DeKalb County road crews look ahead to 2018 construction projects

DeKALB – As road construction wraps up for 2017, local highway departments already are gearing up for the 2018 season.

DeKalb County has seven major projects planned across the county involving design work, construction work or both, and County Engineer Nathan Schwartz said several of the projects will take more than a year. So where can you expect to see construction crews next year?

The project expected to be the largest for 2018 will be repaving Rich, Coltonville and Glidden roads to Route 23, a joint project between DeKalb County, the city of Sycamore and the city of DeKalb.

It is expected to cost $1.4 million.

Schwartz said 80 percent of the funding will come from federal funds. That work also will include paving a stretch of Bethany Road near the wellness center being built by Northwestern Medicine Kishwaukee Hospital.

“We didn’t want to be paving our road while they were working on their driveway,” Schwartz said.

The project involves coordinating with all four entities on schedules to minimize the effect on motorists.

North of that project, the county will begin two two-year projects, each expected to cost $2 million. In 2018, the county will begin working with consultants to design safety improvements at the intersection of Peace Road and Route 64, which saw 45 crashes in 2016. Construction is planned for 2019.

A similar timetable is set for improving shoulders, ditches and intersections along Plank Road between Lindgren and Lukens roads, with $200,000 of design work to be done in 2018 and $1.8 million of construction work to begin in 2019.

Schwartz said one request people have of that area is to realign the intersection of Plank and Moose Range roads.

“We’re not realigning the road at this point,” he said, but the other work being done should improve lines of sight for motorists at the intersection.

The highway department itself, at 1826 Barber Green Road, won't be immune from inconveniences caused by road construction. Peace Road from Barber Green Road to Route 23 will be repaved next year, and the two-lane road will be widened to three lanes.

Schwartz said that the culvert running under the intersection at Country Farm Road will be exceptionally difficult because of its size.

“It’s a beast,” he said.

He expects to have two lanes open during most of that work, however, so traffic snarls should be minimal.

The county is responsible for maintaining about 190 miles of road that equal more than 300 lane miles, Schwartz said. Lane miles are the length of road multiplied by the number of lanes. For example, 1 mile of road with four lanes would be 4 lane miles. Because of the size of the county, he said some drivers might not see crews if they don’t often travel the roads under construction.

“You might not see us for more than two weeks a year, but we’re out there,” Schwartz said.

There are three major projects planned south of Interstate 88 for 2018. The Somonauk Road bridge over the Little Rock Creek, situated about a quarter-mile south of Route 30, is going to be replaced. The cost is estimated at $600,000.

“We’ll be done before the Sandwich Fair,” Schwartz said.

Also on Somonauk Road, at the southwest corner of the landfill at the intersection with Gurler Road, the highway department will replace culverts under the highway to improve the flow of water and make the intersection safer, according to county documents.

The project will cost $350,000. Schwartz said the project is not because of any increased traffic at the landfill.

The county will begin a two-year project to continue reconstruction of Waterman Road. At a cost of $1 million each for 2018 and 2019, the highway department will regrade the shoulders and ditches along a 5-mile stretch of road from Perry Road to Duffy Road in Waterman.

Elsewhere in the county, city projects are in different phases of planning. The city of DeKalb will be working on the Annie Glidden Road and Peace Road bridges during the course of 2018, Public Works Director Tim Holdeman said.

A timetable is not yet in place because the projects have not yet been made available for bids, he said.

In Sycamore, City Engineer Mark Bushnell said city projects will be determined once the budget is passed by the City Council.