Construction Underway on Lake Drive

Traffic lanes will be reduced to narrow two-way traffic on Lake Drive for the next couple months, as crews dig up the roadway to install a new water main and new service laterals.

The Lake Drive construction spans from Woodburn Street to Bartlett Avenue and is scheduled to be finished by mid-August. Village Engineer Dan Naze said two-way traffic will be maintained unless absolutely necessary.

The contracted construction team, Vinton Construction, won the low bid for the project at $839,275. In addition to the three blocks of Lake Drive, the project also includes water main replacement on the 4900 block of Marlborough Drive.

Some of the existing water mains date back to 1914, and they have caused many breaks requiring repair and maintenance over the years, Naze said.

The project calls for the installation of 2,250 feet of deteriorated water main, the replacement of existing small diameter dual water mains with a single main and new service laterals to the property line.

"Historically Lake Drive is one of these areas that has had many breaks,"  Naze said.

The village budgeted $700,000, so the project could be funded with savings from pushing back a Bartlett Avenue reconstruction project until next year. Naze said the budget was based on market conditions, and contractors may have bidded higher to accomodate thru-traffic.

The Marlborough Drive project consists of replacing 900 feet of water main dating back to 1950 with a history of breaks and amaintenance problems and service laterals to the property line.

"There's been an extremely large number of breaks in that area for whatever reason, historically," Naze said.