Illinois Route 131

Illinois Route 131 from Russell Road to Sunset Avenue is a 7.5 mile project in Lake County. Illinois Route 131 is designated as a Strategic Regional Arterial. Within the study area, Illinois 131 is one lane in each direction which runs primarily in a north to south direction through six communities: Gurnee, Waukegan, Beach Park, Wadsworth, Zion, and Winthrop Harbor. The corridor is developed with a mix of residential, commercial and agricultural uses, forest preserve, golf courses and the Waukegan Regional Airport which are experiencing rapid growth with much of the agricultural area zoned for residential or commercial development. To the west of Illinois Route 131 is I-94 which connects Chicago to the Milwaukee area in Wisconsin. Most trips to and from Chicago through Lake County in this area occur on I-94 and are supplemented by Illinois Route 131.

The project has utilized both public meetings and workshops. The workshops utilized participant input and stakeholder input from the Public Meetings to develop a project problem statement, purpose and need, and identified the project elements for number of lanes (four lanes with divided median), median treatments (wide grass median), edge treatments (paved shoulder with curb and gutter) and pedestrian and bicycle accommodations (sidewalk or shared use path) for the project. The anticipated Design Approval for this project is December, 2011.

Contact Person: Marnell.Morse@illinois.gov