The long-discussed proposal for upgrading the interchange at Routes 41 and 176 in Lake Bluff is once again listed on the state’s latest plan for highway improvements, but when the work will actually start is still to be determined.
Last month, the Illinois Department of Transportation announced plans to spend $41 billion over the next six years on a series of infrastructure repair projects throughout the state as part in the latest update of the 2019 Rebuild Illinois Capital Program.
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The project list includes an $84 million reconstruction of the 41/176 interchange, with the state promising auxiliary lanes, bicycle/pedestrian lane improvements, a bridge installation and reconstruction of a pump station.
Village officials have sought enhancements at the interchange for years following the completion of an engineering study completed 10 years ago.
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“The biggest issue is the lack of acceleration and deceleration lanes entering and exiting Route 41. They don’t meet safety standards,” Lake Bluff Village Engineer Jeff Hansen said. “Also, the project will mitigate flooding on Route 41 at the Union Pacific railroad, and at Route 176.”
The proposal has been mentioned in previous versions of the capital program list, but construction has yet to begin.
IDOT spokeswoman Maria Castaneda wrote in an email the 41/176 upgrade is once again part of 2024-2029 proposed highway and multimodal improvement program, but did not identify a specific start date for construction.
“Current engineering efforts are targeted to enable a contract letting in the middle years of the multiyear program contingent upon plan readiness, land acquisition and funding availability through future annual legislative appropriations,” Castaneda wrote.
Hansen said IDOT sent “pre-final plans” for the project to the village for review and comment and village officials are still reviewing the plan.
As part of the review, the village would identify conflicts such as utility lines and beginning planning for their relocation prior to IDOT starting construction, according to Hansen. He added they hope to have the review completed sometime this fall.
Hansen noted the proposal also includes reconstruction of an additional portion of Route 176 going west through the Waukegan Road intersection. Another necessary component of the renovation would be land acquisition near the interchange.
Castaneda said the entire list of properties that would need to be obtained is still being finalized. One parcel of property proposed to be acquired is the headquarters of the Rockland Fire Protection District at 14 Skokie Highway, near the northwest corner of the 41/176 interchange.
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The building’s future has been under debate for years after the RFPD stopped providing fire and EMS services mostly to residents of the unincorporated area of Knollwood through a volunteer fire department. Instead, in 2018, the RFPD board at the times entered into an outsourcing agreement with the fire departments of Lake Forest and Libertyville for those services.
Currently the building is still being used for RFPD administrative functions and is being rented out to the Northern Illinois Police Alarm System, a cooperative venture of suburban police districts.
RFPD Secretary Bruce Mack said he believes the last direct conversation between RFPD and IDOT occurred before he joined the board earlier this year, and his agency still does not know when a razing would occur.
“One way or the other, we would like to move it along but we also appreciate as a public entity that IDOT has their constraints,” Mack said. “We just have to take it a day at a time.”
In the meantime, Mack said there has been some interest from other entities to purchase the building who might need it on a short-term basis, but nothing has developed.
He said RFPD officials would continue to listen to offers on a building where he said the mortgage was paid off earlier this year.
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“It would be inappropriate if we didn’t,” Mack said.
Mack added the RFPD would still some office space even when they do move to another location.