Good morning, everyone.

Today is uh December 3rd, 2025.

And I call the Lake County Public Works and Transportation Committee to order at 8:30 a.m.

In addition to being able to attend in-person, remote attendance has been made available to the public via Zoom at the link on the agenda.

This meeting is being recorded through Zoom.

Per county board rules and the open meetings act, attendance via remote means is permitted for qualifying reasons as long as the majority of the committee members are physically present.

We've been notified in advance by member main that she is requested to participate electronically due to employment reasons.

As a reminder to remembers attending remotely, please ensure your camera is on at all times.

Can you all join me in the Pledge of Allegiance?

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.

And to public stands, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

Can I get a roll call, please?

Yes.

Member Casman?

Here.

Chair Clark.

Here.

Member Hewitt.

Member Humphrey.

Vice Chair Maine.

Here.

Member Robert.

Member Watson.

Right.

Do we have any public comment today?

We do have one public comment for an item, I believe not on the agenda.

Um let me let me read a couple things first and then we'll uh bring the individual over virtually.

Um individual has three minutes of cumulative time to provide public comment.

Public comment must be related to the business of the county board, not redundant or political.

When appropriate matters raised by public comments, should be referred to appropriate standing committee.

The public shall refrain from commenting about private activities, lifestyles, or beliefs of others, including county employees and elected officials that are unrelated to the business of the county board or county government in their public comment.

Comments that are uncivil, rude, vulgar, profane, or otherwise disruptive will not be allowed.

Candidates running for public office must refrain from including comments that are political in nature or that promote or support a specific candidate, including refraining from identifying oneself as a candidate for public office.

And uh the public comment I have this morning is for John Sabotic.

Sorry if I'm mispronouncing your name.

Can staff bring over John, please.

And John, you should be able to unmute.

You have three minutes, John, okay?

Yeah, I'm uh I'm appearing because we were told that uh this would be on the agenda for this morning.

Um, and I'm I'm not clear as to whether it even is on the agenda today.

So John, can I ask, is this related to a uh uh vacate street vacation?

Yes, it is.

Yeah, so that'll be on the planning building zoning um committee, which is the next committee at 1030.

Okay.

And and I I I guess I've been trying to reach Melanie Colmer.

I don't know if she's there uh at your meeting today, but um, I've been trying to reach her because I'm not seeing it on that agenda either.

And we were told it would be on the meeting agenda for today.

So I'll have staff reach out to you here in a moment and try and give you a call, okay?

Thank you very much.

All right, thank you.

All right.

Um see there's no, I don't have any chairs remarks.

There's no unfinished business.

Or there is unfinished business.

Unfished is item 7.1, which is a joint resolution authorizing the first amendment to the amended and restated agreement for retail sanitary sewer service between Lake County and the village of Hawthorne Woods.

We had postponed this to a date certain to this date uh because there was some things that still had to be worked out, and I believe there are still some things that have to be worked out.

So should we postpone to another date certain?

Yes, Chair.

I spoke with uh Austin McFarlane last night, and he is still working out uh a few items with respect to this IGA, so he has requested and staff is requesting one additional postponement to the January 7th, 2026 uh PWT committee.

All right, could have a motion to postpone to the January 7th PWT committee?

Oh, seventh, I'm sorry.

Is it the seventh?

Okay.

Yes.

Uh motion by Hunter, second by Kasman.

All in favor, aye.

Any opposed to motion carries.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right.

Under new business is our consent agenda, items 8.1 to 8.2.

Can I have a motion and a second, please?

Motion by Robert, second by Wasick.

All in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries.

Item 8.3 is our RTA quarterly update, which I believe is virtual since morning.

Or good morning, everyone.

Good morning.

Hi, uh Zach Braun with the RTA government affairs.

Uh, thank you for having me today.

Uh, a couple quick updates on transit.

Uh, first, uh now that the legislature has passed uh Senate Bill 2111, which provides over one billion dollars in new operating funding.

Uh, the RTA board is considering revised uh budgets from the CTA Metra and PACE uh that include no service cuts, no layoffs, and no fare increases for the next year.

Um the draft budget is available online with the updated projections from uh each of the three service boards, and uh will be considered on December 18th at our next board meeting.

Uh the Lake County uh hearing was held uh in November, but in case uh anyone was unable to attend, we will have a regionwide virtual hearing on December 4th at uh 4 p.m.

And that is uh over Zoom, and you'll just need to register to attend.

Uh so if you have any comments or questions on the budget, uh I'm happy to bring those to our board or uh looking forward to seeing you on the virtual meeting this Thursday.

Uh and secondly, uh the access to transit uh call for projects is now open after a uh small delay while we waited for the legislature to uh determine uh transit funding.

Uh the call for projects is open through Friday, January 16th.

And uh this is the program that the RTA administers to help municipalities uh make their transit assets more accessible.

So think sidewalks, um ADA accessibility, new stoplights near your uh transit stations that uh exist already.

Um this year is a trail uh trail supportive development category.

So if you have any walking or biking trails near your transit assets that you uh wish to make improvements to, those are now eligible for access to transit dollars.

Um we did have a open house yesterday afternoon uh virtually uh for applicants to ask any potential questions.

So if you missed that one, there is another uh coming up on Wednesday, January 7th uh at 9 30 a.m.

And you can also uh any applicants or your staff can reach out to us at applications at RTA Chicago.org uh or just reach out to me if if you have uh any questions about the program or the new categories.

Uh so that concludes my report.

Happy to answer any questions you all may have about the call for projects, the bill, or our budget.

Thank you.

I know I was uh at least hopefully we don't have to hear the words fiscal cliff again for a while.

So it was good to uh just have that bill passed.

Um I just had a question about your access to transit.

Is that those projects open to any municipalities?

Can it be other units of government?

Can it be the county?

Because they said it sounds like now with the new there's a lot of different um things people can apply for for projects.

So is it so is it municipalities, counties, could like a school district apply?

Or do you know?

Let me check back on the specific applicants uh on eligible applicants.

Okay, because it seems like with our local planning team and and get back to you on that.

Okay, thank you very much.

Yeah, because it sounds like there could be some really good projects there, making our uh transit more accessible.

Any other questions?

All right.

Well, thank you so much as always for coming and giving us this update.

We really appreciate it.

Of course, thank you.

All right, have a good morning.

Thanks.

Okay.

Item 8.4 is for division of transportation is a joint resolution authorizing an agreement with the villages of Antioch, Buffalo Grove, Grays Lake, Lake Villa, Libertyville, Mundaline, Round Lake Beach, Vernon Hills in Wheeling for the re-certification of the quiet zone along the Canadian National Railroad Line from the Wisconsin border to, but not through the village of Prospect Heights, Illinois, and appropriating 27,000 of the quarter percent sales tax for transportation funds.

Can I get a motion in a second?

Motion by Hunter, second by Hewitt.

Director Schneider.

Good morning, committee member Shane Schneider, uh DOT director and county engineer.

So this is a continuation of an existing quiet zone.

We're at the point where we need to reauthorize um the quiet zone with the federal railroad administration.

So the nine municipalities listed along with the county, excuse me, have agreed to jointly fund the engineering recertification study.

So they'll determine if there's any deficiencies in the existing crossings that need to be addressed, and then we'll submit an application to the federal railway um railroad administration for recertification.

So they can continue to function the trains without blowing the whistle.

So they can continue to function the trains without blowing the whistle without a quiet zone by federal law, they're required to blow the whistle at all at grade crossings.

Yes, as someone who lives by a train station and many at grade crossings, this program is something near and dear to my heart and has really changed our lives.

And it and you know, and with these safety improvements, it's made these uh crossings safer anyway, with adding in all those barriers and you know, better lighting and things.

So I feel like it is a win-win.

So I'm really happy to see this.

And I want to thank you in the staff, the county for kind of leading um this with this contract.

It's good to see.

Yes, member Wasick.

And sometimes there are engineers who are blowing the whistle.

Is it that they don't?

And I don't expect you to know this answer, but I don't know.

That they don't know about the quiet zone, or they have something else going on.

I'm just curious.

Yeah, it's hard to say, you know, if it's it could be a new new operator of the train set, or it maybe they see something that they're that that's a safety concern for them.

Um you can report it to the to the rate uh to the railroad if if it's a persistent issue, but it's hard to say exactly why someone might be doing that.

It's just sporadic, it's not consistent.

Most of the time it's pretty quiet, but sometimes member Wasick, you need to lean forward so we can hear you.

Sorry.

Thanks for the reminder.

Just sometimes they they blow out real loud and it's like the middle of the night.

I'm thinking this guy not know about the quiet zone or what the deal is.

Well, yeah, it sounds like you could report it.

And I know because I said I live right by the truck.

Sometimes they blow it from if people are like near the the if it looks like somebody's walking close to it or something.

So that could I I've seen that happen before too.

Because I I'm with you sometimes like really starting curiosity.

I didn't expect it to thank you.

Yeah.

All right.

Any other questions?

All right, all in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed motion carries.

Item 8.5 is an ordinance authorizing the acceptance of a temporary easement and authorizing a temporary easement agreement with the Lake County Forest Preserve District, necessary for the Deerfield Road improvements from Illinois Route 21, United States Route 45 to Saunders Road.

Can I get a motion?

Second motion by Hewitt, second by Hunter.

So this is uh a temporary easement agreement that we worked with uh the Forest Preserve on.

The Forest Preserve has already approved it.

Um so we'll we're we're requesting um county board approval now.

Uh there will be a payment of three thousand dollars to the forest preserve for securing the temporary easement.

Um the purpose of the easement is uh as part of the Deerfield Road uh improvement, they'll go out to bid next year and the bulk of the work will be completed in 2027.

We'll be rehabilitating the bridge, the highway bridge over the river.

And as you can see, um kind of the location map, the green line shows the location of the the Splanes River Trail that's on the west side of the river and it goes underneath the bridge.

So we'll need to go down on that river trail to do maintenance on the bridge.

Um so that's the the purpose of the easement.

Uh the estimated time frame of the work is 50 working days.

However, we don't feel um the trail will be impacted that entire duration.

You know, some of the trail will be able to remain open during that, but there will be certain times over that period where the trail have to be closed and it'll be detoured around.

And we'll um we put up the detour signs and make sure everything is well marked for people.

We will there's a formal detour plan, it's part of the engineering plan set, and that'll all be put up prior to along with a lot of uh advanced notification.

Okay, good.

And hopefully be clear because I know when you're riding your bike, if you have to go on a detour, hopefully, we just want to make sure it's well marked so people can get back where they were going.

And do we have any idea of the timing?

I mean, it might be too early, like if it's like a spring, summer, fall, next winter kind of thing.

It's a little too early right now.

You know, we're still wrapping up land acquisition along the corridor.

Um, but uh right now the best schedule is we'll go out to bid in the second half of 2026, then construction will be in 2027.

And after we go out to bid, then we'll have a formal um schedule that's developed with the contractor.

Okay, good.

Member or vice chair mean.

Thank you.

I just want to say that I'm really in support of this.

And as someone who lives near here, it's probably one of the areas of the DPR that's used the least because it's from here, you're just going down to Lake Cook and then into the Cook County system, which sorry, we know their trails are not as good as ours.

But when this whole Deerfield Road project, did I say that?

When this whole Deerfield Road project is done, this is going to be opening up the trail system to a lot more people.

It's going to have great east-west um traverse for people in the southern part of how the inner squat our operation department does and connecting up with things that the Forest Reserve is doing.

Our operation department does and connecting up with things at the Forest Reservice.

Thank you.

All right.

Member Wasick.

Shane, you probably mentioned this before, but did you was there a parallel path along Deerfield Road as a multi-use pathway?

Was that part of this project?

I don't remember.

There is.

So it's a new, there's portions of an existing path right now, but um we're gonna make that continuous from Milwaukee on the west all the way east to um to Saunders.

So that'll connect that entire area up, and we're gonna connect into the boardwalk of the forest preserve.

Um that goes and there's an existing bridge over the river.

We're gonna tie directly into that.

So all the residents along the corridor will be able to come in and access the trail system.

Great.

Good to know.

Thank you.

That is good to know.

That'll definitely improve access.

All right.

Any other questions?

All right, all in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries.

Item 8.6 is a joint resolution authorizing a contract with Hometown Electric Inc.

Lakeville, Illinois, and the amount of $999,998 and 50 cents for the installation of intelligent transportation system passage field elements along various routes in Lake County and appropriating $1,200,000 of the quarter percent sales tax for transportation funds.

Can I get a motion second?

Motion by Hewitt, second by Kasbin.

So the purpose of this contract is to upgrade and install new um field elements for a traffic signal operation system.

Um so a lot of this is highlighted in the first bullet.

But there will be uh $13,000 feet of new fiber optic cable, 12,000 feet of conduit, four wireless connections, a cellular modem connection, uh new cameras um and some additional uh improvements.

Just a couple things to point out, like on the map that shows all the locations that will be installing the equipment, 10A and 10B, kind of in the middle on the right.

Those are two new cameras that were uh requested by the Navy base so they can monitor traffic around the base, particularly during graduation events.

So we're installing those.

Uh we've had issues with fiber freezing during certain times of the year in the southwest portion of the county.

So we're installing a new redundant fiber line down Midlothian.

It's kind of between the this the location noted as 14 and 15.

Uh, just to give you an idea, a couple specific projects.

Yeah.

So this is all things that are sort of end of life, need to be replaced, and they're gonna be improvements.

Correct.

Yep.

Some of it's end of life and some of it's just new cameras like at the database.

I saw there's only one bid, but did this come in about what you expected it to come in?

It was it was about four and a half percent over the engineer's estimate, so a little bit higher than we thought.

But when we looked at the there's like three main items that were contributing to that, and when we thought they're all reasonable, it's kind of hard to estimate.

Okay.

All right, any other questions?

Good to see these improvements.

All in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Member Frank, did you have a question?

I did, thank you, Chair.

Sorry, I was slow with my hand there.

Um, Director Schneider, I'm just you mentioned that the content from the cameras is shared with the naval station.

Is it also shared with the public safety agencies?

Police departments, sheriff's department.

Yes, it is.

So um I believe almost every dispatch center in Lake County and some even outside of Lake County, like um the Glenview Dispatch Center, all have access to the passage information.

So they have a direct fiber connection into their dispat dish pat center so they can see real-time uh all the cameras in in Lake County.

So they use that as a response tool.

Appreciate it.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chair.

All right, thank you.

All right, item 8.7 is a joint resolution authorizing a contract with Hometown Electric Inc.

Lakeville, Illinois, the amount of 2,560,475 and 20 cents for the traffic signal installation at the intersections of Sunset Avenue at Northern Avenue and Deerfield Parkway at Barclay Boulevard and appropriating $3,073,000 of matching tax funds.

Can I get a motion motion by Hewitt, second by Hunter?

So this is the installation of two new traffic signals.

You can see them on the map there.

So uh both are intersections uh that currently don't have a signal, but they meet traffic signal warrants.

Um at up at the northeast in Waukegan, that's at Sunset Northern.

So Sunset is a four-lane highway, and it's currently controlled with uh stop sign control.

So there's a lot of violation issues.

Uh, there's also a lot of pedestrian traffic in the area, and we're hearing from local law enforcement that repeatedly vehicles aren't stopping.

They're just rolling through the stop sign.

So this will not only promote safety but better pedestrian connectivity.

Um there's some existing sidewalks around the intersection, but we're gonna be filling in some other gaps.

We work closely with uh the city of Joaquin on that.

And then down in the Buffalo Grove area at uh Deerfield and Barclay.

Um, that's currently an unsignalized intersection uh that meets traffic signal warrants.

We're gonna install a new signal there.

Um it'll also promote pedestrian activity across the road.

Um we know that there are several uh residents in the area that are blind and they have to cross that intersection right now, and it's not controlled, so that'll be a huge safety improvement for those individuals as well.

So we will work closely with the village of Buffalo Grove on that.

Yeah, it sounds like with both this will really improve safety for everybody in those areas.

Any questions?

All right, all in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed motion carries.

Item 8.8 is a joint resolution authorizing an application to the Illinois Department of Commerce and economic opportunity for a grant in the amount of $518,000 to find the construction of a bike path as part of the Haynesville Road improvements from Washington Street to Rollins Road.

Can I get a motion to second motion by Wasick, second by Casbin?

So it's part of part of the uh 2019 Rebuild Illinois Capital Bill.

Um Lake County was granted a $518,000 um non-motorized grant uh from the DCO funds to construct that portion that's shown in red uh of bike path along Haynesville Road.

So uh you'll recall we have an active project under design on Haynesville Road from Rollins to Washington, converting that to a three-lane cross section with sidewalk on the east side and bike path on the west side.

So this grant will cover uh a portion of the cost for that that uh bike path on the west side that's in red.

Um, but we need board approval to submit the formal application to DCEO.

Uh right now we're we're wrapping up land acquisition and optimistic that this will go out to bid next year.

Excellent.

And this will be really good addition for for this area.

Any questions?

Member Wasick.

Moving this forward.

There's there's a lot of people who like to walk from Washington up to the Rollins Road corridor, and this would make a big difference.

It really will.

All right.

Any other questions?

All right, all in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries.

Item 8.8 is a joint resolution.

Oh, sorry, that's what I was on.

Yep.

Item 8.9 is a joint resolution appropriating a supplemental amount of $35,000 of matching tax funds and improving change order number two and the amount of $82,601 and 17 cents for additional construction work for concrete patching on various county highways.

Motion by Kasmin, second by Hunter.

So this relates to the pavement buckling that we experienced in the summer.

Uh so I had mentioned earlier in the year in June, we had um very high temperatures with high humidity, which is kind of the perfect recipe for concrete pavement to buckle um in our area.

So we had five locations on Peterson Road, um, two on Deerfield and one on Washington that were all brought into this uh annual patching contract and repaired.

So that works all done.

Now we're just um trueing up the contract with the final costs.

Do you think with the temperatures getting hotter, this is just gonna be a bigger and bigger problem?

Is there a way to like prevent this?

You know, like I know we do some sealants for like the salt issue.

Is in with construction or is there any way to kind of like try to prevent these kinds of this kind of damage?

Yeah, so you know, all the concrete mixes and the asphalt mixes that we use in Illinois are designed by the Illinois Department of Transportation, and a lot of it, a lot of the thought that goes into it, it comes out of uh different material labs at state universities, like the University of Illinois.

You know, they have scientists and material engineers that design these concrete and asphalt mixes.

So they are aware of the resilience issues, you know, uh that are that are happening with higher temperatures and more extreme weather.

So they're looking at that, and that's really where it's gonna probably have to come from.

Uh, we do try to manage the water that's around our road.

Water's a big issue.

So we install drain tiles when we construct a roadway to keep the water away from them so they don't saturate the base of the roadway.

Um, but some of this will probably have to come from changes in the mix design.

That is really I didn't realize that.

Yeah, that's interesting.

Yeah, member Hunter.

Thanks, Chair.

I it's I mean, Peterson Road, and I drive that road a lot.

So I was watching these, then felt like I was watching them buckle on that heat spell that we had.

Is there any liability to the people that that built that road?

I mean, it's not that old.

Uh and I don't know if this is a function of age of the road or not.

Um I your comments I would like on that.

Yeah, we don't think there's any issue with the work performed.

Um, you know, the contractor followed the mixed design, and as we construct a road, we do material testing as it's constructed.

So we actually take a sample out of the road and we test it um for quality.

Um so all the mixes passed uh meeting the specifications that were set forth in the contract documents and all those specifications come directly from IDAT.

All right, thanks.

Yeah, I don't know if IDAT has like comment periods, but maybe we could comment about the I don't know there's a way they do take some input.

I'm sure they're hearing this from all over the state.

Yeah, I mean, they're dealing with it on their own roads.

So we're very aware of the situation.

So, you know, there's different mixed designs that are used in different parts of the country.

For example, in Texas, they use a slightly different mix design, but it's a lot of it's just benefit cost analysis.

Do you want to spend the money on a higher quality, more expensive mix for an event that might happen?

Um now it's becoming maybe more prevalent.

So maybe that is a different cost benefit analysis, but that's that's the kind of stuff they're looking at.

And they're the ones who are making that call.

That's right.

They're statewide uh standards that everyone in the state follows.

Okay, that's good to know.

All right, thank you.

All right, any other questions?

All right, all in favor?

Any opposed motion carries.

Item 8.10 is a joint resolution authorizing an agreement with Pace Suburban Bus Division of the Regional Transportation Authority, providing terms and conditions for the operation of the Ridley County Paratransit Service as a borderless countywide service for 2026 and appropriating one million dollars of the quarter percent sales tax for transportation funds.

Can I get a motion and a second motion by Hunter?

Oh, second by Kasmin.

So this is the annual renewal of the Ride Lake County Paratransit program.

So the program's been performing very well.

Ridership uh is in the low 40,000 per per year.

And um before we started this program, ridership is in the like low 20,000.

So we've seen a doubling in router ridership.

Um so that's great.

Uh great news.

Uh a lot of people appreciate the service.

Um Pace has been very generous with us again this year.

They're they're contributing 50% of the funding to the towards the cost of the operation.

Um, and then we've applied for federal funding, and the RTA has approved the federal grant for us.

Uh, it's just awaiting uh federal approval, which should occur early next year, and that'll cover 25% of the annual costs.

So after all those reimbursements, the county share will be about 25% of the total operating cost.

All right.

And it's and with this agreement, it's the same hours, the same service, the same costs.

You know, we're continuing on with really basically the same program.

That's correct.

Yeah, we monitor all the um complaints that we get or denials uh in service that we receive from users of the system, and those are extremely low and limited.

So we haven't seen a need to change any of the operating parameters at this time.

Yeah, terrific.

I know the service, I remember before the service, it's really been a game changer for so many people.

Member Wasick.

Thank you.

Uh Shane, so with the new transit uh bill, NETA.

Um, will the funding for this program be affected in any way that we know right now?

We're not aware of any changes in a negative way.

Um thing we did advocate for along with the other counties in the Northeast Illinois region was for um the transit agencies to take uh a look at potentially making this a regional service that the RTA or PACE would lead.

And uh, you know, we we made great progress in making this uh a countywide service instead of this kind of patchwork of township services.

Now it's at least operating at a county level, but could it operate at a regional level?

So you could go across all different kinds of borders um without um switching to another uh bus service.

So that is something um I think they're gonna strongly consider uh moving forward.

Okay, great.

Thank you.

Yeah, you might I don't know if you know the answer, but do most do do the other counties have similar countywide services?

Would it just be just sort of getting all the countywide services and cook countywide like together?

Yeah, some of them do.

For example, McHenry County has a countywide service.

Um Kane has a has uh kind of a less um uh a less expansive program.

Um and then DePage.

Um, I'm not sure if DePage has a full countywide, it's kind of partial as well.

So um, so it would be an opportunity to provide better service across all those other counties in addition to making it more regional.

Yeah, I mean, I know we don't, yeah, our lives don't just stop at the Lake County border.

That's right.

We've got a lot of people that bounce across the the borders and for different appointments and things like that.

So it would be um beneficial.

Right for work for a lot of things.

So it would be great.

So I don't know if we you can like tell our pace rep or anyone that it would be uh a little I we think a regional service could be a really big benefit to our um residents here in the area.

I think they know that now.

Okay, thank you.

All right.

Any other comments or questions about all right, all in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries.

Item 8.11 is a joint resolution authorizing an agreement with Baxter and Woodman Inc.

of Bannockburn, Illinois to provide phase three construction engineering services for improvements at the intersection of Washington Street and Illinois Route 21 at a maximum cost of 332,345 dollars and appropriating 400,000 of the quarter percent sales tax for transportation funds.

Can I get a motion in a second?

Motion by Kasmin, second by Hunter.

So this is an intersection improvement that's at uh the end of the design process.

We're just wrapping up a final uh permit with the state, and then we'll be moving forward with bid this spring.

Uh at this location, we'll be installing dual left turn lanes on both the east and west leg of Washington Street, and then we'll make that a protected left turn.

So the issue we're seeing now is there's a lot of um uh T-bone crashes uh from people making turns on a stale uh yellow, and then oncoming traffic is trying to rush through the light.

And we've had fatals and and a lot of accidents.

We had cameras set up for a while, and there's a lot of near misses.

I mean, there's fractions of seconds between two cars colliding.

So this will be a big safety improvement.

Um this contract will be the phase three engineering that'll oversee the construction work.

Yeah, I know I've mentioned before this is uh intersection I'm familiar with, and I really do feel like it's for me one of the most dangerous intersections, turning left onto Milwaukee there.

And so it'll be good to have it so when the when after this is project is done, then people will only turn left when it's um with a light with the light.

So it won't be so and also there is like speed camera there.

And I gotta say, I feel like people don't want to get stuck in the intersection because they're gonna get the red light ticket.

So you have to turn in front of traffic.

I don't that definitely makes the dynamic.

Uh I know we have nothing to do with the speed camera, but I I do feel like that adds a lot of pressure on demotorists worrying about, you know, the light's gonna turn red, so I better turn, but so I don't get the ticket.

So I don't know if we can tell the village that I don't know.

Maybe they could make it less with the speed camera there, only because it really I think makes people feel that they more pressure to turn before the light changes.

Well, state law allows you to complete the turn if you're in their intersection after it turns red, but what we're seeing is people rushing through, even after it turns red.

Oh, and just trying to get and just trying to, you know, avoid waiting.

Yeah.

And so it'll be right now.

You can turn left on a green ball.

Um, but it'll be restricted.

Now it's only gonna be a green arrow, and there'll be two lanes for left turning movements, so you don't have such a long queue.

Yeah, that'll be a lot more capacity there.

Member Roberts.

I I was just gonna clarify the village of Gurney, and you can has gotten rid of the camp.

Oh, did they see?

Yeah.

So that might help too.

That'll help my mental state.

That's good.

Remember, Casm, is that what you were gonna say to you?

Okay.

Well, that makes it yes.

Well, it'll be good to have the safety.

So this is the engineering um to figure out how it's gonna be done, and then it'll be then after the engineering, then we'll go out to bid and so we're looking for a it'll be a little bit still.

Yeah, we think uh early next year we'll have the the bid complete and then we'll bring that back for a contract award.

So maybe next year then construction.

That's the goal, yep.

That's great.

Yep.

Do we have to get land acquisition or do no land act needed here?

Okay, good.

I cannot wait for this to happen.

All right.

Uh any other questions.

All right, all in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries.

Item 8.12 is a joint resolution authorizing agreement with Parsons Transportation Group Inc., Chicago, Illinois, to provide phase one professional engineering services for the replacement of the Deerfield Road Bridge over the Middle Fork North Branch Chicago River at a maximum cost of 937,165 and appropriating 1,125,000 of the county option motor fuel tax funds.

Can I get a motion motion by you?

It's second by Roberts.

So this is Deerfield Road Bridge over the North Branch of the Chicago River uh earlier this year.

It had to be weight restricted due to a recent structural inspection.

So this is the engineering contract to determine how we're going to replace that bridge structure.

And if it needs a full replacement, or we can just replace the deck, or if we have to get into removing and replacing the abutments that are down in the river, which would be much more impactful from a permitting standpoint.

Um, and as long as we're replacing the bridge, we're gonna look for opportunities to install um a sidewalk and bike path on the new bridge structure.

Oh, that's so that'll be part of the analysis as well.

So this will probably take about a year or so of effort um before we determine the scope of the project.

All right.

And this is in our, I think this is in the tip.

So we've like your planning for this eventual project.

Because I know this was this was sort of uh unexpected a little bit um change we had to make with the weight restrictions.

And so hopefully we've but we've got this in the plan now, and this is just the first step of figuring out what we need to do.

Correct.

To fix it.

I'm hoping for less of a giant.

We're gonna we we realize it's a heavily used corridor.

Um, so we're gonna try to expedite the best we can.

It is.

And I'm glad to see it's the county option motor field tax shows how important those funds are.

Any other questions?

All right, all in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries.

Item 8.13 is a joint resolution authorizing an agreement with Horner and Shiffer and Inc.

Chicago, Illinois for phase two professional engineering services for the resurfacing of Hutchins Road from Illinois Route 132 to Stern School Road and Stern School Road from U.S.

Route 45 to Hutchins Road at a maximum cost of 510,242 dollars and appropriating $613 of matching tax funds.

Can I get a motion?

It's again motion by Kasmin, second by Hewitt.

So this is a project that came out of our uh pavement management program based on pavement testing data.

So the roadway corridors shown in black there are due for resurfacing.

So this consultant will complete that design, but there's also um an area of uh high priority bike or uh sidewalk that's currently missing uh along the corridor.

So that's the area shown in green.

That's a gap.

Um, so there's existing sidewalk to the south of that that goes down to Grand Avenue.

There's like an Aldi and some other shopping in that area, and then there's more sidewalk to the north of there that ties in the neighborhood.

So this is an existing gap that will uh um do an analysis to determine if it could be installed as part of this project without land acquisition.

Uh if it can be done, then we'll we'll work with the township to see if they want to partner on it and complete it.

Um if it requires land acquisition and it's significant, then it will likely be done as a standalone project.

And another different date.

Okay.

Member Caswin.

So if there is land act required, is it automatically like we're not gonna do it with this project?

Or is that something that the township could help us with, or we'll have those discussions with the township to see, you know, how significant is.

We we don't want to delay the resurfacing by two or three years, and then we get it into a whole different pavement strategy where we have to replace three inches of asphalt instead of two, and then our cost drastically increases.

Um, just as an example, that's kind of the logic.

Um so if it's minimal effort to get some some easements and things like that, but if it's becomes significant land acquisition because of some drainage issue or some utilities we're not aware of, then we'd we'd think about breaking it out.

Okay, because I mean it it would be really helpful to close that gap.

Yep.

Yeah.

Something I've heard about.

So I think it looks like it.

I would bet it has what do you call those little goat trails where people are probably walk between them because you've got the with the north and south side with the sidewalks.

So it does look like a priority.

So we're not saying it wouldn't happen.

It just would have to be like with a different aspect.

That's right.

And so this scope of this work will um analyze that.

Figure that out.

Yep.

All right, terrific.

All right, any other questions?

All right, all in favor.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries.

Item 8.14 is a joint resolution authorizing an agreement with HDR Engineering Inc.

Rosemont, Illinois to provide phase one professional engineering services for improvements along Fairfield Road from Gilmer Road to Illinois Route 60 at a maximum cost of 2,689,513 and appropriating $3,228,000 of the county option motor fuel tax funds.

Can I get a motion in a second?

Motion by Hunter, second by Hewitt.

Um, so just a little bit of background.

Um we're wrapping up uh a Pell study on Fairfield Road right now, which is like a federal feasibility study to determine what improvement should be done on this corridor over kind of the mid and long term.

And that was a five and a half mile stretch of Fairfield Road from Gilmer to 134.

Um this piece that we're recommending we move forward with on a phase one engineering contract was identified as a highest priority segment along that corridor that came out of the Pell study.

Um there's been a series of accidents at the Shardon intersection, including a recent fatal.

Uh, there's also some operational issues along the corridor.

So we're gonna look to see if a cross-section change is justified for the corridor, should it be converted to a three or five-lane section?

Or should it just be planned for some type of expansion in the future?

Uh, we'll look at all the intersections along that segment to determine what improvements should be made at each of those intersections.

And then we'll also look at how can we provide non-motorized connectivity through the entire corridor?

So all that will be analyzed.

Uh, we'll do public hearings or public meetings.

We're gonna follow the federal process.

So everything's uh eligible for federal funding.

And then we'll at the conclusion of that, we'll have a series of recommendations that we'll bring forward um for the corridor.

Member Hunter, thanks, Chair.

Um that the intersection of Shardon is really dangerous.

Would this study look at squaring that up like the Winchester Road where you just don't have a 90 degree looking at it?

Yes.

Yeah, that was there's there's a private home on the northeast corner.

There's, I think that's southeast corner, it's pretty vacant.

And then there's a horse farm across the street on either side of those on the on the west side.

So there is available land.

Yep.

That was the number one public feedback comment that we got was we need to address that intersection.

So we're gonna look at you know the full range of um improvements.

We'll look at a roundabout, we'll look at a traffic signal, we'll look at squaring it up.

Okay, um, additional turn lanes.

We'll look at everything.

Good.

Thank you.

And yeah, and it's the whole corridor.

I see the study.

So and then the non-motorized improvements, especially there's so many forest preserves, so much other connectivity there.

Um I know it's a very important connector.

So this is this is a quite a robust study.

Any other questions?

All right, all in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries.

All right.

Item 8.15 is a presentation on the long-range transportation plan update and vision 2050.

Yay.

So I'm gonna invite Mike Clemens, our manager of transportation planning up to give the presentation, and Kevin Carrier, our assistant county engineer is going to join him.

But just to set the stage a little bit, um, you know, we've we've done some public surveys and some interaction with the public to get feedback.

So we're just kind of setting the framework, but we're still at the very beginning of the process.

There's about another 12 to 18 months less.

So we haven't um drawn, you know, final conclusions.

This is a status update on what we've heard so far.

Thanks Shane.

Good morning.

Mike Clemens, manager of transportation planning.

Um, so yeah, Shane mentioned we're at um an important point in the plans development here and wanted to brief uh committee because we're really at the point where we're setting the foundation for how we move forward in the plans development uh moving forward.

So I'm gonna give a brief overview on just kind of how the plan is structured.

Um we're gonna talk a little bit about the existing conditions um here, what we heard from the public in our phase one engagement, and then um the draft goals and visions uh that we put together for uh the plan, and then we'll talk about next steps moving forward.

Um so if if you recall the the plan is being developed in four phases, uh discover, develop, decide, and deliver.

Uh, each of those has their own engagement engagement strategies.

But the the really the the goal, the focus of phase one was to build public awareness of the plan to hear from the community on what's important to them, what is the transportation issues that are most important to the public, and then also data collection and uh on the existing system.

So uh first, before we can plan out to 2050, we have to have a solid understanding of how the system is working today.

And we look at that, not just the roadway system, but the non-motorized system, transit, uh, freight, so the transportation system as a whole.

Um, there's a bunch of slides at the end of the deck that I'm not gonna present that has a lot more data, and there's even more data coming in a full existing conditions report that'll be posted on the website.

Um, a lot of that data is data that's similar to stuff that you see every year with our five-year plan development on roadway condition and bridge condition.

Um, so I'm not gonna talk about that, but I am gonna just give you a brief snapshot of some of the things that we are looking at.

Um, but um, you know, I on kind of each of these main topics, you know, we're looking at diving into the data on all of these.

And you know, when we look countywide, we have a very large roadway network.

We have nearly 3,400 miles of roadways across all the various jurisdictions.

That's the equivalent of driving from Miami to Seattle, you know, just here in Lake County.

So it's a significant number of roadways that doesn't include all the rail and transit and non-motorized paths and all the other uh facilities that we have in our transportation system.

We had recently a big report out on safety, um, but we have two new years of crash data uh available since the safety action plan was concluded.

So we are incorporating those two new years of crash data as part of the long range plan evaluation.

So um similar analysis, we're not duplicating that, but we are uh incorporating those two new years uh into the long range plan.

So we're able to see trends um uh in a little bit more detail.

Looking at non-motorized, uh the map on the left shows existing facilities throughout the county.

There's uh the forest preserve facilities, municipal facilities, county facilities, and then uh the map in the middle shows origin and destination uh trips for bicycle trips.

Um it's a little bit hard to see, but uh the the shapes in pink are origin and shapes in blue are destinations, and then the ones in purple are where people started and ended in the same location.

So most people are starting and then ending in roughly the same locations.

And then the map on the right is the same thing with pedestrian trips.

So we see a lot of uh facilities that overlap uh or a lot of trips that overlap where facilities are, but we also see um maybe a lack of east-west connections, which is some of the things we've heard from the public uh in our outreach.

When we look to the transit system, we have uh the metro system, and we looked at ridership data, we see the dip from COVID, uh the ridership is rebounding.

Uh, we have the paced fixed route system, and we have pace ridership data.

We know that pace is uh, you know, evaluating their fixed route system through their revision study, and these routes may be changing, but this is their current fixed route system.

Uh, we also have our Ride Lake County system.

So again, we have origin and destination uh for the Ride Lake County system, and as Shane mentioned earlier in the in the earlier agenda item, you can see that growth in Ride Lake County, uh, and then sort of that average in the uh low 40,000s um of yearly trips.

Um then we also looked at freight uh throughout the county.

Um so the map on the left is the IDOT designated uh freight uh truck routes, and then the maps on the right is origin and destination um freight uh freight movements, and you can see they're kind of um heavy along the I 94 uh corridor.

So, like I said, there's a lot more data, and there will be a full existing conditions report.

But um kind of turning to what we heard from the public, we did a lot of engagement in this first phase in a lot of different ways in person and virtually, and so we wanted to kind of talk through some of that different uh engagement that we heard.

So if you remember back in the summer, we went to uh five different community events throughout the county um with the goal of trying to meet people where they were.

Uh and we were able to engage hundreds of residents, uh probably thousands of residents at these different events and share a survey with them.

We also launched our website, Lake County2050.com, which hosted our survey and also had an interactive uh map that people could leave comments on.

Um so we wanted to give you a little bit of the results of what we heard.

So we received nearly 900 uh completed surveys, which is a great amount of direct feedback from users of the transportation system.

So first wanted to give you just a little bit of um demographics of who responded.

So a couple things to keep in mind.

These demographic questions were voluntary on the survey, they were not required.

So the more of these demographic questions we require, the less people actually respond to the survey.

The only uh demographic question that we actually required was zip code.

Everything after that was voluntary.

So you know, keep that in mind.

But we use this data to try to help us figure out who we aren't capturing.

Um, and then that helps us focus future engagement as we move forward the plan to try to um make sure we're capturing everyone's voices.

Um, but you can see we have a large amount of respondents.

Um, the largest group by age was 65 or older, and nearly 80 percent of our respondents were 45 or older.

So uh respondents skewed older than the general demographics of the county.

Um by income, it's actually um a little closer to the actual county demographics.

It skews a little bit um higher income than the the overall county demographics, but it's a little bit closer.

Um by ethnicity, it skews higher white.

Uh we have 81% um that identified as white respondents.

Uh county demographics are about 57% white residents.

So um we have an overrepresentation there.

Um things to keep in mind as we move forward as as people uh you know, when we see the results of how people responded.

Uh we asked people, what is the most important transportation issue to you?

Umbe unsurprisingly, when we when you ask that, uh, number one was traffic congestion.

This kind of gets at people's daily frustration.

That was followed by limited bike and pedestrian facilities and then road safety.

Um, but then interestingly, when we we followed that question up with what should be the most important transportation goal.

So kind of taking it away from that daily frustration, but uh towards a long-term goal, it kind of flipped and safety became the number one response.

So safety uh with nearly half the respondents, followed by reliable travel times and then infrastructure conditions.

And as we move forward through the various types of feedback that we got, you'll see these emerging themes.

Um we we tend to see the same things.

So we also asked people what type of uh modes of travel would you use if they were uh improved.

And again, remember the demographic of people that we got, older, generally more affluent people who have access to vehicles.

So they likely have their own vehicles.

So probably uh influences the responses that we got here, but we do see um walking, biking, public transit um, would be likely to be used.

Um also when we ask people how satisfied uh were they with their uh options, most people are satisfied with the options that they have, at least the people that responded to our survey.

We also in October had a two-week virtual open house hosted on our website.

We had uh a couple thousand people that uh visited the virtual open house and nearly a thousand people that engaged uh through that um virtual open house.

Then we had a prioritization sort of activity game where we gave people six project types and asked people to prioritize them from uh for each type, you know, whether they were it was a critical priority or a low priority to them.

And what we saw uh on the left there in that table is sort of the results.

Uh we got 150 uh over 150 responses.

So, number one response was safety, followed by conditions and preservation, keeping our infrastructure in good condition, followed by but non-motorized um and then transit and expansion.

Uh again, I mentioned we had the online uh comment map, and I think you'll see the this trend kind of emerging.

People could, as when they left a comment, uh they selected a category uh what their comment fell into.

Um, and you can see on the left the different categories that people selected.

So again, safety, traffic, biking and trails.

So we're seeing that theme over and over the various types of uh feedback people left.

So when we kind of sum it up, uh, in this first phase from July through October, we made over 42,000 connections.

Um a lot of that was through direct communications outreach.

Uh we had nearly 21,000 uh unique opens through board member newsletters, uh thousands of people reached through social media and e-blasts.

We had thousands of people who um participated through these direct interactions with our surveys.

Um we had several hundred people that that viewed our Invision 2050 video on the county's YouTube page.

It was the most watched video since uh, you know, in the time period since the plan really kicked off over the summer, and thousands of people viewed our our uh website and virtual open house.

So we took all of that public feedback and those themes that we heard um and kind of incorporating all of that feedback and the stakeholder advisory groups that we have and incorporating the board strategic plan to craft a vision statement and goals for the plan.

And that's really the foundation for then how do we get projects for the plan?

So we want to give you a draft of those, this vision and goals and get your feedback on that today.

Um so the vision statement, I'll just read this.

Forgive me for reading the slide directly to you, but it's just two sentences.

Uh we envision a transportation system that is safe, reliable, innovative, and adaptive by connecting people, places, and opportunities.

It will serve all users and link communities to daily needs and future possibilities.

And then to go along with this vision statement, we have four goals that are designed to meet this vision.

So you'll see these goals directly reflect those themes that we heard from the public and also are reflected in the board's strategic plan.

So goal number one is safety, uh creating a transportation system where everyone feels secure.

And the goal here, like the safety action plan is to reduce traffic fatalities and serious injuries across all modes to zero.

If you remember, uh, we had 248 fatalities in the five-year window and nearly 1500 serious injuries.

Those are the life-changing events that we're trying to eliminate.

Goal number two, uh reliability.

That uh again reflects what we heard from the community on reliability.

Um, and we view this um in kind of two ways.

One, reliability in terms of travel time reliability.

So, in terms of travel uh congestion, travel time reliability, but also keeping our infrastructure in a state of good repair and having our infrastructure be reliable.

Um goal number three, uh innovate and adapt is targeting a transportation system that works for all users, um, regardless of their ability or location, uh, regardless of age, ability, or income.

And then also that incorporates new technology that uh enhances capacity, resilience, and safety uh in our infrastructure systems.

And then finally, goal four uh recognizes that uh with connections and mobility, recognizes that transportation is more than just roads, it also includes pedestrian accommodations, bike paths, transit options, all working together to provide um mobility efficiently as a transportation system.

So as Shane mentioned, we're we're still really at the beginning where we're really just moving into phase two.

And this is uh the the start of phase two developing the vision and goals.

We're looking for your feedback on this vision and goals.

And then uh where we go from here, we will take uh once we finalize the vision and goals, we're gonna have uh a series of transportation strategies developed.

So if the goal is safety, the the strategies could be things like roundabouts, reduce conflict intersections, traffic calming measures.

There could be a whole series of strategies.

And then for each goal, there'll be a series of strategies.

And we'll seek public feedback on those strategies.

We're gonna have a in-person and a virtual open house as part of this next phase.

Um, we're also going to be doing some student outreach and some some other different outreach strategies.

Um we're also uh gonna be starting to update our non-motorized policy.

We have another round of stakeholder meetings uh coming up to help refine these strategies, because those strategies then will be used to help us shape the projects that go into a draft plan in phase three.

Um, and while all of that's happening, the project team is also developing a travel demand model and putting together a financial plan out to 2050 to help sort of put it all together.

So late late spring, summer next year, we'll start to see projects that meet these goals and strategies come together.

So here's just a slide.

I'm not really gonna spend time here on really a little bit of detail about what's in these next coming uh uh phases of the plan.

Um, but I I just kind of talked through it here.

But in phase three is where we'll have a draft plan, and then phase four is where we'll deliver a final plan late 2026, early 2027, um, somewhere in that time frame.

So with that, um, you know, we're looking for any feedback or comments on the visioning goals that you may have today if you're comfortable with these, if there are things that were um missing, or uh any any feedback that you have.

Thank you.

And thank you for all the work that went into this.

I know this is a really important thing for our strategy for the next till 2050.

How many 25 years?

That's a long time.

Member Wessick.

And I think this is really impressive to collate all this data and kind of integrate it into some goals.

But I did uh have a concern that maybe we didn't get feedback on this, but I think it's important for us to integrate this with our strategic um plan with the county.

And one big point that I wanted to see is that we should strive to lower the overall carbon footprint of our system.

I know that's very nebulous, it's very global, it's very abstract, but I think that's where we're getting.

And just based on some of the survey results that people want to do more public transit, they want to do more walking, biking.

I mean, that that fits in nicely to that strategic vision that we've already laid out, but I I didn't see that as a specific, maybe it should be part of the vision statement.

Um, probably one of the goals, maybe it's number five.

But you know, I I understand you're basing this on what people told you, but I think that as an overall goal, I think it's important for us to kind of put some language in there.

Uh CMAP has done a lot of research on this.

They're formulating regional climate goals and stuff like that.

I think we would be remiss in not having uh some of that in this plan.

Thank you.

Yeah, I agree.

I know we talked about that, but you know, with our I think our there's a lot of sustainability elements for our strategic plan.

And I I agree.

When I saw the vision statement too, um, I feel like that's something that's very important to us because there's many ways to look at it from the type of pavements to roundabouts to decreasing traffic emissions, transit, all those things.

So I do think the sustainability thing is really important to our mission here and is not really there.

Member Hunter.

Thanks, Chair.

As you guys did this interaction with all of the different places that you were at, uh I'm curious.

What was the biggest surprise that you realized at the end of this?

You went, wow, we I didn't see that coming.

Um, because I've been part of it with Kevin on some things over in my district.

But and you you do a good job at outreach.

But what was the thing that really caught you off guard?

Um I don't know that it was uh necessarily a surprise for me, but I had a sense going into this that um we weren't gonna get maybe one A number one.

This is the main issue.

I feel uh if you go back to the the 2040 plan from 2014, it's very clear that congestion was the top line issue in that plan and at that time in the county.

Um and I got the sense going into this one that while that's still probably an important thing, I felt like we were going to hear safety and other issues.

Um, and I think that's what we heard was while congestion remains important, safety, non-motorized improvements, and sort of our infrastructure condition kind of all came together as that top four rather than having one single issue.

Um, and that was a change from what we saw in the last long-range plan development.

So I would attribute that to that.

We listened back in 2014 and basically lowered the temperature on that while everything else started to get a little bit warmer.

So thanks.

Yeah, member Roberts.

Thank you.

When you said you you brought this um grouped it by zip code, what was the most the biggest area that responded?

Is it was it all over the county or specifically in a certain area?

Um we had a lot in Waukegan, Libertyville, Grays Lake, um trying to think of the other.

We had I had a map of the top 10.

Um Antioch.

Uh it was pretty it was pretty spread out.

Um, yeah.

Um central central Lake County sort of had a cluster.

Um, but it was pretty pretty spread out throughout the county.

Do you think that's because did you spend more time in in maybe in the Waukegan area or we went when we did the more events events?

We had two pop-up events in Waukegan and one in Zion.

We also had one in Fox Lake and one in Wakanda.

So we did have a little bit more in-person events um in this sort of north uh eastern part of the county.

Um but um we also had um we have uh some of uh Libertyville is on our uh non-motorized task force, and I know they help share um pushed out some of the like survey um through their bike commission and and some of that.

in this sort of north uh eastern part of the county um but um we also had um we have uh some of uh liberteville is on our uh non-motorized task force and i know they help share um pushed out some of the like survey um through their bike commission and and some of that so some of the municipalities that help push out um sharing the survey um you know that also led to you know where we saw clusters of respondents yeah i mean i think um there are i i see with the data like some concerns that it does not represent our you know it doesn't represent our county as much and i know on the forest reserves we've done surveys where we hire a you know a company and then they make sure they get the right demographics and when we're looking at something that's so important you know maybe it's something we should think about is trying to maybe be more proactive instead of just you know finding people who randomly self-select into doing this is maybe try to get more of a data you know like a the more representative sample and I know it would cost money so we might have to discuss it but depending on what results just to make sure that it's more um inclusive of people in um around geographically uh you know with incomes and also with ethnicity you know it is um this definitely is the data skewing to people who want to take the survey so they have to have internet or you know they have to be motivated to do it so maybe we could look into that.

Chair Hart.

Thank you so much.

And I really appreciate this overview and glad that roundabouts got a shout out.

I wanted to understand how do you how does like Lake County DOT working into the future with our Lake County um planning building and development department.

Yeah um they are uh on our stakeholder advisory um uh group and have participated uh we've had two rounds of stakeholder advisory uh group meetings so far that they've participated in we've also pulled in their comprehensive planning documents uh into uh sort of the existing conditions uh data collection that we've we've pulled in uh we are coordinating their their planning efforts with what we're planning as well um and then um we're also um you know staying abreast of the uh the housing lake coalition that's going on trying to understand how that may impact you know transportation uh you know decisions in the future for long-term planning um and so we are coordinating with all those other uh planning agencies um through our stakeholder advisory group but then also we have some direct outreach planned in these upcoming phases with some interviews with these uh county departments got it okay thank you that makes me feel better and so uh this final report before it's presented to us you show it to that stakeholder group or that advisory group and you know they kind of I don't want to say sign off on it but they're like yep you captured all of these things that we think are going to be important to be mindful of for the future.

Okay.

All right great thank you.

Thank you.

Member Kasbin.

I want to thank you for that time and effort and um level of thought and intentionality you've put into this I really I really appreciate all the hard work.

It's I like um what has come out of it.

I think it's um you're very thorough.

I would assume that you um and forgive me if you mentioned it and I missed it but um I I would assume you looked at economic development and potential economic development as well when you were can you just speak to that for a moment.

Yeah um so we um we have Lake County partners also on our stakeholder advisory group uh as well and then um cMAP also has a uh sort of region wide uh data collection uh effort it's a it's a uh database map um tool of upcoming developments that we've pulled into it as well so sort of known future developments that are happening region wide um that we're taking into account as well um so we are sort of all the known developments uh as much to the extent possible we're uh trying to incorporate those into travel demand models um for for that long term growth okay yeah yeah um I guess I'd also if if there are key demographics or key areas that we're I'm just wondering if we couldn't ensure that we look through things from an equity lens because if someone's working three jobs they may not have time to do our survey okay thanks and that's that's um a big part of why we put that demographic uh questions in the survey is really to identify who we're missing and as we move forward in these next three phases to then target specific um voices that were missing in these first phases so we're adapting the engagement strategies as we go to try to target that and the project team is adapting that so um just one example um just on the age um we have you know uh a higher age demographic our team um worked with cMap they have a program over the summer called Future Leaders in Planning that's high school students that are interested in urban planning we contacted them there's a number of students

So we're adapting the engagement strategies as we go to try to target that.

And the project team is adapting that.

So um just one example um just on the age.

Um we have you know, uh a higher age demographic.

Our team um worked with CMAP.

They have a program over the summer called Future Leaders in Planning that's high school students that are interested in urban planning.

We contacted them.

There's a number of students in Lake County that participated in that.

We got in contact with them, they're interested in participating in our plan development, and we're putting together a student advisory council that'll help sort of inform student opinions on the plan at the high school level.

Um, and so we're in the process of um not only those students, but then working with uh through the regional office of the superintendent um reaching out to schools throughout the county to identify other interested students and then uh bring them together to try to target that younger age group that we missed in the first phase.

So um similarly on sort of the other demographics where we're targeting um that in our engagement moving forward.

Yeah, and could we have the mission statement brought back up, please?

Because I know that's what we're supposed to be discussing on the screen.

Um I know so for today.

We're looking at the mission statement.

And I, you know, I always wonder because sometimes these mission statements are very important.

And you know, you look at your overall findings, and I don't know, I just was not surprised.

I don't know about all of you, but you know, you gave the, you know, you give it was not you gave them the the choices, correct?

I mean, people didn't just come up with what they thought was most important, and you had to pick the number one thing.

And so to me, it's I mean, I kind of feel like safety should have been baked in.

I mean, if the people are gonna ask you what you what's your number one priority, I think most people are like, we like to have safe roads.

And so, you know, I know it's the number one thing, but I I'm concerned we're gonna lose out on maybe the data that's under that because I think most people would say we want to have safe roads.

And so I'm I mean, I want to have safe roads in there, but when we look at the priorities and things, like how are you going to use this statement?

So the you know, the vision statement, I think I, you know, I think having something about more sustainability, I think is important.

I think we've talked about our strategic plan being very forward looking, um, being very resilient, um, planning for the future, like is there economic development?

Is there, you know, is where where do we want to see that happen, working with all our partners?

Um is is is I don't know if it says that in this statement quite so much.

I mean, you know, we want it safe, reliable.

I mean, you got innovative in there, adaptive by connecting people.

Um, so I don't know if we can make it a little stronger and that we want it to be, at least for my opinion, we want it to be more maybe more strategic or resilient and really future thinking because you know, as the world's changing, the way we use our roads are changing and making sure we're keeping up with the technology and the use.

And because if if I mean if all we're gonna do is say we want safer roads, we could just make all of our speed limits twenty miles an hour and just put roundabouts everywhere, and then everyone is safe.

And I don't think that's what we're like looking at doing.

So um, I'm hoping I guess in future, the future you're going to be talking more about specific, like how the I like where how are you going to use this vision statement?

I guess is my question.

Because it's, you know, we got to vote on this vision statement.

So, how is this going to be used?

Because you know, sometimes it's like you know, three years from now, you're like, well, we're doing this project because in the vision statement, you said you wanted it to be safe.

Like, so how are is it going to be used?

Yeah.

So we'll um we're gonna have a internal uh sort of session to come up with a uh a long list of strategies to help meet these goals that work towards this vision.

Then the idea is that we uh vet those strategies through public engagement through a in-person and a virtual uh public meeting.

Um and those strategy, like uh safety strategies could be roundabouts and improved intersections and traffic calming and travel time reliability could be passage improvements and turn lanes and traffic signal timing and uh you know, all those kinds of different things.

There's a whole universe of different types of projects.

Um then as we move into the next phase of the project, we're gonna have our travel demand model, which is gonna show us really where traffic is moving and where we have deficiencies in the system.

And so then we'll look at where where we have deficiencies and where we need projects, and we can start to look at those corridors and say, all right, uh in this corridor, what type of improvement meets the goals to achieve the this vision?

And so likely a project would it would uh you know have multiple benefits in it and achieve multiple goals.

The types of uh our typical section with uh, you know, uh sidewalk and bike path and potentially a roundabout, those are the kind of things that we're we're looking at.

Um, but those are the type of ways that projects would then be evaluated.

So we would look at we would have the travel demand model would help us identify where there are deficiencies in the system, and then we would have this list of vetted strategies to help select the type of projects that make sense for those locations.

And I would assume that we already are looking at safety.

I you know, I just so to everyone's white, like we already like these are already kind of the things you're looking at, correct?

So does this really change anything we're doing?

I guess is my like this vision.

Does it really change anything we would have done anyway?

I think it's it's uh it's a building on what we're already doing.

And it through the safety action plan and then this um public feedback that we got and also the federal highways safe systems approach is building in redundancy to the system.

Um recognizing that people make mistakes, and when people make mistakes, those mistakes shouldn't be life altering.

And so the systems that we design should reflect that people make mistakes.

And so what can we as roadway designers do to build in redundancies?

Um of these goals, you know, they're you know it's a different way of looking at things.

You know, in the past, when you look at congestion and you're looking at throughput and how can we, you know, maximize efficiency through a corridor, and now looking at it through a lens of safety and slowing vehicles down.

So there's some conflict there in a little bit of those goals.

And so we have to balance those things and um build in some redundancies, keep an efficient system, but also making it a safer system.

So yeah, yeah.

And if I could two add on to that, sorry, let me clear my throat for a second.

Um, Kevin Carrier, uh assistant county engineer.

Um so I think this does reaffirm a lot of the stuff that we're doing, right?

I mean, um, like Mike said in our 2014 plan, it was heavily focused on congestion.

Since then, we've been working a lot more in the non-motorized realm, right?

So this is kind of reaffirmed and stated here, but it's a lot of the stuff we've been doing.

But one of the next steps, um, so we set this vision and goals, which um gets to us a list of strategies like Mike was talking about.

The next step the consultant's gonna be working on is our travel demand model.

So where are the people traveling today, which is probably different than it was, you know, 10 or so years ago.

So we're gonna develop this model of hey, what roads are people using, uh, how busy are those roads and things like that.

And we also have our safety action plan that was just done that shows where the crashes and stuff are at.

So they take this vision statement with all the strategies, and then they're gonna overlay it with where people are driving, where the crashes and stuff are to develop a list of projects.

So that stuff may have changed since 2014, right?

People are probably driving maybe different roads, or maybe they work in different areas, or maybe people are biking and and walking or taking trans a little bit more than they were in the past.

Um, I think when you overlay all this stuff together, it gets us to a different bucket of projects, which is really the goal for for us is having a map of hey, what road should we be focusing on over the next 20 or 25 years, what intersections are the worst and stuff like that.

So this is kind of the 30,000 foot view, and then it helps us develop strategies, and then we take where people are traveling and where the crash and stuff are at to really get to like a bucket of projects is kind of the so really it's like figuring, so instead of like this, it's more like strategic, like we're looking at a strategic forward thinking system where we're planning to make people's lives, you know, make it more safe, travel more safe, more like efficient, um, with more better options um and things like that.

I feel like that vision statement is like to me, this is just like we're connecting people.

I don't know, like I uh, you know, safely.

So I I feel like as a board, we've always been very in our strategic plan, very little more like like that, like strategic.

This is about planning for the future and today, you know, making sure people we're looking at it in different lens, a holistic lens versus in the past, like where you would just make the road bigger.

So maybe like that holistic, strategic, efficient, improving our lives of our residents now and in the future, giving them more options.

At least for me, I don't know, members, you could say that to me, that's more of a vision statement.

Um, I think than then like it's just like connect.

I don't know.

What do you think, member Wasick?

Thank you, Chair.

And and to kind of follow up on what your um intimating, I think being holistic is is so crucial.

I mean, this is a 2050 plan.

And I didn't see any mention of transit-oriented development, which is a very long-range thing, involves urban planning, involves environmental considerations, things like that.

But I I think at the very least, we should, and I know the housing coalition, we mentioned this earlier, Mike, is looking at transit oriented development.

That is, if we situate developments, uh communities around transit hubs, which have yet to be created in in the fullest sense holistically, um, then we can address some of these other problems.

We can get cars off the road, we can you know eliminate some um some travel time and and congestion.

And it's just it just seemed like, well, you know, this statement is good in theory, but I think in practice, if we start looking at some very you know, doable concepts um that incorporate into transportation planning will will be a lot further ahead in terms of a vision, you know, for how we want to do this.

And sure brought up, you know, our it is a strategic concern, but we have to address development and transportation in sort of the same light.

So transit oriented development is just the one sort of you know, arrow in the curber, if you will.

And I also want to know about the maps.

Are those going to be on your website?

And will they be able to zoom out or zoom in?

Yeah, they'll all be part of uh we have a full existing conditions report that's being um finalized and that will be put up on the website.

Right.

Um that would be really helpful.

Thank you.

We do love maps here and data.

But yeah, and I think, and as the member Casman said too, like looking at economic development, it's like there's it's like such a holistic more the sustainability of it.

There's just like strategic more of a strategic, I think, vision statement.

I think that incorporates all these things like development, so that we can instead of just being like, oh, here's a road where there's lots of traffic, let's just look at the study.

We could be like, well, where should the roads like where should they go?

Where you know, what should we have more transit here?

Should we like if they're gonna economic development there, you know, put in housing here?

Um, like Chair Hart had mentioned about are we talking to the people about housing?

And so making sure that we are we aren't just looking at what we have, but we're looking at what we should have or could have strategically and sustainably as much as we can, I think is important.

Does that make sense to everyone?

All right.

That's really helpful.

So we will um bring back a revised vision statement in January.

Okay.

Um follow-up question I have on the sustainability.

Um, would you prefer to see a separate goal for sustainability, or would you like to see sustainability incorporated within the existing goals or both?

I mean, do you want to look at it and see what you think makes sense from your your the way you you do the evaluate the buckets goal?

So let us know what you think.

Member Kasman.

In general, I prefer I like what this says.

Uh so I was I was trying to figure out what it was.

I like um vision statements that are a little bit more direct and like a little more powerful, but I don't know how everybody else feels.

Like a lot of commas, it kind of meanders and you kind of read it and then you think, what does that say?

Sometimes when we try to say everything, we say less.

And I don't know.

We're a little bit on the side of saying everything.

Um but I I mean I love what it says.

So I I mean I would just also say if it says um we envision a transportation system places and opportunities.

And I I would say the system will serve all users because it it is a little bit like what are we talking about again after that big yeah?

Thanks.

Member Roberts.

I I agree.

And not to it just sounds a little generic.

I'm sorry.

It just it's nothing is popping out, like it it's a great the the your presentation was incredible.

I'm not seeing that presentation in this.

That's that's all.

Yeah, no, this is really really helpful feedback for us.

We appreciate it.

So well, thank you.

Yeah, yeah.

I know we love all the data, we love all the things.

And so yes, and I'm glad you're gonna be looking at getting data from those other, you know, strategically, and we're really looking forward to seeing what comes next.

Yep.

Yeah, this is exactly who we're looking for, and we've kind of plan on coming back, you know, early next year and kind of tweaking this a little bit.

We kind of thought that'd be the case.

And but we it's important to have your guys' feedback because this is gonna kind of set the stage for you know the next step, which is which is maybe looking at projects and stuff like that.

One thing I've learned sometimes these mission statements are really important because then you're gonna test hey, you guys had that mission statement, so we want to make sure it's the right one.

So thank you, everyone, for your comments.

Any other questions?

All right, thank you so much for the presentation and all this work.

All right, and thank you off the sketch.

All right, and so item 8.16 is the director's report.

Um, do we have a G Shane Diva director's report?

Great.

But uh just wanted to mention that we have updated our county highway map.

We were out of uh out of print, so we updated it.

Uh, we do this every few years.

So there's a PDF version on the website, you can check it out.

We have a limited supply of maps if anyone is interested in getting a quantity of those.

We do have some available.

Just reach out and let us know.

Um, I also wanted to mention I don't have a slide for it, but we recently updated our passage website to be in compliance with the new accessibility rules.

And it had been 10 years since we updated it, so it's also a much more modern look.

So when you get a chance, check out Lake County Passage.com.

Uh, we also updated our iPhone app.

So that is uh meets all the new accessibility requirements as well.

And it's a much more modern look.

So if you're using uh an iPhone device and you've upgraded to the new liquid glass, um, it's got a lot of new kind of neat modern features.

We're currently updating the Android version that'll be done um by April.

Great.

We know just a shout out to everyone with the snow plowing.

I gotta say, everyone did a great job.

And also just the cameras, like being able to see the roads is life changing.

Because I'm like, I'm gonna go here and then I can see on the cameras like what the roads look like.

It I think it's such a safety improvement, and it helps everybody know when to stay home and the the social media outreach, everything.

But thank you to everybody who was plowing, I'm sure, for many, many, many, many hours.

So um, they did a terrific job.

Yeah, thanks for saying that.

The team did a great job.

They're out there for multiple 12 hour shifts in a row.

So um, yeah, thank you for the do an amazing job.

Member Hunter.

Just real quickly, I've looking at the map on the top paragraph.

There's 19 county board districts, not 21.

So it says 21.

Thank you.

Wow, that's been a while.

That is a member Wasick.

A lot of us have been getting robo emails on like the amount of money that we were using for transportation from the R RTA was gonna be cut into.

Do you have any better read on that now?

Yeah, a couple uh board members have shared that with me.

I don't have a lot of feedback at this time.

You know, we really don't know what the impacts are gonna be, you know, particularly for iDot.

Um, I'm not aware of any direct impacts to county funding uh at this time.

Um, but you know, there is an impact to IDOT funding.

There's a transfer of those funds to the transit agencies.

Um, I just don't know what those impacts are gonna be.

So that'll have to be kind of over time.

We'll see what happens.

Really, that's gonna have to come directly from IDOT.

Okay, thank you.

Yep.

Yeah, thank you.

All right, any other questions?

Terrific.

Thank you.

All right, and then uh to be the county ministry's report.

We do not any executive session, nope.

Members remarks.

All right.

Well, everyone have a great day.

Our next I declare this new meeting enjoyed.

Our next meeting is January 7th, 2026.

Have a great day, everyone, and stay warm.