Riverwoods to widen and resurface Saunders Road; water main to be fully replaced before paving

Steve Witt, director of community services for the Village of Riverwoods, told residents at a public meeting that the village plans to resurface and widen Saunders Road from Duffy Lane to Riverwoods Road and expects the project to begin after a contract award by the village board. "This project has been 4 years in the making," Witt said, adding bids were received two weeks earlier and the board will consider awarding a contract at its next meeting.

The work will add a 4-foot shoulder on each side of the roadway to provide a shared space for pedestrians and bicyclists, reconfigure roadside ditches within the street right-of-way to improve drainage, and restore driveway aprons and culverts. The village also announced it will replace the section of water main centered on Saunders Road where a persistent leak was found; that replacement is scheduled to occur in the next four to six weeks and is intended to be completed before the main road construction begins.

The plan matters because it ties drainage fixes, tree loss, utility relocations and county work into a single construction sequence. "We just got to a point where bids were received 2 weeks ago, and we're going to the village board Tuesday night to award a contract," Witt said, and he cautioned that the contractor has not yet set a firm construction timetable. Village staff said the project could…