Traffic to and from school has increased the travel time and frustration for some of the students and staff at New Trier, as a result of the Willow Road construction.
Construction on Willow and nearby streets have caused some significant problems over the last couple of years, and to some, the end may not seem close enough.
In fact, some believe that with the construction moving towards New Trier’s east campus, it will only get worse.
Students’ concerns of late have been highlighted by some of the side roads closing and increased construction further east on Willow. Ivy Dynek, a senior at New Trier, says her route to and from school has dramatically been affected. “My typical route to school is taking Happ Road to Willow, then Willow all the way to Green Bay, and then Green Bay to Winnetka,” she said, “Although Willow is my normal route, I often have to take Winnetka to avoid all of the construction. Driving to school used to take about 10 minutes, but because the construction has gotten so brutal, it now takes about 25 minutes.”
According to Contract Administrator Beth Rahe from IDOT Construction, the biggest traffic issue has already been resolved.
“The largest area of complaints was from when Waukegan Road was only two lanes, not four,” explained Rahe. “That’s why our main goal was to open Waukegan Road back up to four lanes. Traffic is flowing well now.”
The original scheduled date of completion for the Northfield portion of the project was Oct. 31. With that date in the rear view mirror, residents of the New Trier Township are unhappy and dissatisfied with the work that has been done thus far.
People outside the village of Northfield believe that no real effort is being put into the project due to the lack of communication to the residents of the township. Rahe says there is no need to be upset — information is accessible to anyone.
Stacy Sigman is in charge of relaying information from the village personnel to the residents.
She attends the biweekly meetings and delivers all of the relevant information to the residents via the project’s main website (northfieldwillowroad.blogspot.com), where people can subscribe and receive updates through e-mail (updates are also available on twitter [@willowroadcp]).
“If people are informed, they are less likely to be mad,” explained Rahe. These updates are directly released to the Northfield residents on twitter or via e-mail subscription.
Wagner road was closed starting Monday, November 11 for 3-4 weeks. Traffic is now detoured west towards Waukegan Road.