Will County Approves $1.76 Million Design Contract for Wilmington-Peotone Road

Will County Board | September 17, 2026

Article Summary: The Will County Board on Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026, approved a professional services agreement with Burns & McDonnell for Phase II design engineering on 3.6 miles of Wilmington-Peotone Road, a package totaling $1,759,267 that includes a roundabout at Cedar Road and land acquisition documents for approximately 47 parcels. Member David G. Oxley declared a conflict after the consent agenda had already carried.

Wilmington-Peotone Road Phase II Key Points:

• Resolution 26-294 / 26-5365 authorizes the county executive to execute a professional services agreement with Burns & McDonnell, 200 W. Adams St. #2700, Chicago, for Section 26-00116-17-PV in County Board District 2. The approved sum is $1,759,267.00.
• Burns & McDonnell’s share is $1,544,172, with $215,095 in subconsultant work: Claassen, White & Associates, P.C. at $159,928; Kimley-Horn at $33,617; and WGI Inc. at $21,550.
• The contract term runs 26 months, Nov. 1, 2026 to Dec. 31, 2028, with construction letting anticipated in early 2029. The surveyor’s scope describes land acquisition documents for approximately 47 parcels — 47 fee simple takes and 47 temporary easements.
• Oxley stated after the voice vote that he had a conflict on the item and asked to be recorded as not voting; the chair directed that the record note the request.

WILL COUNTY — Design work on one of the main east-west routes through southern Will County moved forward Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026, when the county board approved a $1.76 million engineering agreement for Wilmington-Peotone Road.

Public Works & Transportation Committee Chair Jacqueline Traynere read the item as letter D of her committee’s consent agenda, describing it as “a resolution authorizing approval of professional services agreement for design engineering services with Burns and McDonnell for Wilmington-Peotone Road from Warner Bridge to Wilton Center Road in County Board District 2.” Traynere made the motion and Member Denise Winfrey seconded; the consent agenda passed on a voice vote with no discussion.

The resolution states that the Director of Transportation/County Engineer requested proposals for Phase 2 design engineering services for roadway and appurtenant work on the segment, that the services are budgeted in the current Division of Transportation budget, and that the committee reviewed the request and recommended approval. The sum approved is $1,759,267.00, payable from any combination of the county’s allotment of County RTA Tax Funds, County Highway Tax Funds, County Matching Tax Funds and County Option Motor Fuel Tax Funds.

What the Money Buys

The agreement, filed with the packet on Illinois Department of Transportation form BLR 05530, describes Section 26-00116-17-PV as a 3.6-mile Phase II roadway reconstruction running from east of Warner Bridge Road to east of Cedar Road. Eric Wesel is listed as the county’s contact; the prime consultant is Burns & McDonnell, with Jimmy Robinson as contact.

The agreement summary puts Burns & McDonnell’s share at $1,544,172. Three subconsultants account for $215,095: Claassen, White & Associates, P.C., the Joliet land surveying firm, at $159,928; Kimley-Horn at $33,617; and WGI Inc. at $21,550.

Compensation is structured as cost plus fixed fee, with the fixed fee capped at 15% of direct labor plus overhead. The consultant’s cost estimate worksheet, prepared Aug. 12, 2026, lists a contract term of 26 months beginning Nov. 1, 2026, and ending Dec. 31, 2028, an overhead rate of 265.10% and total payroll escalation of 4.20%. Direct costs total $4,090, including 1,000 miles of vehicle mileage at 76 cents, deliverable copying and survey equipment. The hours estimate totals 7,678, of which 6,190 are Burns & McDonnell hours and 1,488 subconsultant hours.

The scope of services is detailed. Burns & McDonnell will prepare base sheets, quantity summaries, typical sections, roadway plan and profile sheets, removal plans, drainage plans, pavement marking and signing plans, landscaping plans, cross sections at 50-foot intervals and three-dimensional models, all built around three stages of construction with additional substages expected in isolated locations. The scope specifies additional detail sheets “for the roundabout at Cedar Road.” The firm also anticipates 24 monthly virtual coordination meetings over the life of the project.

Permit applications listed include the Will County Stormwater Ordinance; two Illinois Department of Natural Resources Office of Water Resources permits, for crossings over West Branch Forked Creek and Forked Creek, both required because of roadway grading; a joint U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Section 404 and Illinois EPA Section 401 permit for impacts to wetlands and waters of the United States; and an Illinois EPA stormwater discharge permit. Roadway lighting, traffic signals, structures, wetlands, geotechnical work, public involvement and stakeholder meetings are expressly excluded.

A project location map in the board packet places the limits at Warner Bridge Road on the west and Cedar Road — carrying the CH 43 designation — on the east, running through sections 19, 20, 21, 28, 29 and 30 and crossing Gougar Road, Seltzer Road, Walsh Road and Tulley Road, the latter marked CH 79.

Right-of-Way Work Points to 47 Parcels

The largest subconsultant share goes to land surveying. In an Aug. 18, 2026, letter to Burns & McDonnell, Claassen, White & Associates — whose president is Rhonda J. White and vice-president is David A. Claassen, and which describes itself as DBE and WBE certified and prequalified with IDOT in surveying — describes preparing land acquisition documents “for approximately 47 parcels along the proposed location.”

The firm’s deliverables include a 20-page set of Plats of Highways depicting 47 fee simple takes and 47 temporary easements, 94 legal descriptions, recorded monument records for section corners and title review for 47 commitments. Its cost estimate totals $159,928 across 1,325 hours, with drafting and plats the largest single task at 372 hours.

WGI Inc.’s $21,550 proposal covers a subsurface utility investigation to locate a BP pipeline crossing within the Wilmington-Peotone Road right-of-way, using up to six vacuum excavation test holes plus one contingency hole across three days at $3,400 per day, with $1,750 for surveying by Gasperec Elberts Consulting and $9,600 for professional traffic control based on $3,200 per day. The proposal notes that coordination with and approval from the BP pipeline representative is required before any excavation.

Kimley-Horn’s $33,617 scope covers maintaining the project website established during the Wilmington-Peotone preliminary engineering and environmental linkages study, beginning in November 2026 and running approximately 27 months through December 2028. Kimley-Horn’s scope states it will not respond to stakeholder inquiries or manage public comments, and that it will coordinate with Benesch, identified in the scope as handling another segment of the corridor.

Conflict Declared After the Vote

The consent agenda had already passed when Oxley raised his hand.

“I have a conflict with D. I did not vote on that,” Oxley said. “So I have to be removed from the agenda on that item.” He added: “So I did not vote, and I will not vote on that.”

After a brief discussion about whether reconsideration was required, Bertino-Tarrant said that because the item passed as part of a consent agenda without individual votes, the board would “just note for the record that Member Oxley is asking that he not be counted.” Oxley did not state the nature of the conflict, and no further action was taken.

The Wilmington-Peotone Road corridor was singled out in the Aug. 20, 2026, State of the County address, which described “the long-awaited improvements to the Wilmington-Peotone Road Corridor, which will redefine access between Southeast and Southwest Will County,” within a $797 million five-year transportation improvement program and what the address called the largest roadway improvement plan in county history at $145 million this year.

The Public Works & Transportation Committee’s next meeting is scheduled for Oct. 6, 2026.