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 begin in about 60 days but later stated the start could be within six months depending on coordination with county work.

Design and construction oversight will be led by Gewalt Hamilton Associates and Thomas Engineering. Mitch Rogalski of Gewalt Hamilton Associates, the village's engineer on the project, said some ditches will be regraded or deepened but will remain inside the street right-of-way. Greg Benske, construction department head for Thomas Engineering, described how the contractor will maintain driveway access during day-to-day work: flaggers and single-lane traffic control will be used while crews work on one side of the road at a time, and crews will place temporary gravel so residents can enter and exit driveways.

County coordination and timing influenced the village's phasing. Witt said the county plans to rebuild a sanitary lift station north of the existing one near Duffy Road; because the county's construction could disturb a newly finished surface, the village plans to place a binder course of asphalt this fall and delay the final surface course until the county finishes that work. "We feel that it would be best suited to just go with a binder course," Witt said, noting that doing a final surface before the county finishes would risk additional patching and extra expense.

The village also detailed utility and mailbox procedures. Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) will manage overhead pole and wire work for its system; the village does not control ComEd's decisions on pole placement or undergrounding. Residents were told contractors will temporarily relocate mailboxes (often to grouped banks or to the opposite side of the road) and that reconstruction of private decorative posts or stone pillars is not part of the village contract. "If it can be moved, it will be moved," Witt said, but added the village cannot accept responsibility for private utilities or decorative items located inside the street easement.

Tree removal and replacement drew sustained concern. Witt said crews removed about 151 trees earlier in the year to allow ditching and construction; the project currently is scheduled to replace at least 72 trees. He said the village is discussing additional plantings in coordination with county commitments tied to a nearby Deerfield Road widening project but warned that large, mature trees cannot be replaced immediately with equivalent-size specimens. "It is impossible to replace a tree that's 40 feet tall with a 40-foot tree," Witt said, explaining that root-ball and transplant survival factors limit immediate like-for-like replacement.

Residents raised safety and quality-of-life concerns. Susan Hyman, who lives on Saunders Road, asked whether the village would add speed bumps to slow traffic; Witt said speed bumps are not appropriate because of snow-plow operations but that he would discuss enforcement with the police chief. Mark Bloom, a resident whose property lost 14 trees, said his architect called the village's remediation plan "woefully inadequate." Witt said the village intends to replace trees where budget allows and will work with property owners on planting plans but acknowledged budget and logistics limit immediate full restoration.

On drainage and ecological issues, Rogalski discouraged lining ditches with stone, citing higher water temperatures and potential harm to aquatic life, and said many ditches will be reshaped to increase capacity. The village also said stumps will be ground by the roadway contractor and that driveway culverts will be replaced at every property entrance affected by the project.

What happens next: the village will post project updates and schedules on the building department page of the village website, do door-to-door notification for major lane closures or other immediate impacts, and hold a preconstruction meeting with the contractor to finalize the construction schedule and communication procedures. The water-main replacement is scheduled to take place before the main resurfacing effort; the board consideration for the construction contract is scheduled for the next village board meeting.