What's New for Willow Road

For June 3 to May 14

At the May 29, 2013 Willow Road coordination meeting, IDOT and Lorig Construction provided their proposed construction schedule for the next two weeks.

• A Bristol Street detour will go into effect for work at the bridge. Vehicles will be able to access Bristol from the south but will not have access to Willow Road. The public parking spaces in the area will be open in the evenings and weekends. The detour is scheduled through the end of July.
   
• The Wagner Road detour is expected to be removed by June 3. • City Lights will continue to install temporary traffic signals at the intersections and they anticipate activating the temporary signals on the west end of the project.
   
• Lorig Construction will continue removing the existing medians and installing temporary pavement along the corridor. They will also start the new water main and retaining wall work at the bridge. The lane closures for this work are already in place.
   
• As soon as the utilities are out of the way, Lorig will start the Phase I work west of Sunset Ridge Road. New lane closures and traffic patterns will go into effect in this area. Traffic will be shifted to the south side of the right of way so that the new roadway and sidewalk can be built on the north.
   
• Nicor will continue work on the south side of the roadway predominantly between Sunset Ridge and Wagner. There will be times when their work requires sidewalk sections to be removed and Nicor will provide temporary gravel in these locations when they are completed.

• Comcast and AT&T will continue to relocate their facilities to the new Com Ed poles. Once those relocations are complete, the old poles will be removed.
   
• AT&T plans to finish their temporary fiber relocations near the river by June 3. When this work is complete, installation of the water main and construction of the retaining wall will begin.

More detailed construction work and traffic conditions can be tracked at http://northfieldwillowroad.blogspot.com/ ; through Facebook at Willow Road Construction Project; or through Twitter at @willowroadcp.

Please note that the actual start dates and activities may change due to weather, utility issues, permitting approvals, or other contractor conflicts.  

#willowroadcp

 

Bristol Street Detour Begins Monday

On Monday, May 27, IDOT will close the intersection of Bristol Street and Willow Road.  The intersection will be closed to allow for the installation of a new retaining wall and underground utilities and will remain closed until this work is completed.
Bristol Street will be open to local traffic from the south, but drivers will not be able to access Bristol from Willow Road.  Click here to see a map of the proposed detour.  

Whats New For Willow Road

What’s New for Willow Road?

For May 20 to May 31

At the May 15, 2013 Willow Road coordination meeting, IDOT and Lorig Construction provided their proposed construction schedule for the next two weeks.  The planned work includes:

•  Nicor will continue work on the west end of the project, including a connection across the Sunset Ridge intersection. Nicor will confine its work within the roadway between the hours of 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., and they will have flaggers to direct traffic. When this phase is complete, NICOR anticipates starting its relocation work on the south side of the right of way between Sunset Ridge Road and the river. 
   
• Comcast and AT&T will continue to relocate their facilities to the new Com Ed poles installed along the right of way.  Once those relocations are complete, the old poles will be removed.
   
• AT&T also plans to relocate its fiber facilities near the river.  When this work is complete, installation of the water main and construction of the retaining wall near the river will begin.  That work will require the temporary closure of Bristol Street and appropriate detours.
   
•  City Lights will continue to install temporary traffic signals at the intersections.  They anticipate activating the temporary signals on the west end of the project by the end of May.   
   
•  Lorig Construction will continue removing the existing medians along the corridor and then installing temporary pavement in these areas.  This work is started on the west end of the project. Lane closures for this phase are already in place.

 

More detailed construction work and traffic conditions can be tracked at http://northfieldwillowroad.blogspot.com/ ; through Facebook at Willow Road Construction Project; or through Twitter at @willowroadcp.   

Please note that the actual start dates and activities may change due to weather, utility issues, permitting approvals, or other contractor conflicts.   

Frequently Asked Questions

May 10, 2013

Who should I contact if I have a question or an issue? The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) manages the Willow Road Redevelopment project. Any questions or concerns can be e-mailed to their construction team at brahe@v3co.com, phoned into the field office at 847-784-8738 or directed to their web page at http://www.dot.il.gov/WillowRoad/index.html

Why are there traffic barriers and lanes closed when very little work is going on? With each phase of construction, traffic barriers are used to provide a safe work zone. The current configuration is for the “pre-stage” work, which includes tree removal, median removal, the installation of temporary pavement on the south side of the road, and utility relocation. Once the pre-stage work is complete, the next phase of the project can start. In order to avoid confusion, due to frequent changes in lane configurations, these are not set up or taken down on a day-to-day basis but rather with each new phase of the project.

Why is there a Wagner Road detour in place? This detour is not part of the Willow Road project but is associated with a Safe Routes to School project. Northfield received funding to improve school access, and the contractor will be working to enclose a culvert on Wagner Road to make it safer for children walking to Middlefork School and the Park District facilities. Northbound Wagner Road will be closed between Willow and Old Willow for the next two weeks.

What is the best way to stay informed on construction activity? For live traffic updates, detailed maps of the project design, and up-to-date information on the construction activity, follow the progress on the Willow Road web page http://northfieldwillowroad.blogspot.com/ ; the IDOT web page www.dot.il.gov/willow road/index.html ; Facebook - Willow Road Construction Project; Twitter - @willowroadcp; Instagram- willowroadcp; and e-news at www.northfieldil.org

How long will the project take? The roadway work is expected to take place over two construction seasons and be completed by the end of 2014. The final restoration work and plantings are planned for the spring of 2015.

Will the sidewalks be open during construction? Sidewalks will be available during construction but not in the areas adjacent to construction. In Phase I, the south side will be available; in Phase II, the north side will be available; and in Phase III both sides will be open.

Are drawings available to show what the final roadway will look like? You can view the overall project design and landscape plans by clicking the links provide on the right-hand side at http://northfieldwillowroad.blogspot.com/. If you have detailed construction questions or want to know how the project may impact a particular property, contact IDOT at brahe@v3co.com.

Can the timing of the traffic lights be adjusted to allow traffic to flow more smoothly during construction? Yes. IDOT will evaluate the intersections during each phase of construction and, when possible, will adjust the signal times to mitigate traffic backups. Nonetheless, delays are anticipated throughout construction.

Whats New for Willow Road

For May 6 to May 17

At the May 1, 2013 Willow Road coordination meeting IDOT and Lorig Construction provided their proposed construction schedule for the next two weeks. The work planned includes:

Weeks of May 6th & 13th

• The utility companies such as Com Ed, Comcast, AT&T, and NICOR will continue their work relocating utilities that are in conflict with the new roadway. NICOR will be focusing most of their work in the western portion of the project between Waukegan Road. To allow them to work safely they will be making some temporary changes to the traffic configurations in their work zones. Once completed the barricades will be reinstalled to the pre-stage work locations. 

• The general contractor, Lorig Construction will continue to set new poles for the temporary traffic signals at the intersections. This work has already started at Waukegan and Willow and the contractor will continue moving east, intersection by intersection. If the soil samples are approvals by the reception site, the contractor will begin the median removals as early as next week. They plan to start west of Waukegan Road and work their way east. The lane closures have already been put in place to accommodate this work.

More detailed construction work and traffic conditions can be tracked at http://northfieldwillowroad.blogspot.com/ ; through Facebook at Willow Road Construction Project; or through Twitter at @willowroadcp. Please note that the actual start dates and activities may change due to weather, utility, permitting approvals, or other contractor conflicts.