Lake Cook Road

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Lake Cook Road
County Line Road (Barrington Hills), Main Street (Barrington)
Part ofCR A50
Maintained bythe Illinois Department of Transportation, the Cook County Highway Department, and the McHenry County Division of Transportation
Length25.5 mi (41.0 km)[1]
LocationLake, Cook, McHenry, Kane counties
West end IL 62 (Algonquin Road) in Algonquin
East endSheridan Road in Highland Park and Glencoe

Lake Cook Road (alternatively referred to as County Line Road or Main Street in some areas) is a major east–west highway in Cook, Lake, McHenry, and Kane Counties in Illinois. For much of its length, it marks the border between Cook and Lake Counties, hence the name of the road. In its western stretch, it marks the border between McHenry and Cook Counties, and further west, McHenry and Kane Counties. The road is approximately 25.5 miles (41.0 km) in length, from its western terminus at Illinois Route 62 in Algonquin to its eastern terminus at Sheridan Road in Highland Park and Glencoe, near Lake Michigan. The road is notable for its cross-section of Chicago's northern suburbs, balancing densely developed commercial, industrial, and residential land uses, with open space areas such as forest preserves, parks, golf courses, creeks, rivers, gardens, and Lake Michigan.

Municipalities served

Lake Cook Road goes through, or runs adjacent to, sections of the following municipalities from west to east: Algonquin, Barrington Hills, Barrington, Deer Park, Palatine, Long Grove, Arlington Heights, Buffalo Grove, Wheeling, Riverwoods, Northbrook, Deerfield, Highland Park, and Glencoe.

Roadway jurisdiction

The majority of the road, from Rand Road in Palatine to US 41 (Skokie Highway) in Northbrook is maintained by the Cook County Highway Department[2] designated Cook County Trunk Highway A50. The Cook County-maintained stretch is four lanes wide, with the exception of the stretch between Lexington Drive and Wilmot Road where it is six lanes wide. The far western segment of the roadway (which is called Lake Cook Road in Algonquin and County Line Road in Barrington Hills) from Illinois Route 62 to Ridge Road in Algonquin and Barrington Hills is maintained by the McHenry County Division of Transportation[3] designated McHenry County Highway A50. Other segments, such as the segment between Ridge Road and Quentin Road in Barrington and the eastern segment from Skokie Highway to Sheridan Road in Highland Park and Glencoe are maintained by the Illinois Department of Transportation[4] without any route number.

Route description

Barrington area (Algonquin Road to Quentin Road)

At its western terminus at

Union Pacific/Northwest Line, especially during weekday rush periods, when Metra
trains stop frequently at the nearby station. As the road continues east through the remainder of Barrington and Deer Park, it runs adjacent to more estate-style development and residential neighborhoods as well as another forested area near Deer Grove Forest Preserve in Palatine.

Northwest Suburban area (Quentin Road to Milwaukee Avenue)

The road's name changes to Lake Cook Road and as the road intersects with Quentin Road, it becomes a four-lane highway (which it remains for much of the remainder of the route) near the

blighted commercial strip which formally was home to a strip club,[5] which until recent signal and intersection modifications were made, was one of the most dangerous intersections in Illinois. The roadway then crosses Deerpath Lake over a bridge, intersects Hicks Road, and then intersects the terminus of the Illinois Route 53 expressway, near a mass of apartment complexes in Palatine. After this intersection, the road is highlighted by the dense single-family neighborhoods on the south side of the roadway in Arlington Heights and the Buffalo Creek Forest Preserve on the north side of the roadway in Long Grove. As the road intersects Arlington Heights Road near neighborhood commercial plazas, it enters Buffalo Grove and becomes a four-lane boulevard, going past more residential neighborhoods, a small office center, the Buffalo Grove Municipal Complex, and Buffalo Creek, and then intersecting Buffalo Grove Road, Illinois Route 83 (McHenry Road), and Weiland Road, in rapid succession near an historic church and regional commercial plazas. A project in 2016-2018 will widen Lake Cook Road from four-lanes to six-lanes at these congested intersections.[6] After intersecting Weiland Road, the road is then bounded by Buffalo Grove on the north and Wheeling on the south. After Lexington Drive, the roadway widens to six lanes. In this area, it goes past an apartment complex in Wheeling, crosses the Soo Line Railroad (Metra's North Central Service commuter rail line) over a bridge, goes past the Chevy Chase Golf Course in Buffalo Grove, and forms an interchange with Illinois Route 21/U.S. Route 45
(Milwaukee Avenue) near the Westin North Shore Hotel and Convention Center.

North Shore area (Milwaukee Avenue to Sheridan Road)

The road then crosses the

Braeside Metra station near the Ravinia Festival music center, and runs concurrent with, and terminates at, Sheridan Road near the Lake Shore Country Club in Glencoe, only a few hundred feet from Lake Michigan
.

Major intersections

CountyLocationmi[8]kmDestinationsNotes
McHenry–Kane
county line		Algonquin0.00.0 IL 62 (Algonquin Road)Western terminus; roadway continues as Compton Drive
Lake–Cook
county line		Barrington6.510.5 IL 59 (Hough Street, Barrington Road)
6.911.1 US 14 (Northwest Highway)
Deer Park–Palatine line11.518.5 US 12 (Rand Road)
Palatine–Long Grove line12.019.3 IL 53 (Hicks Road)
12.620.3
 To IL 53		Interchange
LakeBuffalo Grove15.625.1 IL 83 (McHenry Road)
Lake–Cook
county line		Buffalo Grove–Wheeling line17.928.8 US 45 / IL 21 (Milwaukee Avenue)Interchange
Chicago, Wisconsin
No westbound exit and eastbound Edens Spur entrance
Deerfield22.035.4 IL 43 (Waukegan Road)
Chicago, Waukegan
Interchange
Highland Park–Glencoe line25.440.9Sheridan RoadEastern terminus
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

Metra commuter rail lines

Lake Cook Road crosses the paths of the four Metra rail lines servicing Chicago's north and northwestern suburbs.

  • Barrington
    station)
  • Wheeling
    station)
  • Lake Cook Road
    station)
  • Braeside
    station)

Ecology

Lake Cook Road travels through some of the most important and ecologically diverse areas in the Chicago metropolitan area. In its western part, it goes through heavily wooded areas, and goes through Spring Creek Forest Preserve and crosses Spring Creek. In its central sections, it runs adjacent to the Deer Grove Forest Preserve and Buffalo Creek Forest Preserve and crosses Buffalo Creek. Further east, it crosses the Des Plaines River near the Potawatomi Forest Preserve. Even further east, it crosses north branches of the Chicago River and the Skokie River, runs past the Chicago Botanic Garden and ends near Lake Michigan. While this makes for very scenic views, it also presents a challenge to the region, as it works to balance environmental preservation with safety, transportation, recreation, and economic development needs.

Economics

In addition to traversing natural areas, Lake Cook Road also is known for traversing some of the most economically advanced areas in the

Underwriters Laboratories
, which are all found along the road. Additional employers can be found within a few miles of the road, extending north–south along Milwaukee Avenue, the Tri-State Tollway, and Skokie Highway.

Because of the property tax structure of Cook County, where commercial properties are taxed at a higher rate than residential properties, a majority of the commercial properties along Lake-Cook road are on the north side of Lake-Cook road (which is in Lake County) and a majority of residential properties are located on the south side of Lake-Cook road (which is in Cook County).

References

  1. ^ Google Maps estimate.
  2. ^ http://www.cookcountygov.com/Agencies/hwy/SysRoute_0707.pdf Archived 2011-07-08 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ http://www.co.mchenry.il.us/Common/CountyDpt/Highway/PDFDocs/2005TrafCntMap.pdf[permanent dead link]
  4. ^ http://www.co.lake.il.us/dot/maps/S_Lake06_Front_Finalb.pdf[permanent dead link]
  5. ^ "Fines paid, strip club and adult stores closed in Lake County".
  6. ^ "Weiland Road- Prairie Road / Lake Cook Road Phase 2 Design Project - August 2018- Update - Buffalo Grove, IL - Official Website". www.vbg.org.
  7. ^ "2013 Lake Cook Road Widening and Reconstruction Project | Scope & Schedule". Archived from the original on 2015-02-14. Retrieved 2015-02-14.
  8. ^ "Lake-Cook Road Map".
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