Heads Up: Work on Garfield Road Changes Lanes

There is some good and bad news for people who have been looking forward to the end of the Garfield Street resurfacing project. The good news is the northbound lane has been resurfaced and is now open. The bad news is the southbound lane is now closed, so traffic will still be down to one lane on Garfield Street until mid-November.

To some, however, it's all bad news.

Paula Goss, owner of Fuller's Home and Hardware, said, "Business has been anywhere from 10 to 15 percent slower because people can't drive north into town from 55th street and if you can't come north, how is anyone supposed to get around?"

Hinsdale resident Ellie Toomey has other concerns.

"I'm worried about the slick roads we'll have come October and November," she said. "When the weather gets bad and it's icy, it will be harder to slow down and make proper turns off of Garfield."

The resurfacing project originally was slated to be completed in September, but the project was delayed. Village engineer Don Deeter said a labor strike, as well as soil contamination and dumping issues contributed to delays for the Garfield project this summer.

"In many instances the dump sites where the soil is going are old quarries, and in our case, where we were, dumping was the issue," Deeter said.

The issues that slowed the Garfield Street project have been resolved and resurfacing on other projects in Hinsdale is making good progress, Deeter said. These include most of the roads in south Hinsdale. 

If you are out and about in north Hinsdale, you might want to allot extra time if you are traveling any of the routes:

• Bob-o-link Drive from County Line Road to Justina
• Fuller Rd. from County Line Road to Justina
• The intersections of Minneola and Garfield Street

In south Hinsdale, there is construction on the routes below:

• Lincoln from 3rd to 8th streets
• County Line Road from 6th to 55th streets
• Princeton from 47th to 3rd streets. 

New resurfacing projects in the works:

• South Monroe on the 800 and 900 Blocks. Roads will be repaved all the way out to 55th Street.
• Within the next 12 to 24 months, resurfacing projects for North Grant Street and North Washington Street also are planned.