Pingree Grove Residents Have Been Waiting 15 Years To Get Highland Avenue Fully Paved

CHICAGO (CBS) -- It's a road divided; a gravelly mess on one side, and paved on the other. A 15-year-old promise to fix Highland Avenue in northwest suburban Pingree Grove has gone unfilled.

A random chunk of Highland Avenue left unpaved has been digging up dust, divots, and lots of frustration.

About 50 miles northwest of Chicago's hustle and bustle sits the quiet village of Pingree Grove. Its population has doubled since 2010, but with that growth comes big city bureaucracy.

Constant complaints about eroding gravel on Highland Avenue only sometimes spur road repairs on the town cut-through.

Neighbors Krystle and Lauren Smith said the fixes never last.

"You'll have one here, and one there, and it kind of goes in this huge weird line," Lauren said. "I just avoid it like the plague. It kicks up dust, it damages your car, it's a bumpy ride."

"I drive on both sides, because you never know which is gonna be the better pothole," Krystle said.

Pingree Grove leaders have heard so many complaints about Highland Avenue, they paid to pave it last summer, but the asphalt only covered about half of the half-mile street.

"Having the paved road is huge, but it doesn't help if it's only going to be half," Krystle said.

A recent Facebook announcement stated paving would be finished, and potholes would be filled, but a replacement post said that was incorrect, and the gravel portion of Highland Avenue would be repaired, but not paved.

"It was really sad to get excited, and then get let down by that post," Krystle said.

The issue is the city of Elgin owns the road, but in 2004 made an agreement with Pingree Grove to maintain it. A developer promised to pay for paving through home sales, but nothing has been built yet.

Elgin officials said maintenance crews tend to the road at least five times a year. At least some residents don't mind the 15-year delay on paving, because it means less traffic.

"You just don't need people flying down there with kids. I mean, there's ladies with strollers, and bicycles; little kids on bicycles, and walking their dogs," Pingree Grove resident Larry Edgar said.

Either side of the divide, Pingree Grove Public Works officials said that stretch of Highland Avenue is "out of our hands."

Shodeen Homes, the developer who agreed in 2004 to pave Highland Avenue after houses were built, said there's still no timeline to get that job done.