Weiland/Prairie Road Improvement Plan Progresses

The initial study of Weiland, Prairie and Lake-Cook roads will take a little longer than expected, an engineer told Buffalo Grove officials Monday night, but progress continues to be made.

Bob Andres updated village leaders on the road study, highlighting some recent changes that have been made to the proposed plan.

“We have developed a plan that is much more sensitive to the needs of the residents,” said the Civiltech engineer, who added that it still addresses the community’s transportation needs.

The current plan proposes: 

• Three-foot wide on-street bicycle lanes on Weiland Road and Prairie Road.
• The relocation of an off-street bicycle path between Lake-Cook Road and Deerfield Parkway to the west side of Weiland Road. 
• Noise walls along the south side of Lake-Cook Road west of Lexington Drive, and along the west side of Weiland Road north of Newtown Drive.
• Flashing lights for pedestrian traffic at Newtown Drive and at Brandywyn Lane.
• Prairie Road will be left open between Aptakisic
• Road and the new connector road. “It is anticipated that the Prairie Road/Aptakisic Road traffic signal will be removed and southbound left turns at this intersection will be restricted with a barrier corner island,” according to the latest report to the Village Board. (The report is attached at right.)

Environmental assessments are in progress. The Federal Highway Administration must review an environmental study and the design report before the next public hearing can take place, Andres said. The proposed plan will be presented at the hearing, where “we’ll have something we think best meets the needs of the residents and the village,” Andres said.

The hearing was originally expected to take place this summer. While officials said they could be ready to hold it by November, Village Manager Dane Bragg said the hearing would likely be delayed until after the holidays, pushing public input and the Village Board’s review of the first study phase to early 2013.

Funding for the project is being pieced together; the Lake County Council of Mayors, Northwest Municipal Conference and Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning have allocated millions of federal highway fund dollars for improvements on Weiland and Lake-Cook, according to the report, though some of the funds are on agencies' "B" lists.