State Asks Lake Co. for Snowplowing, Salting Help This Winter

LAKE COUNTY, IL - The Lake County Division of Transportation may be taking on 107 lane miles of highway appropriated to the state for upkeep after the state failed to purchase new snowplows and salting trucks in time for the upcoming winter.

The Illinois Department of Transportation has begun to reach out to some of Chicago’s collar counties, asking for help with snowplowing and salting this winter on a “limited and reimbursable basis,” IDOT spokeswoman Gianna Urgo told the Daily Herald. The requests are being made after IDOT was not allowed to purchase new equipment during the last two years of Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration and due to issues with lawmakers inability to pass a balanced budget last year.

New snow plows and salters were approved after a stopgap budget this past summer, but it typically takes a year for the equipment to be assembled and delivered, according to the article.

County officials are now looking into acquiring new equipment and more employees to cover the additional roadways this winter. There is a fear, county engineer Paula Trigg told the Daily Herald, that if the state highways are not adequately plowed, more motorists would use county roadways, which could lead to congestion.

The county board would still need to approve the measure before Lake County agreed to plow and salt state roadways.

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