City Desk By Mayor Jeffrey T. Sherwin
Road Construction
Well, we’ve all been putting up with these horrible traffic delays on North Avenue for some time now. First of let me tell you that the City of Northlake is not in charge of this project, the Cook County Highway Department is the lead agency here. But no matter who is in charge, the Lake Street bridge replacement over North Avenue, while trying to keep the road open is a complex and difficult job, I’m sure it would be much easier, quicker and safer to close the road down completely, but that is not an option, so we have to have a little understanding and patience. I try to avoid the area if at all possible, taking alternate routes, or scheduling my trips in off peak hours.
The good news and the bad news is that we can expect North Avenue to be squeezed to one lane through the end of July when an additional lane will be opened according to the Cook County Highway Department. They are also looking into adjusting the timing on the traffic signal at Northwest to allow for a longer green light. The really good news is that the project is supposed to be substantially completed by the end of October. So let’s all hang in there, the end of October will be here sooner than we think and we will be wondering where the summer went.
Now here is some more construction news—-the City will be replacing water main and rehabilitating Railroad Avenue starting in mid-May. This project will be a major disruption to the businesses on Railroad Avenue, especially to the truck traffic. The Road will be reduced to one lane only, going Northbound. All south bound traffic will be directed to Palmer, then to Wolf. Trucks will proceed north on Wolf to Grand then back to North Avenue by traveling south on Northwest Avenue. We will see significant truck traffic on Palmer and northbound Wolf Road, north of Palmer for the entire summer. Unfortunately, there really is no alternative here, this is the least disruptive choice.
We had considered waiting for the North Avenue project to be finished first, but that still would have not changed the detour route, prices would be higher next year, and we would have been stretching out this major construction for a longer period, so we figured let’s get all of the misery over with as soon as possible. So for those of us, myself included, who have been using Railroad Avenue as a way to avoid some of the traffic on westbound North Avenue, the party’s over.
Road construction aside, let’s enjoy the summer, because when we are driving on all these new beautiful roads in the fall, we will be wondering where the summer went.
