State helps Will County take land for roads

Will County will move faster on five road projects with the benefit of state legislation, including one that should make it easier for trucks to get through one Joliet-area intersection.

Gov. JB Pritzker on Friday announced a long list of legislation that that he had signed, including House Bill 0217. The bill gives Will County authority to quick-take certain land it needs for road construction projects.

That bill will make it possible for Will County to get started in 2024 or 2025 on road improvements that include more lanes at the intersection of Route 52 and Laraway Road, a Will County official said.

The intersection is one of the Joliet area’s heavily traveled truck paths with an Estes Express Lines truck terminal located nearby and with trucks using Laraway Road as an access route to and from the CenterPoint Intermodal Center and other warehouse developments in Joliet.

The intersection now has three lanes including a center lane on both Route 52 and Laraway. The improvement will add two lanes on both roads at the intersection.

Will County Director of Transportation Jeff Ronaldson said the county sought the state legislation because of a backlog of eminent domain cases that started with the COVID-19 pandemic.

“If you start a land condemnation case now, the state’s attorney said it’s taking three to five years,” Ronaldson said.

The quick-take allows the county to pay a preliminary price for the land determined as just compensation by a court and begin construction while a final price is decided.

The cases typically involve slivers of land needed for road improvements.

Ronaldson said the county has gone to the state previously for quick-take legislation to quicken road improvements on Weber Road at the new Interstate 55 intersection and at Renwick Road.

Other projects affected by the newly approved legislation include:

• Cedar and Francis roads in New Lenox where a temporary traffic signal in place for more than a decade will be upgraded with a permanent signal, center lanes will be added to Cedar Road, and pavement will be reconstructed.
• Bell Road and Martingale Lane in Homer Glen where Bell Road will be expanded from three lanes including a center lane to five lanes with a center lane, which will blend in with other corridor improvements already underway.
• West River Road and Route 53 in Wilmington where pavement will be reconstructed.
• Exchange Street and Route 394 in Crete where left-turn lanes will be added on Exchange Street.