Route 31 widening: Tree removal is just the beginning of major roadwork that could last until 2030

McHenry has been saving money for the last several years, preparing for when the city has to put up its portion of the costs for the looming Route 31 widening project.

The city currently has $3.6 million set aside of its estimated $7.5 million “all-in costs,” City Manager Suzanne Ostrovsky said. McHenry’s financial contribution to the project will go toward utility relocation, which could begin in 2026.

The Illinois Department of Transportation plans to spend $115 million to make nearly seven miles of Route 31 between Route 176 in Crystal Lake and Route 120 in McHenry a four-lane roadway with a median.

The project is included in the state’s Fiscal Year 2025-2030 Proposed Highway & Multimodal Improvement Program.

A contractor has been removing trees along the route – and giving a taste of traffic backups likely ahead – in early preparation for that project. Greg Gruen, McHenry’s staff engineer, said the tree removal is happening now because of bats.

“Due to the endangered Northern Long Eared Bat, tree clearing on IDOT projects can only take place from November 1 to March 30,” Gruen wrote in a memo to city staff. “The bats hibernate in caves over the winter, then roost in the trees during the summer months. The idea is that we don’t want to cut down their habitat while they are actively nesting.”

The tree removal started in early February and is expected to be completed by late March with some minor work through mid-May, IDOT Public Information Officer Maria Castaneda said.

Actual reconstruction of Route 31 will likely not begin until 2028, according to information provided to Gruen by IDOT.

The project is currently in the phase II design and property acquisition stage, Castaneda said. Phase II “consists of refining the design to develop contract plans and also includes any land acquisition. The land acquisition process must follow state and federal statutes and while it is ongoing any specific details are not public.”

Property acquisition along the roadway has been happening since at least Spring 2023.

As an example, in early 2023 the city of McHenry signed off on an agreement with IDOT and the McHenry Township Fire Protection District. The fire district owns seven acres on the east side of Route 31 at Shamrock Lane for a future fire station, Fire Chief Rudy Horist said. The district sold some its frontage there to IDOT for $55,000.

Other property has gone through, or is going through, eminent domain proceedings in McHenry County Courts, Norm Vinton, chief of the civil division for the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office, said.

“Most of the time, you come to an agreement” for the price of that frontage and the courts are not involved, Vinton said. When the two sides don’t agree “you go to court and litigate over the compensation for the taking of the property and they come to some settlement on it.”

Construction bids are expected to be opened in January 2026, according to Gruen’s memo, which added “that may be pushed back a little bit.”

“This is the nature of large construction projects,” Ostrovsky said, adding that the information the city has is based on conversations with IDOT and “our industry knowledge.”

Once bids are open, utility relocation will come first, and includes ComEd, Nicor, fiber optic and AT&T lines, as well as McHenry sewer and water lines. Some power poles may be moved as early is this summer or fall, Gruen said.

The majority of the road construction will happen in 2028 and 2029, Gruen said. That construction will include storm sewer, curbs, traffic signals, paving, a bike bath, street lights, and restoration. Final work to complete the 6.3 mile route could be pushed back to as far as 2030, he added.

The final roadway is also set to have sidewalks and a bike/pedestrian path with lighting along both sides through McHenry, thanks to a $2.5 million state grant.

Ross Polerecky, McHenry’s community development director, said he been told the section between Route 176 and Bull Valley Road will begin construction first.

But all of the estimated dates are just that, Polerecky said. “It changes daily.”