Municipal Group 3 Meeting #1 - May 19, 1998
 
MEETING SUMMARY 
The first meeting of Municipal Group #3 was held at the Round Lake Beach Village Hall on May 19, 1998 at 7:30 A.M. The following municipalities were invited to attend:  
  • Village of Hainesville 
  • Village of Lakemoor 
  • Village of Round Lake 
  • Village of Round Lake Beach 
  • Village of Round Lake Heights 
  • Village of Round Lake Park 
  • Village of Volo 
  • Village of Ringwood 
  • Village of Richmond 
  • Village of Fox Lake 
  • Village of Spring Grove 
  • Village of Wonder Lake 
  • Village of McCullom Lake 
  • City of McHenry 
  • Village of Johnsburg 
  • Village of Bull Valley 
The meeting focused on the following topics: 
  • Overview of the project process and schedule 
  • Overview of the public involvement program 
  • Selection of the Municipal Group representative to the Technical Advisory Group 
  • Findings from the project focus groups 
  • Discussion of transportation issues 
  • Next Steps 
The project team provided an overview of the project process and schedule, the role and responsibilities of the representatives and reinforced the importance of Municipal Group representation.  The public involvement program—intended to provide opportunities for groups and individuals to contribute to the decision-making process—was also discussed.  The modes of participation for the general public, interest groups, and policy/technical/regulatory leaders were specified.  The opportunity to provide technical input—through the Technical Advisory Group (TAG)—was also outlined.  After qualifications for TAG membership were suggested, the attending municipal officials chose a TAG representative and an alternate.  

The findings from focus groups were presented, including perceptions of major transportation problems in the county. The project team then solicited comments from the municipal representatives on transportation issues.  The municipal representatives voiced the following concerns during this exercise: 

  • Extend Rollins Road from U.S. 45 to Grand Avenue. 
  • Expand IL 120 to 4 lanes to the west. 
  • Provide police direction at intersections with bottlenecks (e.g. 4-way stop intersections). 
  • Provide bus service from Round Lake Beach to Gurnee. 
  • Extend bus service hours from the area to Gurnee to meet the employment schedule of individuals who work at Great America. 
  • Provide a traffic signal at IL 120/Alleghany Road and Peterson/Alleghany Road. 
  • Improve lack of north/south routes.  Support IL 53 expansion.  Alter Industrial/Commercial Development.  Improve the east/west access problem. 
  • Potential industrial development near Campbell Airport will require transportation access. 
  • Improve Rollins Road/IL 83/Railroad Track and Rollins Road/Hainesville Road, both high accident locations.   Traffic signal interconnection is needed. 
  • Widen the bridge across Mill Creek. It is a constraint on U.S. Route 45. 
  • Expand sidewalks to provide pedestrian access to nearby residential and commercial areas from the train station. Note that Metra is only able to fund sidewalk facilities in front of their stations. 
  • Extend Cedar Lake Road south to provide access to Route 60.  Existing traffic currently needs to jog onto Bacon Road to access Route 60. 
  • Richmond is hindered by a lack of access to Lake County, Fox River crossing. 
  • Improve IL 173. 
  • Richmond needs access to Metra Rail Service; however, the community would like the Fox Lake Line to be expanded—not the line Metra is proposing. 
  • Alleviate congestion through downtown Richmond, which is very heavy Friday afternoon through Sunday with recreational traffic headed to Wisconsin. 
  • Give consideration to pedestrian facilities. 
  • Provide access from area to interstates—lack of good transportation impeding economic development.  
  • Improve lack of north/south routes.  Support IL 53 expansion. 
  • Install traffic signals at Peterson Road, Washington Road, and Gilmer Road. 
  • Resolve problem with Metra Rail trains—trains back up over the roadway when they stop, or the trains do not pull forward far enough to allow the barriers to be raised to allow traffic to cross the tracks. 
  • Improve lack of access from the north part of the county to the southeast. 
Project activities that will be taking place over the next six months (illustrated on a display board) were discussed.  At the conclusion of this meeting, the project team thanked the municipal group representatives for their comments and suggestions, as they are important to the project’s success.  The project team informed the representatives that there would be similar meetings in the future, and encouraged the municipal representatives to attend.