12-04-2025
Bayles Lake highway still awaiting safety improvements in Iroquois Co.
WATSEKA, Ill. (WCIA) — There is still no decision on if Iroquois County will apply for a state grant to fund the improvement of a dangerous stretch of road at Bayles Lake.
WCIA's partners with the Ford County Chronicle reported that on April 3, another meeting of the Iroquois County Board's transportation and highway committee commenced without a decision being made. The debate is for if the county should apply for a state grant to pay for the installation of guardrails or other safety improvements along a dangerous stretch of County Highway 10 in Watseka at Bayles Lake.
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With the grant application running from early May to mid-June for the Illinois Department of Transportation's Highway Safety Improvement Program, there is still no evidence that the county is attempting to apply.
There have been repeated requests from the public to make immediate safety upgrades on the road, including from the mom of a Loda crash victim, the Loda Homeowners Association and many other members of the Loda community.
There have also been two accidents in just over a year at this location where vehicles slid off the highway and crashed into the cold waters of Bayles Lake. The first in which 68-year-old Stevie A. Chapman died after his vehicle slid into the lake and sank underwater on Dec. 16, 2023. The second instance is when 18-year-old driver Elaine Carmen-Loveless hit a patch of black ice before losing control of her SUV which slid into the lake on Dec. 20, 2024.
On the contrary, some have said the problem is not the county's responsibility to fix, but rather the Bayles Lake Homeowners Association's.
Charles Alt, the transportation and highway committee chairman, said last month that State's Attorney Mike Quinlan raised an issue about the subdivision's potential responsibility and was looking into the matter. Quinlan said to Alt to not move forward with 'anything' until his review was finished.
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Additionally, Quinlan has not been present for the committee's meetings in recent months, and did not immediately respond to messages left over email with a secretary at his office requesting his comment. Iroquois County Highway Engineer Alan Hardwood confirmed this week that the committee and himself were still waiting to hear from Quinlan.
'There has been no further discussion,' Hardwood said in an email, 'as the committee is awaiting counsel from the state's attorney.'
In January, Hardwood said Quinlan's predecessor, former State's Attorney Jim Devine, had advised that the county is not legally responsible for protecting drivers from hazards located outside the county's 'right-of-way.' This area would include Bayles Lake.
County Highway 10 is owned and maintained by Iroquois County. However, Bayles Lake Homeowners Association president William Dick said he thinks there should be no question that the county, not the homeowner's association, is entirely responsible for keeping this road safe.
'We were startled to hear that the county would think that the Bayles Lake HOA — a neighborhood — should in any way financially support that project,' Dick said last month. 'We were startled to think that we had any responsibility for that road at all.'
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On the other hand, Illinois Department of Transportation spokesman Paul Wappel said in January that the county, not the homeowner's association, would need to be the entity to apply for a grant through IDOT's Highway Safety Improvement Program.
Dick said he would be happy to help the county's highway department write the grant application if asked. While he said he fully supports the project, he also said it's not his responsibility to follow through with writing out and applying for the application.
'We are willing to help write the application if that is useful to the county, but we cannot be responsible for a major county road,' Dick said.
The topic of County Highway 10 was listed under the 'public comments' portion of the April 3 meeting's agenda. The only person to comment on the matter was the committee's vice chairman, Jode Munsterman, who offered to share pictures she took of the highway where it bisects Bayles Lake.
For more information on other business discussed during the April 3 board meeting, head to the Ford County Chronicle's website.
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