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Ap ri l 1, 2015 • $1 .0 0
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Carrot cake – a classic Easter dessert – recast as breakfast / D1
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Effort to combine townships launched Group plans to lobby County Board on issue By KEVIN P. CRAVER Photos by H. Rick Bamman – hbamman@shawmedia.com
Crews from Plote Construction work Monday on the base of the new Route 14 just east of Lily Pond Road between Crystal Lake and Woodstock. The $48 million reconstruction and widening project is scheduled to be completed by fall 2016.
Road construction season arrives in county Widening of Route 14 tops list of area projects By KEVIN P. CRAVER kcraver@shawmedia.com The widening of Route 14 between Crystal Lake and Woodstock is by far the largest item that workers this year will cross off McHenry County’s road project wish list. The $48 million project that started last fall with clearing right-of-way will begin in earnest this year and wrap up next year. Work will wrap up this year on the widening of Route 31 south of Rakow Road in Crystal Lake, and on the final phase of a project to improve Charles Miller Road in McHenry. What does this mean for you, the driver? Budget extra time and plan for delays. The following is a list of some of this year’s major road projects affecting McHenry County drivers that will start, continue or finish this year: • ROUTE 14: Plans call for rebuilding and widening Route 14 from West Lake Shore Drive in Woodstock to just south of Crystal Lake Avenue. While the project is separated into two contracts, with Lucas Road near McHenry County College separating them, work on both will take place simultaneously, meaning drivers will need to plan for two work zones. The road will be widened to two lanes in each direction, separated by a 22-foot landscaped median, according to Illinois Department
A Hometown Electric worker removes signals Monday at the intersection of Routes 14 and 176 in Crystal Lake. of Transportation plans. A 10-foot bike path will be included from Lake Shore Drive to just past MCC. Traffic signals will be improved or installed at eight intersections along the route. One lane of traffic will be maintained in each direction through construction. • CHARLES MILLER ROAD: Road construction will soon begin in earnest to widen and improve Charles Miller Road from Esmaralda Park to Route 31. Utility relocation and sewer work took place through the winter. Workers will finish widening Charles Miller Road to four lanes west to Route 31, and improve its intersection with Route 31 and Bull Valley Road. Bull Valley Road from the Union Pacific railroad tracks west will be improved as part of the plan. One lane in each direction will be maintained on affected roads. Work on the project, pegged at $17.3 million, is expected to wrap up in November, weather permitting. • SOUTH MAIN STREET:
Crystal Lake drivers should be ready for delays as construction starts to widen and improve a stretch of South Main Street and Pyott Road from south of Route 14 to north of Rakow Road. The project will widen the entire road to four lanes – eliminating choke points for northbound drivers on Pyott Road and southbound drivers on South Main Street – and improve the roads’ intersection with Virginia Road. Work on the pavement is starting after workers through the winter relocated utilities and installed temporary traffic signals. The $5.7 million project, the cost of which is being paid by a federal grant, the city and McHenry County, will be finished by November, weather permitting. • ROUTE 31: Work is set to wrap up this spring on a $5.2 million project to widen Route 31 to four lanes from south of Rakow Road to just north of Trinity Drive on the borders of Lake in the Hills and Cary. The improvement project started
kcraver@shawmedia.com If he’s successful, Nunda Township Trustee Mike Shorten just might consolidate himself out of office, along with a large number of his fellow township elected officials. He is chairman of McHenry County Citizens for Township Consolidation, a new group launching a grassroots effort to pressure the County Board to put referendums before voters next March that would, if completely successful, more than halve the number of townships from 17 to eight. The plan does not eliminate township government, long the cause of local anti-township activist Bob Anderson, but reduces the number and reduces cost, said Shorten, who was first elected in 2013 shortly after his appointment to finish an unexpired term. He said the push by new Gov. Bruce Rauner for government consolidation, plus efforts elsewhere in Illinois to eliminate particular townships, has given the cause momentum. “We’re specifically trying to look at reducing the cost of township government,” Shorten said. “We’re not trying to take away services
What it means A new group called McHenry County Citizens for Township Consolidation wants the McHenry County Board to create a plan to put before voters in March 2016 to consolidate the county’s townships from 17 to eight.
On the Net n You can learn more about McHenry County Citizens for Township Consolidation at www. mcc4tc.com. n Visit the Township Officials of Illinois website at www.toi.org to learn more about the township form of government.
– we understand there are many who rely on those services and we don’t want to affect those at all. But does it make sense to keep [township] boundaries that were drawn up in the 1800s? Does it make sense to keep doing things the way they’ve always been done, when we’re no longer driving horses and buggies?” Illinois has far more units of local government than any other state at just under 7,000, and more than
See LOBBY, page A5
Construction season You can get weekly updates on McHenry County road projects and sign up for email alerts at NWHerald.com.
Voice your opinion Which road construction project will affect you most? Vote online at NWHerald.com.
Police search for person who shot McHenry man By KATIE DAHLSTROM
last June. • RURAL BRIDGES: The McHenry County Division of Transportation plans to replace three bridges this year over the Kishwaukee River. Work will take place to replace a bridge on County Line Road in Marengo Township for just under $2.7 million, a bridge on Franklinville Road in Seneca Township for $1.5 million, and a bridge over Noe Road in Marengo Township for $1.17 million. Both the Noe and County Line road bridges are now closed to traffic.
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R-B girls battle back to earn draw against Johnsburg / C1
Public works union, Lake in the Hills officials agree on 3-year contract / A3
Staff of outgoing GOP Rep. Aaron Schock face tough prosecutor / B3
kdahlstrom@shawmedia.com LAKE VILLA – Lake County Sheriff’s police continue to search for the person who shot a 22-year-old McHenry resident Monday night. Justin K. Diedrich was shot once in the arm and torso by an unknown offender, Lake County Sheriff’s Sgt. Curtis Gregory said. Police said they aren’t sure where or what time the shooting occurred, but found Diedrich near the PMO Club, a bar in the 37000 block of Route 59 in unincorporated Lake Villa about 9:45 p.m. Monday. Gregory said a bar employee called police to say
that someone who had been shot was at the bar. Gregory was certain Diedrich was not shot inside the bar. “Right now we’re just working on trying to put it all together,” Gregory said. Diedrich was taken to Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville in critical condition Monday, but will survive his injuries, Gregory said. A nursing supervisor at the hospital did not have Diedrich listed as a patient Tuesday. Gregory would not release any details on the possible motive for the shooting or Diedrich’s cooperation with the investigation. He said more information will be released, but could not specify when.
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