Fairfield Road at Monaville Road Improvements

To improve the intersection of Fairfield Road and Monaville Road within the town of Lake Villa, IL a Phase I/II engineering project was devised to assess possible alternatives based on crash data, environmental impacts and congestion mitigation strategies.

Benesch performed preliminary engineering and design to improve the intersection for safety and traffic congestion. Three alternatives were evaluated, including: concepts to turn the intersection into roundabout; turn the intersection into a signalized intersection; as well as an alternative to perform no changes to the intersection. In the end, the alternative to turn the intersection into a roundabout was selected and carried through design.

To drive public involvement of the project, Benesch staff held three comprehensive meetings with local residents and stakeholders. At these meetings participants were engaged in discussion of existing conditions, project limits, traffic and crash data, preliminary design concepts and selection criteria for preferred alternatives. These alternatives were heavily influenced by multiple workshops held during the public involvement meetings which identified existing deficiencies and potential solutions to the intersection and corridor. Stakeholder involvement also drove the addition of a cul-de-sac along Old Monaville Road to the project.

Additional aspects performed by Benesch include data collection, utility coordination, intersection design studies, environmental studies, section 4(f) processing, traffic counts and projections, crash analysis and public involvement. Benesch also prepared a CMAQ application on behalf of Lake County and completed the Phase I requirements to be eligible for Federal Funding.