Potential remedies for an unlit Mundelein intersection — about which an area resident raised concerns to the Lake County Board — remain unclear, with the state and village disputing who is even responsible for overhead lighting there.
Wayne Thoren of Mundelein told the board he is worried about safety at the Hawley Street and Route 60/83 intersection. Hawley is a county road, and Route 60/83 belongs to the state. Beyond lacking overhead lighting, Thoren said the intersection is also prone to fog, which he attributed to nearby golf courses.
That, combined with what he feels is overly high speeds, is creating an unnecessary hazard for drivers, he argues. Using data from the Mundelein Police Department, Thoren said the intersection has had more than a hundred accidents from January 2019 through September 2024, including 34 “overnight” accidents.
“It’s really dark,” Thoren said, “When you’re making a left turn onto Hawley off of 60/83, it’s at times really very difficult to even know if you’re going onto the road.”
State Sen. Darby Hills, R-Barrington Hills, said she’s been communicating with the Illinois Department of Transportation about the intersection, as well as Mundelein Mayor Robin Meier after learning about Thoren’s concerns.
But addressing the issue seems to be something of a bureaucratic puzzle.
Eric Guenther, Mundelein’s village administrator, said that while he couldn’t speak on whether the intersection warrants lighting or not, the responsibility for such an improvement lies with the state, not the village.
He called IDOT’s assertion that it is the village’s responsibility a “misconception.” Guenther said the roads and their easements on either side are county- and state-owned, and so it “doesn’t make a great deal of sense” for Mundelein to pay for installing assets.
“Can we do it? We probably could,” Guenther said. “If we were to ask them, and the response from them is going to be, ‘Sure, if you want to pay for it, go ahead.’ But my question is, if it’s warranted there, the state should look at if it’s an improvement that they should do.”
But Maria Castaneda, a public information officer with the IDOT, said that roadway lighting, including its installation, maintenance, operation and energy, is “the responsibility of the local municipality,” regardless of the ownership of the roads and their right-of-ways.
Complicating the situation is also a future highway improvement plan along Route 60/83 which could widen the highway, meaning it would be especially unwise to install assets prior to the improvements, Guenther said.
According to Castaneda, the project’s Phase 1 study determined, “lighting was not warranted along this corridor.”
The intersection is one of two along Route 60/83 with no overhead lighting in Mundelein.
Guenther said that the village has other intersections with far higher accident counts, although he said he had not done an analysis comparing different intersections and could not speak on the need for lighting.