Questions and Praise at Orchard Road Open House

Area residents who attended an open house Thursday in regards to the widening and reconstruction of Orchard Road from U.S. Route 30 to Jericho Road called the project “sorely needed” and “long overdue.”

“It’s basically a bottleneck,” said Montgomery resident Tom Yakaitis. “You go from four lanes of traffic until you hit Montgomery and all of a sudden it becomes two lanes. This project has been sorely needed for quite a few years.”

The $9.3 million project, which will widen Orchard Road to four lanes between Jericho Road and Route 30, will span two construction seasons and is expected to be complete in November 2012. The open house was arranged by the village and the .

Oswego resident Dan Wallis calls the widening project great, saying, “We need it badly. I’m all for it.”

Wallis said attending Thursday’s open house, held in the Community Room of the Police Department on Civic Center Drive, helped alleviate his concerns about water drainage. He said there is already an excess of water running through the neighborhoods because of development, and he feared this project would increase the run-off.

“When you keep adding asphalt and concrete where is the water going to go?” he said.

However, officials assured Wallis the water would be contained and channeled to detention ponds.

Montgomery resident Jim Seguin said the project, years in the making, is long overdue.

“Traffic has always been a mess during rush-hour and this is going to be a big help,” he said. “I think it’s great.”

Plainfield resident Jeff Nakaerts agreed.

“(The project is) necessary because there’s a bottleneck on Orchard Road,” he said. “It’s more like an hourglass really.”

The Kane County Division of Transportation is heading up the project, using federal and state funds. Two lanes are expected to be finished in 2011, with the other two set for next year.

This means that traffic could get even more snarled at that location, at least temporarily. In fact, once paving work begins, traffic could be reduced to one lane through that section of Montgomery, according to village officials, who urge drivers to find another way to get where they’re going once the project gets rolling.

Oswego resident Mike Giebel said he would have rather seen officials concentrate on widening Route 30 before Orchard Road.

“This project is just going to dump more traffic on Route 30,” he said. (The Illinois Department of Transportation is planning to widen Route 30 to five lanes—four for traffic, one center lane for left turns—and construction could begin as soon as next spring.)

Kane County Board Member Jesse Vazquez, who attended Thursday’s open house, is credited for helping propel the project forward. He said when he got elected to the County Board two years ago he was committed to seeing the project come to fruition.

“And now here we are,” he said.

He said the road’s bottleneck is affecting not only people who are going to and from work, but those who are visiting the area.

Vazquez has heard from many in the community who are excited the project has begun.

“A lot of them are saying it’s about time,” he said.

The project also includes a bike path, to be built along the west side of Orchard, and new traffic signals at Aucutt Road and Rochester Drive. The widening will be paid for with $3.7 million in federal funds, $233,400 in state funds, and $5.3 million from Kane County.

Officials say once the project is completed, traffic congestion should be eased considerably along Orchard, which will help not only drivers, but also the businesses along that stretch of road.

“For the business industry it’s a much needed project,” Vazquez said. “It will help the economic situation in Montgomery.”