Voice Your Opinion on Aptakisic Road
Should the road be widened? Turn lanes be added? Or left alone completely? These are the questions being asked by the Lake County Division of Transportation.
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The Lake County Division of Transportation (LCDOT) held an initial public hearing on future potential changes to Aptaksic Road Wednesday night in Buffalo Grove.
The LCDOT is evaluating the 1.2 miles of Aptakisic Road from Route 83 on the west to Buffalo Grove Road on the east. It is located within both communities of Buffalo Grove and Long Grove.
The LCDOT found that the existing traffic volume in a 24-hour weekday period on the road averages 14,200 vehicles, using data from the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP).
That volume is expected to rise to 23,000 vehicles per day by 2040. That will put the road at or near capacity, according to LCDOT.
How to deal with the current and future traffic levels is the question. About 80 people attended the LCDOT public hearing, and many had strong opinions about what should be done.
Resident Feedback
Everything is on the table, from extending sidewalks and adding bike paths, to adding a turn lane in the center lane, to fully widening the road to two lanes in each direction.
"I want sidewalks to be extended," said Pamela Weiner, a Buffalo Grove resident who would like to walk and bike more but is stopped by sidewalks that suddenly end. She also was worried about the potential widening of Aptakisic Road because her property backs up to it.
"If they widen the road, I'm afraid it will lower my property values," Weiner said.
The project is currently in Phase I now, with initial public hearings and environmental impact studies. This phase is expected to last through 2014, said Dan Helgren, a consultant with the LCDOT.
"We are looking at all of the options," Helgren said. "How can future traffic needs be handled?"
Victor Jung of Long Grove said widening Aptakisic Road would only benefit neighboring suburbs like Lincolnshire.
"People use Aptakisic Road as a shortcut to get to Lincolnshire and Buffalo Grove," Jung said. "If the road is expanded, it will only bring in more traffic. We need to keep open space instead of covering every square inch in concrete."
Share Your Thoughts
Residents are encouraged to join the Stakeholder Involvement Group to provide opinions on the project and to study potential alternatives.
Carrie Hansen of Images Inc., a consulting firm working with the LCDOT, said they want input from a diverse group of people.
"We want anyone who is interested to be on the Stakeholder Involvement Group," Hansen said. "That could be residents, business owners, technical people like engineers or planners and commuters from surrounding towns who use the road."
People need to sign up for the group by Dec. 12. Find more information on at www.aptakisicroad.org.
Douglas White
7:52 am on Thursday, November 29, 2012
Best case would be making the road 4 lanes the entire way with a sidewalk on one side. Second choice would be three lanes (center turn lane) with 1 sidewalk and 1 bike lane. Other than those two choices I would do nothing.
J
9:01 am on Thursday, November 29, 2012
Apptakistic would definitely benefit from 2 lanes each way from Buffalo Grove Road west up to R83. A second point to seriously review is that cronic congestion occurs due to the train tracks being flat on the ground instead of elevated so that the cars can drive under it. Elevating the train tracks on Aptakistic (by Weiland) so that the train goes above the cars, would definitely help the village. Same thing at Halfday Road and Deerfield Road train tracks(West of Milwaukee). East/West Corridors need help to keep smooth traffic, not add to the problem. Widening the roads, to 3 or 4 lanes each way is not going to help if the end-of-the-line is feeding into 2 lanes. The goal is to keep the traffic moving at a smooth level Sidewalks, on both sides are a must as this is a residential neighborhood.
John L
2:55 pm on Thursday, November 29, 2012
Really?:
"People use Aptakisic Road as a shortcut to get to Lincolnshire and Buffalo Grove," Jung said. "If the road is expanded, it will only bring in more traffic. We need to keep open space instead of covering every square inch in concrete."
I believe most of the traffic is passing through from east and south, through (not to) Buffalo Grove and Lincolnshire, to Rt 83... It is a county route after all, not a shortcut. It needs to be 4 lanes, and 1.2 miles of 2 extra lanes is not exactly paving the whole region.
Roz fox
4:34 pm on Thursday, November 29, 2012
Bike lane and side walk. ;-)
Debbie Salvesen
10:11 pm on Thursday, November 29, 2012
I tried to sign up for the group using the link you provided, but it is "under construction". I think Patch should have advertised the first meeting (last night) for many days so BG residents would know of it. I read Patch everyday and the meeting was not a major topic! It is crazy to want us to comment on something Patch won't even make a priority advertising. There have been many comments about Aptakisic under the Lake Cook and Weiland expansions. They should be combined for everyone to be able to read those as well.
Enuff_Already
11:15 am on Friday, November 30, 2012
Would I like a sidewalk on Aptakisic? Sure. Bike Path? sure. Never be stopped in traffic on Aptakisic? Sure, why not... After all, what could go wrong? It's just local-county-state-Fed budget stuff, right? It's probably already in the budget so what's the harm? Just some transportation planner just doing their job.
Bureaucrats who are planning for 2040 have no idea what they're talking about. Their guess is as good as mine - albeit a lot more precise - but no more accurate. Remember: our class sizes are declining; population growth in our area of Lake Co is flat; much of the housing development is complete; we're in the midst of an economic slowdown that can continue as far out as you can see.
For those who've been around fifteen years ago when the tail end of the building boom was going on can remember the traffic monster on Half Day Road. That's the kind of effective, road construction, design, and execution that made sense. And, we as taxpayers let it develop and worsen until the INVESTMENT was greater than the cost to execute.
I would ask people if they think it's WORTH the investment of our tax ("Revenue" as our bureaucrats call it) dollars.
For me, I work too hard to earn the tax dollars I contribute to have them so cavalierly tossed around with consultants, websites that don't work, overtime for staff to attend "outreach" events and all the other nonsense.