McHenry Times

The Village Board of Huntley met on April 13 where they voted in favor of three aspects to move the 2023 road improvement forward this year.

These resolutions included: $1,250,000 appropriated from the state Motor Fuel Tax; appropriating $1,759,108 from the Rebuild Illinois Funds for various projects; and also awarding a contract for services amounting to $3,773,129 to Arrow Road Construction for resurfacing.

“One thing I wanted to add is we've got a lot going on this year with our infrastructure program, and that's been very important to a successful community. Between the water treatment facility we've got started and the most aggressive road program we've had in our history,” said Board President Timothy Hoeft. "We got about $14 million worth of work out there. But I'd like our residents to know is the cost to your residents is $7 million and due to the developer donations that we've had, ARPA money, DMFT money obviously. So we're getting twice as much work done for the same money as what it would be due to our staff doing a very good job making sure they can capture every dollar we have and being a proactive community. So I just wanted to say we appreciate that.”

During the meeting, Director of Public Works Timothy Farrell showed a presentation on road improvements to give background on the project.

“It validates the effort I think that the village staff, through the support of the Village Board, to maintain our roadways in an acceptable and really a favorable condition,” Farrell said, comparing to their work to that of Sun City, which is a 2,200-acre spot for active adults 55 years old and older.

He showed the past five years of road resurfacing in the village, which was about 7.5 miles amounting to $1.3 million. The village has plans to take care of nine more miles of roads in the village this summer. The village also plans to complete sidewalk saw cuts by the end of the year, which should reach 37 neighborhoods by half this year. Farrell said this has been especially impressive due to the financial state currently.

Other improvements being planned include Del Webb Boulevard, Jim Dahmer Drive and Manning Road. There will be resurfacing, concrete replacements and general improvements. Also, there will be about 1.5 miles of roads added. The village broke the projects into five phases and will be working from north to south. The intention is for work to be done by August 18.