Busy Galena-Kennedy Road intersection slated for major improvement

YORKVILLE – Galena and Kennedy roads come together at a rural, picturesque location in Bristol Township, forming a “T” intersection.

But heavy traffic counts belie the intersection’s bucolic setting and create a crossing that is considered dangerous.

“It’s a really busy intersection,” Kendall County Highway Engineer Fran Klaas said.

Plans have been years in the making to install a traffic signal as well as turn lanes for all three legs of the crossing. Construction on the $1.5 million project is expected to take place in 2023.

Traffic counts show that the south leg of the intersection, Kennedy Road, is the scene of 5,700 vehicle movements per day. The west leg of Galena Road sees 7,600 vehicles passing through every day, while the east leg totals a whopping 9,200.

The east leg is the heaviest because there is so much traffic coming from and heading to the four-lane Orchard Road, one of Kendall County’s primary highways.

But before work can get underway, land needs to be acquired and utilities need to be moved out of the new right-of-way.

As it happens, the intersection is a magnet not only for vehicles, but virtually all of the major players in the utility game, including AT&T, Comcast, MetroNet, ComEd and Nicor.

“It’s going to be a big effort for them to relocate their stuff,” Klaas said. “It will take many months for them to get out of the way,.”

In particular, AT&T has a “significant” amount of lines and equipment at the intersection that will have to be relocated, Klaas said.

Plans are for the utility work to take place later this year, so that construction on the turn lanes and installation of the traffic lights can get underway in spring of 2023.

Meanwhile, the city of Yorkville is moving ahead with plans to provide the county with an easement through city-owned property near the intersection.

When completed during the later portion of 2023, there will be the appropriate right- and left-turn lanes serving each of the three legs of the intersection, Klaas said.