Several roads in south suburban Illinois, including the Southwest Highway, were recently turned into waterways in what is becoming a regular spring occurrence.
Residents of Orland Park are feeling the effects. One resident, Tkira Wilkerson, had to seek higher ground in order to get to her office block from the parking lot which was close to being completely flooded out. Speaking to CBSLocal.com, she referred to it as a “chronic and ongoing problem.”
People who live in this area are used to dealing with flooded roads and parking lots. The same areas experienced similar levels of flooding in both 2015 and 2017, while last year there was a major sinkhole to contend with. The main issue is that the Southwest Highway is a state road which was not designed to withstand high volumes of water coming in quick bursts and high frequencies.
Improvements to the existing drainage structures are required in order to fix the problem. Joseph La Margo, Village of Orland Park Manager, says that construction will not start at least until 2022.
Other areas, such as Wolf Road from 143rd to 151st and 135th Street, were flooded out for parts of the day. Printing services are often used in situations like this to let people know that the street is flooded out.
Barricades were put up to keep drivers out, but these only had a limited effect, with many motorists simply driving around them.
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9226 W 159th Street
Orland Park, IL 60462
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