At a recent meeting, the Barrington Roads and Bridges Department discussed non-resident traffic and how the village could discourage drivers from using the town as a short-cut.
Below are the minutes from this meeting, as provided by the department.
Village of Barrington Hills Roads & Bridges Department is located at 112 Algonquin Rd, Barrington, IL
VILLAGE OF BARRINGTON HILLS
Roads & Bridges Committee
Meeting Minutes
May 19, 2016
Committee Members Present: Trustee Brian Cecola, Chair
Martin McLaughlin, Village President
Dan Strahan, Village Engineer
Robert Kosin, Director of Administration
Ken Meek, Civil Engineer
Others Present: Mary Beth Richards
Mike Hannigan
1. ORGANIZATIONAL: The meeting of the Village of Barrington Hills Roads & Bridges Committee was called to order at 4:05 p.m. by Chairman Cecola.
2. PUBLIC COMMENTS: Mary Beth Richards spoke about drainage concerns at her residence at Old Hart Road. Standing water is accumulating and the water creates a breeding ground for mosquitos and is killing trees. Ms. Richards stated that she has tried using a pump, as well as cleaning out and grading the nearby culvert to channel flow. Nothing has fixed the issue. She requested that the Village build an additional culvert north of the property to separate flow.
Mr. Hannigan raised concern about two drain tiles that have recently been put in on Oak Knoll Road and Merri Oaks Road. He believes they are not designed properly and may contribute to structural issues with the road. He saw no permit, and the village made no mention of being aware of either storm line. He agreed to provide a more detailed description for the drain tile locations so they could be investigated.
In regard to Cuba Road Bridge, Mr. Hannigan wondered if there was any penalty clause in the contract for work delays. Also, he wondered why the previous bridge was demolished before the utilities were relocated. Mr. Strahan reiterated that the utilities were relocated prior to the project, but that the relocated utilities were found to still be in conflict with the proposed bridge. Mr. Strahan noted that liquidated damages would not apply to delays outside of the control of the contractor (such as utility delays), but that if they do not meet the revised utility delay, the contractor will be penalized.
Mr. Hannigan’s final comment was wondering if village roads could be closed off to prohibit through traffic from non-residents. Mike is worried that people are using certain Village roads as a “short cut” and damaging the road as well as throwing out trash. Trustee Cecola and President McLaughlin were sympathetic with the request and even raised the point that it could lead to increased crime in neighboring residential communities. Mr. Strahan and Mr. Kosin brought up a previous instance of trying to complete this and highlighted that often times, the roads serve additional emergency purposes and public approval for shutting them down is low. Mr. Strahan outlined additional road sign changes you could make to discourage people from using the back roads, but he also noted that in return residents of the community are affected.
3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: The minutes of the Roads & Bridges Committee Meeting of April 16,
2016 were approved as written.
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4.1 2016 ROAD PROGRAM:
Bid Review: Mr. Strahan reported that bids for the 2016 Road Program were received Thursday, May 12th. Five bids were received including a low bid from Lorig Construction of $746,234.79. This was below the Engineering estimate of probable cost which was $846,793.65 and the Village budget which is $912,000. The price of asphalt and binder was $55/ton which was significantly lower than last year.
After adding additional drainage work on Helm Road, Woodcreek Road, and associated costs with the Highland Avenue project, the total cost of the road program was roughly $812,000. With the additional $100,000 Trustee Cecola recommended using it to fix an additional Village maintained road for the
residents. President McLaughlin expected the board to agree with that recommendation and maintained that the Village should take advantage of the low asphalt prices and try to meet the 3.2 mile road replacement goal. Mr. Strahan brought up River Road as being the next likely candidate that
would meet budget. There will need to be coordination with Algonquin Township for their portion of River Road between Haegers bend Road and the Barrington Hills Village limits.
Pavement Striping Program: Mr. Strahan reported that the pavement striping program consists of three roads; Ridge Road (County Line Road to Plum Tree Road), Plum Tree Road (Ridge Road to Cuba
Road), and Haegers Bend Road (County Line Road to River Road). This program consists of typical yellow double line center striping, white edge striping, and thermoplastic pavement marking. The project will go out to bid in June. Mr. Strahan clarified that the striping on Ridge Road would be completed after Cuba Township completes all planned road repairs.
Bridge Inspections: Bridge Inspections are required every other year for any structure in the Village with a span greater than 20 feet. The Bridges include the Cuba Road Bridge, the Porter Bridge on Oak Knoll Road, the Spring Creek Road culverts, and the Green Rail Bridge. The Cuba Road Bridge is under construction so it does not require an inspection at this time; however, the remaining structures are due for an inspection by mid-July. When Cuba Road Bridge is complete an initial inventory inspection will occur on that structure.
Highland Avenue/Spring Creek Road Project – Village of Algonquin: Mr. Meek reported that the Spring Creek and Highland Avenue Road Project being pursued by the Village of Algonquin is currently under utility delays from ComEd, Nicor, and AT&T. AT&T has the most complicated and longest delay.
They are currently expected a late June completion date for facility relocation. Also, the Village of Algonquin is mandating partial park access up until July 15th for little league baseball games. The park is within project limits and Berger excavating is unsure if they will be able to begin work until they have a full closure on the park. The contract allows 90 working days and so finishing this project and having the road open before winter is the upmost importance. The Village of Algonquin has agreed to send out a notice to residents and the Village of Barrington Hills has been granted access to make patching location recommendations where work is being completed within Village limits. Mr. Strahan reiterated the estimated bid was at $3.2 Million; however, the low bidder Berger Excavating submitted a bid of
$1.9 Million.
4.2 ROAD REPAIRS – CUBA TOWNSHIP: Trustee Cecola raised concern that the road patching proposal provided by Cuba Township showed a 50% price increase from the previous year. Mr. Kosin explained that this was because the scope of the work was so large and Cuba Township was going to expedite the process to complete the work in a 5 day period. Trustee Cecola and Mr. Kosin were both in agreement to seeing if the price would come down from the Township if the work was to be completed on normal schedule. President McLaughlin suggested contacting additional agencies such as Algonquin Township to obtain competitive quotes and potentially reduce cost to Village residents.
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4.3 DRAINAGE:
Old Hart Road: Mr. Strahan read a resident email that alerted drainage concerns to Old Hart Road. During heavy rainfall events, Old hart Road floods due to a combination of flow from the creek and water that overtops the pond on 30 Old Hart Road. In the email is a proposal to add an additional
culvert north of the existing culvert to help separate and manage the storm water. Mr. Strahan agreed with the recommendation. Currently, the storm water is taking a circuitous route where it travels south before crossing in an existing roadway culvert only to then go back north before discharging further to the east. Mr. Strahan and the Village will look into incorporating it into the budget.
Chapel Road: Chapel Road drainage is an issue where in past years, the road had to fully close due to overtopping of pond water in excess of 1.5 feet over the centerline of the road. After talking to McHenry
County in 2012, a storm sewer solution was put in place to drain a portion of the road. McHenry County was worried about dewatering the wetland so they required that the storm sewer system must start at the 100 year high water level. Since 2012, the water level has been down; however, this past spring has produced rainfall events where there is a couple of inches of water on the edges of the pavement. This is not a deficiency in the storm sewer system and it is acting as intended. There is also a fold down “Water on Pavement” sign that the police activate when they become aware of the situation. Chapel Road is currently in line for next year’s road program. Lakeview Lane: Lakeview Lane drainage is currently removed from the road program due to uncertainty with the viability of the improvements. The first proposal was to improve the grading in the ditch line on Dundee Road and pitch the water from the ditch toward the outfall at Heather Lake. Mr. Strahan stated that a survey crew went out and shot the elevation of the outfall only to find that it is actually higher than the ditch on Dundee Road. Any improvements with this scenario would cause modifying the weir and subsequently the shoreline of Heather Lake. This would cause the grassy area near the Lake of resident homes to turn into a mud pit as the water would come directly to the surface. An alternative solution is proposed of running a partially private storm sewer system through resident
properties from Lakeview Lane toward the Lake. This is currently the more viable option. A follow up meeting will be scheduled with residents to discuss new information. Woodcreek Drainage Easement: Woodcreek Road drainage easement was approved by the Village board and will allow a 15’ easement on the south side of 11 Woodcreek Road. The easement would grant access to cover an existing pipe that takes flow from the right of way to Spring Creek. After meeting with the resident, he was reluctant to agree to the easement unless an 8” pipe from the pond to the storm sewer was lumped into the road program by the Village. Ultimately, securing the easement would prevent greater additional costs and is the most cost efficient option.
4.4 CUBA ROAD BRIDGE UPDATE: Since the utility delay, Copenhaver has remobilized to the site and poured the west footing of the bridge along with one of the wing walls. Currently work is taking place off site as the bridge components are being fabricated in Salem, Illinois. There are a total of 8
components. 7 of them are complete and Mr. Strahan anticipates the final piece to be fabricated this week. The units are 38’ long by 14’ high and 6’ wide. After the units are precast, they must cure for one week to prevent damage during transportation. The contract completion date is August 7th to reopen the roadway, but the contractor is targeting an earlier completion date to have the road open for public use.
There will be some additional landscaping work that will still need to take place after the road is opened. The construction process will be taped by GHA to validate the process. Trustee Cecola wanted to make sure residents would be aware of such large components being transferred in the area and also that there was a previsual inspection to make sure trees and other objects would be clear of construction access.
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4.5 SEASONAL WEIGHT LIMITS – LIFTED MAY 2, 2016: Follow up item to alert residents that the seasonal weight limits have been lifted. There is no follow up necessary from the Village Board.
5.1 ADOPT A ROAD PROGRAM INTEREST: Four responses have been received since the program has been arranged. Mr. Kosin is currently looking for a way to evaluate responses to let people know they are eligible to participate in state and county program. Also, there are limits potentially being put in place to make sure the road adopted is not just a cul-de-sac road and has substantial volume. The cub scouts did go and clean up litter on Helm Road. They did a great job and the road looks much better.
5.2 MEMORIAL GROVE – CUBA TOWNSHIP: Designate a portion adjacent to the Cuba Road Bridge to honor veterans. President McLaughlin spoke with various parties who were in agreeance. Mr. Kosin pointed out that the area for the memorial is the area currently being used to stage topsoil for the Bridge construction.
ADDITIONAL DISCUSSION ITEMS:
President McLaughlin noted that residents had reported that Cook County would be including the resurfacing of Brinker Road in the 2017 Road Program. No confirmation had yet been received by the Village that this was the case. President McLaughlin noted that the Village will be bidding for engineering services. A draft request for proposal for engineering services is being developed in order to assure residents and tax payers that they are paying fair market value. This topic will be brought forward at Monday’s Board meeting.
President McLaughlin wanted to create a timeline to accept proposals for the next budgeting cycle and make sure that service fees are fair and adequate.
Trustee Cecola wanted to make residents aware of the Longmeadow Bridge Parkway and that the Village has rescinded the original resolution passed by the previous administration. Also, that the Village has not signed off on the McHenry County Transportation Legislation due to a disagreement in terms. President McLaughlin reluctantly stated that Phase 3 construction will be beginning soon and the construction may take place on both sides of the river. Further details will be made available to the public as they are received.
6. ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 5:11 PM.
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