Posted in Algonquin Rd, Longmeadow Parkway, Road construction, Western Bypass on March 25, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Motorists soon can expect to see construction workers back on Route 31 and Algonquin Road as they continue work on the western bypass.
Work is scheduled to begin again this week, weather permitting. As construction goes on, there will be intermittent lane closures on Algonquin Road, between Main Street and Meyer Drive, Algonquin Assistant Village Manager Mike Kumbera said.
Read more here.
Posted in Kane, Longmeadow Parkway, McHenry, Resident Surveys, Road construction, Village Board, Western Bypass on March 14, 2014| 1 Comment »
Very little has been communicated to Village residents about the Longmeadow Parkway Project until the last twelve months. Even less has been communicated to residents about the Algonquin Western Bypass due for completion later this year unless they hear muffled references to the project in Village Board meeting recordings.
Nevertheless, both projects will have dramatic, unavoidable impacts on currently congested rush hour traffic congestion from County Line Rd. south in our Village.
Click to enlarge
The IDOT funded Algonquin Western Bypass (inset left) will be completed in the fall of 2014. It is designed to eradicate the traffic bottleneck at the intersection of Rte. 31 and Algonquin Rd. by bypassing that intersection to the west to improve north/south congestion for commuters. It also promises to “double time” the east/west traffic signals at that intersection to improve traffic flow to our west on Algonquin Rd.
This is the first train headed our way.
Planning for the Kane County Department of Transportation (KDOT) sponsored Longmeadow Parkway Project began in the late 1990’s due to limited bridge options for motorists needing to cross the Fox River. The impetus for the project was rapid development of housing in the western Fox Valley corridor, primarily in McHenry County but also Kane County to alleviate congestion in the northern portion of the county.
Click to enlarge
Longmeadow Parkway, currently in Phase 2 engineering which should ensure it’s going to happen, will bring thousands more commuters to Algonquin Rd at the intersection of Autumn Trail Road once completed (see graphic inset left). The planned traffic light in the image might provide extremely brief pauses in traffic on Algonquin Rd for those traversing the road on Helm, Bateman or Old Sutton Rds. but it will be seconds – not enough to matter.
Longmeadow is the second train heading for the Algonquin Rd. tunnel.
As the Longmeadow Project has been more exposed in the last year to residents, some have questioned why Barrington Hills has not opposed the plan. Unfortunately, this is not an option since our Village has supported it for years.
Communications between Barrington Hills and KDOT go back over ten years, but in 2005, the Village commissioned Gewalt Hamilton to create the following maps showing the Longmeadow path to Algonquin Rd within our borders:
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
Additionally, in 2006 and 2007, our Village Board approved two separate resolutions supporting the progress of Longmeadow Parkway Project planning.
Resolution 06-06, “Resolution Supporting a Bridge Study Corridor and Project in Dundee Township for Construction of the Longmeadow Parkway (Bolz Road) Bridge, and Route 62 Traffic Corridor Study from Route 68 to Route 31” passed in 2006 can be downloaded here. Resolution 07-10, “Resolution Supporting Evaluation of Longmeadow Parkway Bridge Corridor Toll Bridge Funding” passed in 2007 can be downloaded here.
Even on the slightest chance the Longmeadow project was to be scrapped, there is still the Western Bypass which will significantly increase traffic on Algonquin Rd. It’s estimated that the two lanes of Algonquin Rd in the Village are running at fifty percent more than capacity.
Anyone who regularly travels this corridor in the morning or evening during the week will attest to the fact it is a bottleneck, and with the recent widening of Algonquin Rd. in South Barrington, ours is the now only two-lane configuration between Huntley and Des Plaines.
For recently elected officials like Konicek, Harrington and President McLaughlin, this situation is something akin to trying to catch a falling safe. For the rest of the board, it presents the question of why this is all really coming to light now. Nonetheless, something has to be done.
During last Wednesday evening’s Longmeadow open house, participants were given a questionnaire seeking guidance on how to go forward with IDOT and Algonquin Rd. Readers of The Observer can add their suggestions too by downloading a copy of the questionnaire here and sending it to Village Hall on or before next Friday, March 21. The fax number at Village Hall is 847.551.3050.
– The Observer
Posted in Agendas, BACOG, Communications Committee, Elections 2013, ePacket Agendas, Kane, Longmeadow Parkway, OP/Ed, Road construction, Taxes, Village Board, Village Government, Western Bypass on February 28, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Following are some of the articles published by The Observer for the month of February since 2009. These articles, gathered from various publications and editorials, are noteworthy for residents in that they remind us of where we’ve been as a community. Readers can view additional publishings from those or any other prior months by utilizing the “Archives By Month” dropdown menu found on the right sidebar of any page view of this website.
The Barrington Hills village board voted 6-1 this week in favor of a $1 per year lease for the Barrington Area Council of Governments to move its offices into village hall.
Read the full Daily Herald story here.
This 2012 editorial suggested better transparency in the publication of the e-Packet agenda materials used by the Board of Trustees at their monthly meetings.
Read the original editorial here.
This February 2013 story from the Northwest Herald provided an update from the Kane County Department of Transportation on the progress of the Longmeadow Parkway Bridge, stating that the project was at least 18 months to two years away from being ready for bids.
The full story can be read here.
This Daily Herald article featured its village presidential candidate interviews with then incumbent village president and challenger Martin McLaughlin.
Read their full story here.
– The Observer
Posted in BACOG, ePacket Agendas, Financial Reports, Longmeadow Parkway, Plan Commission, Road construction, VBHPD, Village Board, Western Bypass, Zoning Board on February 27, 2014| Leave a Comment »
The Village Board’s February meeting ePacket agenda has been released. This agenda contains links to some reports and documents discussed during their meeting earlier this week, and a link to the agenda can be found here.
Posted in Audio Recordings, Barrington Hills Park District, Communications Committee, Financial Reports, Kane, Longmeadow Parkway, Pension Funding, Plan Commission, Politics, Public Safety, Road construction, Village Board, Western Bypass, Zoning Board on February 3, 2014| 1 Comment »
The Village has released edited audio recordings from the January 27 Village Board meeting. To access the menu of the meeting’s topical audio recording segments, click here.
Two residents braved the sub-zero weather conditions that night in order to make public comment to the board. We highly recommend readers listen to both of these comment recordings.
We also encourage residents to listen to the Roads and Bridges report recording. Issues related to the statuses of the Longmeadow Parkway project and Algonquin Road improvements were discussed. A direct link to that recording can be accessed here.
The Administration discussion also proved interesting as it appears Trustees may no longer be authoring their own messages to residents in future Village newsletters. This topic preceded dialog of the apparent inability of the Communications Committee (nearly nine years after its creation) to relay timely information to residents beyond a woefully neglected information website and infrequent newsletters.
This rather awkward Village communications conundrum voiced by Trustees Selman and Meroni, liaisons to the Communications Committee, can be heard by clicking here.
Posted in Agendas, Kane, Longmeadow Parkway, McHenry, Politics, Road construction, Village Board, Western Bypass on January 26, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Our Village Board will be meeting tomorrow evening at 6:30 PM. Residents should note that executive sessions are now conducted after public sessions during regular monthly board meetings.
A link to the board’s agenda can be found here, or a PDF copy can be downloaded here for those who do not have a Google account.
One of the items our board will voting on will be to accept or reject the McHenry County Council of Government’s (MCCG) 2014 proposed legislative agenda and transportation priority project list. Noteworthy among MCCG’s top ten transportation project priorities is the construction of the Longmeadow Parkway in Kane County.
A copy of the MCCG 2014 plan to be considered can be downloaded here.
Posted in Longmeadow Parkway, Road construction, Topics Of Interest, Western Bypass on January 24, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Bids are expected to be opened next month for reconstruction of the Barrington Road bridge over the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway and the long-awaited building of a full interchange there.
Meanwhile, details of how to fund it through an agreement among the village of Hoffman Estates, the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority and the Illinois Department of Transportation continue to be worked out, Hoffman Estates Mayor Bill McLeod said.
It’s finally happening because the coming widening of the tollway to four lanes in each direction makes reconstruction of the bridge necessary. The tollway widening is expected to accommodate 30,000 more vehicles per day.
Read more here or visit www.barringtonroadinterchange.com for further information.
 | Where's Maria? on Legislative panel weighs in on… |
| M Crowe on Man hospitalized after train a… |
 | BACOG letter on BACOG issues position statemen… |
 | Paige Smith on Clean slate: West Dundee to pr… |
 | joefargo3767 on Stop Stacking Costs on Illinoi… |
 | Thomas Paine on ‘Not 1984’: Flock… |
| Say it ain't so on Correction: Board of Trustees… |