McHenry County Blog

Hillside and Walkup

I just signed up for the 911 emergency notification system two days ago and got my first phone call today.

The phone rang at 9:44 PM with a message from the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office to tell me that at 8:13 a handcuffed male burglary suspect has escaped in the vicinity of Walkup (the McHenry Blacktop to Crystal Lake residents) and Hillside Road.

The suspect was wearing a camouflaged jacket and jeans with a black hood.

The Sheriff’s Department advised remaining “indoors until further notice.”

Since a relatively few households have probably signed up for the service, if you know anyone in the area, they might appreciate a phone call or an email.

The same message did not reach my email inbox.

You can sign up here.

Probably few people remember when in the first term of State Rep. Jack Franks, he announced a $500,000 grant to Crystal Lake to make the intersection of Walkup Road and Route 176 more traffic-friendly.

Not to be outdone, House Republican Leader allocated $500,000 in so-called “member initiates” to non-incumbent GOP challenger Tom Salvi during Salvi’s almost successful campaign to unseat the then first-termer Franks.

Now, it’s 2011. Over halfway into 2012.

I see from the McHenry County Board’s Transportation Committee agenda that its members are interviewing

• Baxter & Woodman
• Christopher B. Burke Engineering, Ltd.
• HR Green
• Thomas Engineering

The interviews also involve the awarding to contracts north of the completed widening and re-surfacing work.

And, this isn’t an April Fool’s Day story. Rather it is a press release from the McHenry County Transportation Department:

Highway improvements scheduled by the McHenry County Transportation Department this year. (Click to enlarge.)

The McHenry County Division of Transportation is proud to announce the 2010 interactive construction map at  mchenrycountydot.org.

The key to map.

This map will allow the public user to see at a glance all of the County construction project locations, as well as more detailed project information on any particular project. This can be done by clicking on the identify (i) icon and then clicking on the highlighted portion of the roadway. If more detailed information is desired, contact information is included for your use. This map was produced through the assistance of the County’s Geographical Information System (GIS) Department.

Construction Projects

Kishwaukee Valley Road Bridge Replacement

This project will replace the bridge originally constructed in 1953 with a two-span prestressed concrete 36-inch deep I-beam bridge, with a poured in-place 8-inch thick concrete deck, spanning 123-feet in length. It includes approach pavement, milling and resurfacing, shoulder widening and guardrail placement.

Kishwaukee Valley Road was closed to thru traffic starting on February 1, 2010 between Hughes Road and Menge Road. Access up to the bridge is maintained for local traffic only. A marked detour is provided using Hughes Road, U.S. Route 14, Dunham Road and Menge Road. (click here for the detour map).

This project is scheduled to be completed approximately June 12, 2010.

Alden Road Bridge Replacement and Roadway Improvements

This project will replace the existing bridge built in 1939, with a 58-foot long by 40-foot wide, single-span poured in-place concrete bridge deck, on seven, 36-inch deep precast prestressed concrete I-beams.

This project also includes complete pavement and drainage feature reconstruction from about 600 feet south of Illinois Route 173 to about 1,800 feet north of Illinois route 173. Driveways and sidewalks within the project limits will be replaced and a new drainage system will be installed throughout. Along with the new pavement, curb & gutter will be provided to improve drainage. Two special Stormwater Treatment Structures will be installed before stormwater enters the creek to protect water quality.

The Project will be built using stage construction (one side at a time) and will require a temporary traffic signal to limit the bridge to one-way traffic for the duration of the project. Two-way traffic will be maintained on the roadway portion using temporary pavement.

Work on the project started approximately February 22, 2010 and the project has an October 31, 2010 completion date.

Virginia Road Reconstruction

This project will reconstruct Virginia Road between Rakow Road and Illinois Route 31, with the exception of the new pavement recently constructed in connection with the Waste Transfer Facility, and the intersection at Illinois Route 31, which will be done as a separate future project.

This project will be constructed using Stage construction, maintaining one–way traffic southeast bound only (Rakow Road to Illinois Route 31) for the duration of the construction. Northwest bound traffic will be detoured on Illinois Route 31 to the north and then west on Rakow Road back to Virginia Road.

The contractor plans to start work around April 19, 2010 and the project completion date is July 2, 2010.

Walkup Road Widening, Resurfacing and Shared-use Path Construction

This project will provide pavement widening to extend the three-lane section of pavement from Dvorak Drive through Crystal Springs Road, add traffic signals at Pleasant Hill Road, Edgewood Road and Crystal Springs Road, add right and left turn lanes at intersections, and resurface the roadway in this area. In addition, a shared-use path will be constructed between Veteran Acres Park and Pleasant Hill Road on the east side of the roadway to enhance safety for pedestrians and bicyclists in the area.

Beginning in December 2009, public utility relocation work was started with the intent to move existing utilities out of conflict with the new roadway, path and storm sewers prior to construction to avoid delays. The contractor is expected to start construction around May 1, 2010 and project completion is expected in the summer of 2011.

Two-way traffic will be maintained throughout utilizing stage construction with daily or periodic lane closures as required using flaggers. This work will create delays and traffic disruption at times.

Federal Congestion Mitigation & Air Quality (CMAQ) funds will pay for 80% of the design and construction of this project and the 20% local match will use McHenry County Division of Transportation funds.

A project website (www.walkuproad.info) will be available to ask questions, get project updates, and obtain project information.

Rakow Road Widening, Relocation & Reconstruction

This project is currently in the Land Acquisition and Final Design stages. A summer 2010 letting is desired but is dependent upon the completion of the needed right-of-way purchases. It is anticipated that two construction seasons will be necessary to complete this project which is estimated to cost approximately 30 million dollars.

This project will relocate Rakow Road to the east of it’s current alignment starting at McHenry Avenue to soften the curve to the north and east.

It will also provide three thru-lanes of traffic in each direction from Ackman Road to Pyott Road, and dual left-turn lanes at Ackman Road, McHenry Avenue, Pyott Road, Pingree Road and Illinois Route 31.

Two thru-lanes in each direction will be constructed from Pyott Road to Illinois Route 31, and a pedestrian/bike path bridge will be constructed over Rakow Road for the McHenry County Conservation District’s Prairie Trail Path. Public Utility coordination is currently underway.

A project website will be available in the future to ask questions, get project updates, and obtain project information.

Pavement Preservation Projects

County Paving (Milling and Resurfacing) Project

This project includes milling and resurfacing on various County Highways as highlighted on the map in green. The project includes milling to a depth of 3.75” and patching any deteriorated pavement as needed. Then priming and placing a 2.25” lift of Binder Course followed by a 1.5” lift of Surface Course. Shoulder gravel will be added and thermoplastic pavement markings will be placed. The milled pavement material (RAP) is all recycled and re-used as aggregates in the new Hot Mix Asphalt.

The roads to be resurfaced under this project include:

• Nelson and Deep Cut Roads between U.S. Route 14 and Charles/Alden Road
• Hartland Road from U.S. Route 14 to Nelson Road
• Hobe Road from South Street to Kishwaukee Valley Road
• River Road between Illinois Route 176 and Lily Lake Road
• Ramer Road from Oak Grove Road to Lawrence Road
• Oak Grove Road from Illinois Route 173 to Ramer Road
• Charles Road, a short repair section just west of Illinois Route 47

This project will resurface 20 lane miles of roadway at a bid cost of $2,560,270.95.

Work on this project is expected to start about May 31, 2010 and has a contract completion date of August 6, 2010. The impact to traffic will be daily lane closures in the immediate work area using flaggers to control one-way traffic thru the work zone. These temporary lane closures will take place throughout the various stages of the project and should generally minimize delays to a short duration.

Chapel Hill Road Resurfacing (ARRA Project)

These signs will pop up on Chapel Hill Road. This one is on Route 14 in Crystal Lake near The Freeze.

This project is funded through The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and will mill and resurface four sections of Chapel Hill Road that fall between previous intersection improvements. The actual project length is a total of approximately 1.9 miles between Miller Road and Johnsburg Road at a bid cost of $568,605.96.

Work on this project is expected to start around June 1, 2010 and has a 25 working day duration or five to six weeks to complete. This work will essentially be the same as described above for milling and resurfacing in terms of work methods and traffic impacts.

Crack Sealing Contract

This project includes routing and sealing cracks in the pavement using a hot applied rubberized filler material. This work is done to extend the life of newer pavements by minimizing the water intrusion into the pavement and base material, thus lessening the severity of the effects of freeze-thaw cycles.

Crack sealing will be done on the following roads in 2010:

• Kishwaukee Valley Road from the west County Line to U.S. Route 14
• Vermont Road between Garden Valley Road and Kishwaukee Valley Road
• Coral Road from Illinois Route 23 to South Union Road
• Hunter Road from County Line Road to White Oaks Road
• White Oaks Road between Illinois Route 173 and Hunter Road

If quantity remains in the contract after completion of those routes, Genoa Road and Harmony Road east of U.S. Route 20 will be treated to the extent possible.

This contract will crack seal about 42 lane miles of County Highways at a total bid cost of $125,211.06. The impact to traffic will be daily lane closures in the immediate work area using flaggers to control one-way traffic thru the moving work zone, and traffic delays should be minimal.

Microsurfacing Project

The 2010 project is still under development as the McHenry County Division of Transportation is working to create new mix designs using a more durable aggregate material than what is currently readily available locally. The project is anticipated to be ready for bidding in May with construction taking place later in the summer.

The road planned for this year is Charles Road from Nelson Road to Illinois Route 120. This includes about 8 lane miles of roadway at an estimated cost of $250,000. The 2009 microsurfacing project was not completed last year, but should be completed by the contractor in May, which includes work on Roberts Road and Altenberg Road.

The traffic impact of the microsurfacing work is more severe than paving due to the fact that the cure time of the microsurface material ranges from 30 to 90 minutes. Traffic must be kept off of the material during this time, creating long stretches of single-lane closures for the duration of curing time. Efforts will be made to minimize delays but due to the nature of the work, delays encountered could be significant.

Website Updates

Please visit our website at www.mchenrycountydot.org for periodic updates and for newly launched project specific websites.

Remember – Please drive safely in construction zones and watch out for workers!!

Well, they’re not quite lumberjacks, but they’re as close as we come.

If you haven’t driven on the road between Crystal Lake and McHenry, you are going to find it a lot more light next time around.

The tree canopy will be missing when you pass get near Edgewood south of the “s” curve.

The trunks still stand, but the trees have been topped by the tree trimmers.

Why?

Two reasons, according to a supervisor from the tree removal company.

There is going to be a new Commonwealth line, presumably bigger than the one there now.

And, he said the McHenry Blacktop, as we Crystal Lakers call it, is going to be widened.

Checking with what used to be called the McHenry County Highway Department led me to the five-year plan.

All sorts of interesting stuff in there, including this about the Crystal Lake Blacktop, if you are from McHenry. Go to the operational improvements section and you’ll find this:

Walkup Road Operational Improvements (TIP#11-03-0019) This funding is for operational improvements to 5.0 miles of Walkup Road in the City of Crystal Lake, the Village of Bull Valley, the City of McHenry, and Nunda Township from Illinois Route 176 to Bull Valley Road. Improvements will likely include but not be limited to the construction of a continuous center left turn lane, a new bike path, roadway resurfacing, and intersection improvements. Total Phase I and Phase II Engineering initiated prior to 2009 will cost approximately $2,400,000. Land acquisition initiated prior to 2009 will cost approximately $3,750,000.

Construction Engineering and Construction are estimated to cost $23,000,000. At this time, sufficient funding to make improvements up to Cyrstal Springs Road $14,656,000 has been identified. Additional funding will be sought.

Federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality funds ($8,471,601) will be used to offset no more than 80% of total costs. The State of Illinois will be conducting the letting for this project. The State will pay contract amounts before sending McHenry County a bill.

If you have skipped that long section, the guts of it are that a left-turn lane will be built from Route 176 to Crystal Springs Road, but the plan is to widen Walkup Avenue Road all the way to Bull Valley Road in McHenry.

I was told that the oaks hanging over the road near the church would remain, that the road would be moved east to allow that.

We’ll see.

With the growth requiring widening the road for a left turn lane and all the empty farmland between Crystal Lake and McHenry, it is easy to envision the need for a five-lane road here.

Then, there will certainly be nothing left of the oak canopy.

Nothing like the coming home traffic on the Tollway, but traffic last Friday night was backed up from Route 176 to Woodstock Street on Walkup Avenue.

This is rush hour in Crystal Lake.

Part of it may have been a result of the 6:10 or so train coming through town.

This intersection that should have an underpass.

It wasn’t long in coming.

Here is Crystal Lake Republican State Representative Mike Tryon’s “ends justifies the means” defense of his voting to allow slot machines in every location with a liquor license:

More Than $160 Million for Local Roads in Statewide Capital Plan

Last night, the Illinois House and Senate made a monumental vote to pass the state’s first major capital construction program in a decade.

I am thrilled to announce that McHenry County is a big winner, receiving more than

• $40 million for Route 47,
• $82.5 million for the Algonquin Western Bypass, and
• $16.6 million for the interchange at Route 47 and I-90.

This is a historic day for McHenry County as this capital plan will provide tremendous traffic relief for our residents.

I have been working my entire political career to secure full funding of the Western Bypass – which is one of the most congested roads in the state. This infrastructure is absolutely necessary to support our growing community.

Additionally,

• $82.5 million will be used to fund the Western Bypass project between Route 31 North and Route 31 South, and
• $40 million will be used to add lanes to Route 47 between Reed Road and Kreutzer Road.

I also fought to secure $44 million for local roads including

• Route 14 in Crystal Lake,
• Route 31 and
• Route 176 and Walkup

in a mini-capital plan that the General Assembly approved earlier this month.

McHenry County is really in a good position because so many of our projects are very far in the engineering process and ready for construction. Our roads are in deplorable conditions and this capital bill will create a safer McHenry County for everyone on the roadway.

The capital plan will be funded through legalizing video poker machines throughout the state, minor taxes on discretionary items like beer and wine, and various increases on vehicle fees.

Although, I was not completely comfortable with each of the funding mechanisms approved, this capital plan was critical in capturing federal dollars dedicated to transportation projects in our area.

I also believe that this will capital plan will help put hundreds of thousands of people back to work and jumpstart the economy.

As always, do not hesitate to contact me with questions or concerns at (815) 459-6453.

Sincerely,

Michael W. Tryon
Illinois State Representative
64th District

I would note there is no mention of funding the Bolz Road Bridge without which the Western Bypass will not work. Local officials have asked Kane County to make the Bolz Road Bridge a toll bridge. But there will be no toll on the new bridge across the Mississippi River.

Please note that the tollway interchange in Huntley about the same distance south of the McHenry-Kane County line as is the proposed Bolz Road toll bridge.

On the plus side, now the State of Illinois has enough money to match the federal money that has been earmarked for Illinois.

= = = = =
The photo of Potterville is from the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

The picture of State Rep. Mike Tryon is from the press conference that he, Congressman Don Manzullo, State Senator Pam Althoff and numerous local officials held near the intersection of Routes 62 and 31 to condemn Governor Rod Blagojevich for taking the money Manzullo had earmarked for the Western Bypass out of the IDOT highway plan.

This road, that is.

Some call it Walkup Avenue, others the McHenry Blacktop.

McHenry folks may call it the Crystal Lake Blacktop.

And, yesterday, I heard it called Walkup Road.

Whatever one calls it, this portion of the road is rivaling the worst road in the Village of Bull Valley.

Bull Valley is noted for its b-b-umpy roads.

The photo on top shows a hurriedly shot picture taken in the middle of the McHenry Blacktop in front of the Mormon Church.

Traffic was a bit too heavy to be doing something like this in the middle of the road.

Going out of town at the end of Veterans Acres, people are traveling slow enough to try to dodge the potholes.

Coming into Crystal Lake, if drivers don’t know of the bumps in the road, they just plunge off the good part of the highway that is good into two potholes.

There is not problem hearing when their wheels bottom out.

I called the County Transportation Department and found Maintenance Superintendent Mark DeVries.

“We have two crews out and Walkup is on their schedule,” he told me. (We always have one crew out,” he added later.)

“That’s probably the worst stretch,” he suggested.

I asked about when that small part of Walkup would be repaved.

“There’s a project for Walkup Road, the whole road, for widening and turn signals and turn lanes, but they may stage it,” DeVries told me. He’s not really the one to ask about such matters.

Yesterday McHenry County Highway crews were repairing Bay Road, Main Street west going out of town, “right down by the bridge,” besides the McHenry Blacktop near in front of the Crystal Lake LDS Church.

I asked DeVries how he learned about problems on county boards and was surprised to learn that members of the public rarely call. The snowplow guys (of whom I am a fan) turn identify many.

So, if a pothole on a county road is bothering you, give DeVries a call 815-334-4960.

All photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

This road, that is.

Some call it Walkup Avenue, others the McHenry Blacktop.

McHenry folks may call it the Crystal Lake Blacktop.

And, yesterday, I heard it called Walkup Road.

Whatever one calls it, this portion of the road is rivaling the worst road in the Village of Bull Valley.

Bull Valley is noted for its b-b-umpy roads.

The photo on top shows a hurriedly shot picture taken in the middle of the McHenry Blacktop in front of the Mormon Church.

Traffic was a bit too heavy to be doing something like this in the middle of the road.

Going out of town at the end of Veterans Acres, people are traveling slow enough to try to dodge the potholes.

Coming into Crystal Lake, if drivers don’t know of the bumps in the road, they just plunge off the good part of the highway that is good into two potholes.

There is not problem hearing when their wheels bottom out.

I called the County Transportation Department and found Maintenance Superintendent Mark DeVries.

“We have two crews out and Walkup is on their schedule,” he told me. (We always have one crew out,” he added later.)

“That’s probably the worst stretch,” he suggested.

I asked about when that small part of Walkup would be repaved.

“There’s a project for Walkup Road, the whole road, for widening and turn signals and turn lanes, but they may stage it,” DeVries told me. He’s not really the one to ask about such matters.

Yesterday McHenry County Highway crews were repairing Bay Road, Main Street west going out of town, “right down by the bridge,” besides the McHenry Blacktop near in front of the Crystal Lake LDS Church.

I asked DeVries how he learned about problems on county boards and was surprised to learn that members of the public rarely call. The snowplow guys (of whom I am a fan) turn identify many.

So, if a pothole on a county road is bothering you, give DeVries a call 815-334-4960.

All photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Keely Cat is not going to be happy about this.

I am featuring a cat, but it’s not him.

It’s a more appropriate to Halloween black feral cat.

Along with its colleagues it hangs out across the street from Crystal Lake’s City Hall.

So, if you are walking on Woodstock Street or Walkup Avenue or Caroline Street tonight and see a black cat cross your path, remember you can come back during the day and see the same thing.

Keely Cat is not going to be happy about this.

I am featuring a cat, but it’s not him.

It’s a more appropriate to Halloween black feral cat.

Along with its colleagues it hangs out across the street from Crystal Lake’s City Hall.

So, if you are walking on Woodstock Street or Walkup Avenue or Caroline Street tonight and see a black cat cross your path, remember you can come back during the day and see the same thing.