Pipe Smoke

Your LakeCountyEye sends apologies to operatives inconvenienced by the blanket of smoke that covered the county yesterday. As readers of this blog are hazily aware ...

Q the Eye/08.27.11

beneath the LakeCountyEye compound are a honeycomb of tunnels dug for a variety of purposes. One purpose in particular is to provide a home (at a nominal fee) for excess waste from the Zion nuclear plant. Operatives who know anything about radioactivity know that nuclear waste has a tendency to spontaneously combust for no reason at all. This time, unfortunately, the escape hatches all had to be opened, which explains the blanket of smoke. And your LakeCountyEye's profuse apologies.

The conflagration minor contretemps had the unfortunate consequence of delaying the construction of the tunnel being built beneath Hunt Club Rd near Millburn -- aka the strangler -- Rd. The tunnel is listed on the books as a project of the Village of Old Mill Creek (Pop. 178); its stated purpose is to permit equestrian access from one side of Hunt Club Rd to, erm, another side of Hunt Club Rd.

Sharp-eyed operatives will observe that Hunt Club is a county road, and outside the jurisdiction of any municipal construction project. Your LakeCountyEye can assure that the whole project is above-board and legal -- the Lake County Board green-lighted the project with a variance and also threw in $40,000 of taxpayer funds to help defray costs:

Agreement Between the County of Lake and the Village of Old Mill Creek for the Construction and Maintenance of a Multi-Use Trail Underpass Along Hunt Club Road (County Highway 29), Approximately 200 Feet South of Mill Creek in Old Mill Creek, Illinois

More info is to be found at the County Board's website:

Hunt Club Road Improvement, Underpass: Village of Old Mill Creek Agreement

The delay in construction is significant because the project not only has closed down Hunt Club Road, but is delaying other nearby county road projects. The tunnel must be completed by September 26. Otherwise the Village of Old Mill Creek is to be fined $14,300 for each additional day.

Fortunately, the Village was able to explain about all of the trouble they are having digging their tunnel, and the nice people on the Lake County Board extended that deadline to October 10:

Amendment #1 to Agreement Between the County of Lake and the Village of Old Mill Creek for the Construction and Maintenance of a Multi-Use Trail Underpass Along Hunt Club Road (County Highway 29), Approximately 200 Feet South of Mill Creek in Old Mill Creek, Illinois

More amended info is to be found at the County Board's website:

Hunt Club Road Multi-Use Trail Underpass: Village of Old Mill Creek Agreement Amendment and Appropriation

Operatives are encouraged to drive over to the site of the construction project ...

There may be an opportunity waiting to grab a shovel and help the workers -- or at least school them on the proper way to dig a tunnel, on time and under budget!