Lake Zurich’s 20-year Road Resurfacing Plan More Like 40-year Plan

Lake Zurich has a 20-year Road Resurfacing Plan but budget cuts have caused the village to put off projects year to year, creating a 10 to 20 year lag in the plan.

Susan Ahrens’s neighborhood, in the Heights subdivision, is one of those projects that has been pushed back again and again. Ahrens knows there have been budget cuts in Lake Zurich and no one can help it.

But she pleaded with village trustees Monday to fix the streets in the subdivision.

“I think it’s finally our turn,” Ahrens said. “I’m asking to please consider the needs of our neighborhood. I can only hope for one of you to listen to us. It’s very, very dangerous in our neighborhood.”

Lake Zurich trustees had two choices, either resurface 11 streets in the Heights subdivision or resurface streets in the Lake Zurich Industrial Park.

The 2013 Road Resurfacing Project originally called for roads in both areas be resurfaced at a cost of $2.6 million, said Mike Brown, Public Works General Services Superintendent.

Public Works had to cut the budget for the Road Resurfacing Project and now has $1.1 million to spend, resulting in a reduction in the number of streets being resurfaced, Brown said.

The department had to examine which roads were in the worse condition in each area. Staff recommended the roads in the Heights be done . The village board agreed.

“I wish we had more money, but we don’t,” Village President Tom Poynton said. “We are at the point we have to deliver this instead of promising it.”

Lake Zurich will be starting the bidding process this week to resurface some of the streets in the Heights. The work should begin in September and be done by the end of November.

While the immediate issue of what roads to resurface has been resolved, the village still has to deal with it’s the backlogged 20-year Road Resurfacing Plan.

“It is something we should start from scratch,” Poynton said. “It seemed like every year we are behind and behind and behind.”

Brown is planning to do an evaluation of the plan in place and figure out what the best plan going forward is, he said.