Waukegan Road at High School Drive

The Village of Deerfield pursued the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) to make improvements to Waukegan Road (IL43) for several years. One primary area of concern has been the Deerfield High School entrance. There were no left turn lanes on Waukegan Road in this area. Left turning traffic impeded the through vehicles and during peak hours in the morning, mid day and evening, the traffic backed up and was more likely to suffer from rear end collisions. The number of this type of accidents should be reduced due to the installation of protective left turn lanes for the turning vehicles. IDOT declined to participate in this improvement because these entrances are considered “private” driveways and not public streets. State Senator Susan Garrett assisted the Village of Deerfield in securing a DECO grant in the amount of $800,000 which helped fund the improvements. 

 

This program became a joint program between the Village of Deerfield and a similar project being performed by the Village of Bannockburn. The scope of the Village of Deerfield project was to add a southbound left turn lane at the high school’s north driveway and a southbound left turn lane at the signalized intersection further south. This involved widening to the east. The widened section met Bannockburn’s improvement on the north and the North Avenue improvement on the south. This eliminated the curb line from weaving in and out like an hour-glass. It was also desirable to re-establish the northbound right turn deceleration lanes approaching the two school driveways. A temporary traffic signal was designed to replace the existing signal for use during the construction phase, which was ultimately replaced by the new permanent signal. The design included an extension of the Deerfield sidewalk from the south toward the eight foot shared use path placed by the Village of Bannockburn. The connections to Bannockburn’s project were not originally part of the project. In 2008, the Village applied for a Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program (CMAQ) grant to help covered costs associated with the new public walkway. Construction began on August 11, 2008, and was completed in the summer of 2009.