Route 120 Corridor Planning Council Open House

Tonight, November 12, is the Route 120 Corridor Planning Council Open House. It will be held at the Prairieview School, 103 E. Belvidere Rd (IL 120), Hainesville, from 6:00 - 8:00 p.m.

Anyone interested in learning more about the CPC and traffic relief in our area is encouraged to attend.

From the Volo Archives

I subscribed to the Daily Herald newspaper archive, which for only $40 a year, gives you access to many past Daily Herald newspapers (and its predecessors).

Every now and then I'll post something fun from Volo's past. The first is an article from May 16, 1994, around the time that the 120 bypass opened. Pay particular attention to the before and after maps. I had no idea that Gilmer and 12 actually intersected at one time.

New Bypass Helps Breathe Fresh Life Into Small Town

New traffic signal in operation

At first thought, you might say, "There's no traffic signal at 12 and Molidor Road yet." And you would be correct as the signal is actually at the intersection of Gilmer and Ellis Road. It looks rather funny all by its lonesome, visible from 120 as well as 12. I love the illuminated street signs which are starting to pop up at other intersections in adjacent neighborhoods.

Metra update

A week or two ago, I sent an e-mail to Metra via their On The Bi-Level newsletter asking about three projects that are rather important to those Volozens who ride Metra each day:

1) The Long Lake parking expansion as reported on Round Lake Mayor Gentes' blog
2) Double tracking between Rondout and Fox Lake (right now, most of this is only single track)
3) The reconstruction of the Round Lake station as part of the downtown Round Lake revitalization plan.

Here was Metra's response:

Rob,

We cannot provide any timelines for the specific projects you have mentioned here. Right now the Metra capital program which pays for things like this is minimal. Very few station projects exist and new double tracking is not happening anywhere. We are familiar with the needs and requests - here and elsewhere - but with tight budget times improvements like this are going to have to wait.

We know that's not the answer you wanted but that is where we find ourselves,

OTBL

How promising. The folks in Springfield really need to get off their high horses, stop fighting with each other, and FIX the transit issue.

Fairfield & Gilmer - done!!

The last few days I've been enjoying the newly completed intersection of Fairfield and Gilmer. It looks great and it was awesome that it was completed on time. Unfortunately I probably won't be going that way to work because now the intersection of Gilmer and Midlothian is all backed up in the morning. I will probably stick with 12-Old McHenry-22-83-Lake Cook for now until I can find a job closer to home. What was I thinking taking a job in Northbrook!?!?

Fairfield/Gilmer partially open!

On Wednesday, Fairfield Road completely reopened to traffic and Gilmer Road is now open eastbound to the connector ramp at Fairfield. The rest of Gilmer is still closed until September 15th.

I took a ride on Fairfield on Wednesday and you'd never even recognize that it used to be a stifling 4 way stop sign. It looks really great. I won't really be able to utilize the new road until Gilmer is completely reopen next month but it's a good start. The Volozens will be happy when they can ease some of the pain that Route 60 has caused for the last 3 months!

Fish Lake Rd Intersection Improvements Coming Soon!

With the new intersection of Fairfield and Gilmer nearing completion, the Village recently announced two new intersection improvements. This fall, the intersection of Fish Lake and 60 will be improved, adding left and right turn lanes both east and west on 60 to turn on to Fish Lake, adding a left and right turn lane on northbound Fish Lake and a left turn only lane on southbound Fish Lake. A signalized intersection has also been proposed, but I am unsure if that will be completed this fall.

The other improvement will occur in Spring 2008 at the intersection of Fish Lake and 120. Left and right turn only lanes will be constructed at all 4 corners.

Click on the links below for PDFs of the proposed improvements.

Fish Lake/60 Improvement

Fish Lake/120 Improvement

How traffic in Lake County can get worse

Today, the intersection of Fairfield and Gilmer closed for 3 months so that they can rebuild the intersection to support constantly flowing traffic in both directions. From what I've heard, it sounded like a pretty typical morning commute for most, unless you were traveling on Route 12. I left my place at 7:15, got to the first back up at Volo Village Road at 7:19 and didn't get past 120 until after 7:30. Then I was good for a few minutes until the backup at Bonner. Now we're talking 7:45. 30 minutes to go 6 miles. It opened up again, albeit briefly, until a typical backup at Old McHenry Rd and then it was fine until Lake Zurich. My old job in North Barrington, which normally took 17 minutes, took nearly 40! I was going to Schaumburg today and when I saw 12 backing up again just past Ela Rd, I cut over to 22, traveled along the beautiful new bypass and right into another traffic stoppage where they are widening 22 between Buesching and Quentin. I eventually made it to Quentin and it was mostly smooth sailing the rest of the way to Schaumburg, but for it to take 40 minutes to get from Volo to Lake Zurich and then 35 to get from Lake Zurich all the way to Woodfield is just an abomination. Thankfully when I return to my job in Northbrook tomorrow, I'll be back on the Metra.

How the people of Lake County can gripe and moan about traffic woes, yet turn down a nominal sales tax increase year after year to improve the roads is beyond me. Hopefully once the Fairfield/Gilmer project ends in September, and the 22 and widening project is done later this year, things will ease up a bit until they start the I-94 widening project and then that will pretty much kill any east west route that needs to get to the highway.