we reached Illinois, it was above 40.

It belies Wisconsin’s reputation for having better roads than Illinois.

I think Wisconsin roads are generally better than those in Illinois because the local county boards have responsibility for building and maintaining state roads.

That was the case back in the early 1970′s.

You can imagine the heat McHenry County board members would take if they were in charge of maintaining Route 31.

How different is the (non-)accountability system in Illinois from the local control approach I remember from interviewing to be Rock County administrator way back then.

Of course, the system may have changed since then in Wisconsin. Can’t find out the day I’m writing this, though.

After we drove past the

sign on Route 12 north of Richmond, potholes were everywhere.

Route 31 was no better.

The worst stretch of road was in the valley known as Terra Cotta.

This is truly an incredibly bumpy part of Route 31.

The Illinois Department of Transportation is responsible for maintaining the road. Some cold patch has been applied, but has worked its way partially out.

I believe it is the worst maintained state road in McHenry County.

= = = = =
The end of the John McCain television ad is on top.

Look at the wave created by a car leaving the Brookfield Suites parking lot.

The intersection of Moorland Road and Butterfield was under water.

I had plenty of time Saturday night to take the picture of the roundabout near Interstate 43′s Moorland Road exit.

The I-43 passing lane the snow truck was plowing was just plain treacherous.

You can see one of the about half dozen spin outs we saw on the way back to McHenry County.

The “Welcome to Illinois” sign in the photograph was taken in October 2006. The posts for the sign in front announced road work was being done just south of the Wisconsin state line.

The Illinois Department of Transportation is responsible for maintaining Route 31, the road where you see the picture of the potholes.

The fog and rain-covered windshield photos were taken in Walworth County on Interstate 43.

All pictures were taken on February 17, 2008, and may be enlarged by clicking on them.

Sunday morning we drove back from the Milwaukee area.

Because of the bad weather predictions I couldn’t even sleep in.

Across the bottom of the television screen church closings were being announced.

Even under the ad for John McCain, the only presidential candidate spot I have seen this year.

But the temperature was rising.

35 degrees.

When we learned it was getting warmer, we decided to get a quick breakfast.

It was a dangerous trip.

The parking lot was icy.

When I went out to get the car, I misjudged the depth of the water next to the car, which had been dry the night before.

Thank goodness my shoes were waterproof.

I stepped into water that almost was too deep.

Just getting out of the Brookfield Suites parking lot’s frontage road the water was so deep it hit the bottom of my wife’s Toyota Camry.

I could see the storm drains, but snow and ice were blocking the flow of run off.

There was water at various places on Moorland Road, the four-lane local road connecting the hotel to I-43. Had we wanted to drive to Milwaukee, we could not have gotten on the Interstate from Moorland.

But, we were heading west where there was no problem getting on the road.

It was closed past the roundabout.

Under too much water.

Arriving the night before, we took one too many lefts (my mistake) and ended up going in the wrong direction. A semi did not make the circle and had to be towed out, slowing our arrival at a dinner significantly.

There were potholes on Interstate 43 in Wisconsin in Walworth County.

That’s an unusual experience.

At a rest stop, the Walworth County Sheriff’s deputy told me it has been constant spin out calls since 6 AM.

We saw the red one that had been featured on the local news.

There were others.

The parking lot was so bad that I didn’t think I would be able to back up the car. Couldn’t get traction on the ice at first.

Fog was pretty bad for some parts.

The roads had ice until we reached the Lake Geneva exit to Route 12. The temperature finally started rising above 32-33 degrees.

By the time we reached Illinois, it was above 40.

It belies Wisconsin’s reputation for having better roads than Illinois.

I think Wisconsin roads are generally better than those in Illinois because the local county boards have responsibility for building and maintaining state roads.

That was the case back in the early 1970′s.

You can imagine the heat McHenry County board members would take if they were in charge of maintaining Route 31.

How different is the (non-)accountability system in Illinois from the local control approach I remember from interviewing to be Rock County administrator way back then.

Of course, the system may have changed since then in Wisconsin. Can’t find out the day I’m writing this, though.

After we drove past the

sign on Route 12 north of Richmond, potholes were everywhere.

Route 31 was no better.

The worst stretch of road was in the valley known as Terra Cotta.

This is truly an incredibly bumpy part of Route 31.

The Illinois Department of Transportation is responsible for maintaining the road. Some cold patch has been applied, but has worked its way partially out.

I believe it is the worst maintained state road in McHenry County.

= = = = =
The end of the John McCain television ad is on top.

Look at the wave created by a car leaving the Brookfield Suites parking lot.

The intersection of Moorland Road and Butterfield was under water.

I had plenty of time Saturday night to take the picture of the roundabout near Interstate 43′s Moorland Road exit.

The I-43 passing lane the snow truck was plowing was just plain treacherous.

You can see one of the about half dozen spin outs we saw on the way back to McHenry County.

The “Welcome to Illinois” sign in the photograph was taken in October 2006. The posts for the sign in front announced road work was being done just south of the Wisconsin state line.

The Illinois Department of Transportation is responsible for maintaining Route 31, the road where you see the picture of the potholes.

The fog and rain-covered windshield photos were taken in Walworth County on Interstate 43.

All pictures were taken on February 17, 2008, and may be enlarged by clicking on them.