Lake Cook Road Project Shows Flexibility

Flexibility promises to be a hallmark of the $8.7 million Lake Cook Road construction project which began Monday in Deerfield if a decision made earlier this week by the undertaking’s partners is any indication.

Though contractor A Lamp Concrete Contractors already plans to work six day a week, 10 hours a day, pulling an all nighter is not out of the question when elements like the weather could cause a delay of several days.

Earlier: Lake Cook Road Construction Starts Today

“We knew a storm was coming Tuesday and we wanted to get ahead of it,” Deerfield Project Manager John Guccione said describing how the median between Waukegan Road and Carlisle was paved ahead of schedule. “We started to work at 3 a.m. and used fast curing concrete.”

Guccione is Deerfield’s liaison to the Lake Cook Road construction team which includes A Lamp and the Cook County Department of Transportation. Representatives of all three told this story, laid out the work schedule and other details at a meeting Thursday at Deerfield Village Hall.

The project contains four phases and is scheduled for completion by Oct. 26. “We’re going to try to make this as seamless a possible,” Holly Cichy, chief engineer of the Cook County Construction Bureau, said. “We want to be done before the holiday shopping season.”

The first phase of the work involves closing the center lanes with east and westbound traffic traveling on the outside lanes, according to Cichy. This preparatory work will last until approximately May 1.

After that, phase two will start closing all north side lanes to traffic for reconstruction with one lane in each direction along with left turn lanes on the south half of the road.

That will last until the middle or end of July when the process will be reversed with the lanes on the south side of Lake Cook Road closed for reconstruction and traffic moving to the newly built north side. The target date for completion is between Sept. 15 and 30.

Once the outside lanes on both sides of the road are complete, the middle will be finished by Oct. 26. “The contract has incentives and decentives,” Cichy said. “This is a very aggressive seven-month schedule.”

Contractor Will Work Two Shifts, Six Days a Week

A Lamp executive Jeff Moyer echoed Cichy’s resolve. “We will work two shifts to make sure we are staying on schedule,” he said. A number of Deerfield residents asked for longer work hours at previous meetings.

A similar program is planned during the overall time frame for Waukegan Road between Doral Court on the north and the Tri-State Spur on the south. The work will be done by Oct. 26 but the schedule for each phase is dependent on a variety of elements.

 Guccione, Cichy and Moyer all explained every effort would be made with signage and other communications to let people know the businesses in the area would be open. One owner was concerned about signage, wanting to make sure she complied with local ordinances.

Guccione indicated flexibility would be allowed within reason. “If you’re going to do anything exotic please run it by me,” he said.

The Village has established a website to keep everyone involved up to date, according to Guccione. Each time there is an update there will be an email sent to everyone who has signed up on the website.