No Detours as Part of Willow Rd. Construction, Delays Expected

There will undoubtedly be congestion on the 1.2 miles of Willow Road slated to be widened to four lanes starting this spring, but there won't be detours off the main artery between Waukegan Road and I94, according to TribLocal.

Northfield Village Manager Stacy Sigman is quoted in the article as saying that no detours are planned during the construction, which will start around April 1 and is scheduled to last until October 2014. Traffic will be shifted to temporary southern lanes while the northern lanes are worked on, and then the traffic will switch so the crews can work on the southern lanes, Sigman said.

The $35 million project includes four 10-foot-wide lanes for most of its length, with a landscaped median, left-turn lanes, modernized traffic signals and sidewalks along both sides. A pedestrian-only signal would allow people to stop traffic to cross Willow Road between Willow and Clarkson parks, and the speed limit would be reduced from 35 mph to 30 mph.

The plan calls for special decorative light poles, brick sidewalks in the downtown area and decorative bridge work, among other things.