Why Miller Road Keeps Closing at Randall, and What's Left After It Reopens

The west leg of Miller Road at Randall Road has been closed since August 3, and McHenry County's latest project update still lists the reopening as scheduled for late October. This is the second time the intersection has been due back. The first closure began in July 2025. Miller reopened temporarily in December 2025 as a holiday break for drivers, and then it closed again this summer.

What has kept closing this corner is the water underneath it more than the pavement on top. That water work is already moving a short distance south to Woods Creek, where crews started the next phase while Miller was still closed, and the county's schedule runs it through the winter and into 2027.

Two Closures, One Holiday Break

Here's the timeline so far.

The December reopening took effort. Shaw Local reported that crews put down temporary pavement and markings so traffic could use the intersection through the holidays. Darrell Kuntz, assistant county engineer at the McHenry County Division of Transportation, told the outlet that officials "cross our fingers this time of year" and that crews "leveraged a few different tools that we don't normally have to do this time of year." He also explained the basic limit of winter roadwork: "we don't pave on frozen ground." The same article said the intersection would close again in spring to remove the box culvert and lay permanent paving. The closure came in August instead. A September 24 county update blamed rain delays for pushing the reopening to late October.

What Was Under the Intersection

Kuntz laid out the reason for this year's closure in a July 22 Shaw Local story. Crews needed to finish intersection pavement left over from 2025 and move a creek from the east side of Randall to the west side. Once the creek was rerouted, they could demolish an old box culvert that runs diagonally beneath the intersection and then pour permanent pavement.

That order explains the two closures. Permanent pavement couldn't go down while the old culvert was still there, and the culvert couldn't come out while water was still running through it. The December reopening on temporary pavement bought drivers a few months before the culvert work began.

The start date was chosen with families in mind. Kuntz told Shaw Local that August 3 mattered so bus drivers, parents and families "only have to deal with the routing once," with bus routes starting the school year with the detour already in place. Hans Varga, MCDOT's public information officer, said the goal was to keep routes "as uniform as possible while this closure is occurring." Kuntz added that the county also coordinates with fire and EMS departments and the post office "so it's not all of a sudden, barricades show up."

The Next Few Weeks at the Corner

The October 8 update lists the last pieces at Miller. Crews are finishing concrete pavement and curb on the west leg, installing traffic signals and street lighting, grading the parkways and preparing for sidewalks. Southbound Randall drivers will see a change first. During the week of October 19, southbound traffic is scheduled to shift west onto the new pavement.

Until Miller reopens, the posted routes still apply:

• Coming from the north on Randall: Ackman Road west to Lakewood Road south
• Coming from the south on Randall: Algonquin Road west to Lakewood Road north, an alternate route that isn't a posted detour
• Bradford Lane between Miller Road and Ashford Lane stays closed by the City of Crystal Lake while the Miller detour is in place

The county says it will post an updated timeline as work progresses, so "late October" remains a target.

The Work Moves South to Woods Creek

The same October 8 update that covers the Miller finish also starts the next phase. Crews are beginning excavation for piling and work on the east half of the Woods Creek bridge, and they're removing the existing sight screen and retaining wall. According to the September 24 update, the second half of the bridge begins with removing temporary retaining walls, test piling and demolishing the existing triple-cell culvert. Like Miller, this is a job about moving water under the road. An old culvert comes out, and a bridge carries Randall over the creek.

The retaining walls that support the wider road between Woods Creek and Miller sit on timber piling foundations. Those walls run the full distance between the two work sites.

The county's detailed schedule, an older document that says it may change, lays out the remaining work by season:

The project's official FAQ says construction "will continue through 2027." It also says two lanes in each direction will stay open throughout, and the contractor may work through winter if the weather allows. None of the September or October updates mentions a holiday break for this winter. Last year's December reopening was a one-time arrangement for a specific closure. No similar plan has been announced for the bridge work.

What the Finished Corner Is Supposed to Look Like

All of this is building toward a different intersection. Randall Road is being widened to three lanes in each direction between Acorn Lane and Polaris Drive in Lake in the Hills and McHenry Avenue in Crystal Lake. At Miller, the plans call for:

1. Three through lanes on Randall in each direction
2. Dual left-turn lanes for northbound Randall drivers turning onto Miller
3. A single left-turn and U-turn lane southbound
4. A right-turn lane on Randall in each direction
5. One left lane, one through lane and one right lane on Miller

The bigger change is for people on foot or on a bike. The plans add an 8 to 10 foot multi-use path along the east side of Randall, a 5-foot sidewalk on the west side, and marked crosswalks across Randall at Miller Road and at Alexandra Boulevard, where a new traffic signal is also planned. The latest updates mention sidewalk preparation near Miller but don't list any finished path sections as open yet. According to the project overview, a decorative concrete noise wall is planned along the east side from Woods Creek to Miller and from Miller to Roosevelt Street.

Crosswalks at Miller should make one nearby trail easier to reach. The Crystal Lake Park District says the bike path at Winding Creek Park starts on Miller Road near Randall, and the park can also be reached from Alexandra Boulevard or Penny Lane.

The Plote Construction, Inc./Dunnet Bay Construction Joint Venture submitted the low bid for construction at $63,438,828.19, and federal funds cover 80% of the project's costs. The county's widening of the stretch of Randall to the south finished in 2021, according to Shaw Local, so this corridor has been under construction in one section or another for most of the past several years.

Late October in the Village

The Miller reopening lands at the same time as two Village of Lake in the Hills fall events on the village events calendar:

• Family Pumpkin Carving: Friday, October 23, 6 to 7:30 p.m.
• Spooky Lights Tour: Friday, October 30, 5:30 to 8 p.m.

The village has also been looking for sponsors for its upcoming Christmas community events. If late October holds, these will be the first village events since August that people west of Randall can reach without taking the Ackman or Algonquin detour.

To follow the bridge work through the winter, check the county's Randall Road project updates, which are posted weekly and include traffic shifts before they happen. You can also sign up for email alerts from the project contact page.

If you live near Randall and want to know how a finished corridor with a multi-use path, new signals and three lanes each way could affect your home's value, Zamudio Realty Group can walk you through it, in English or Spanish. Start with a free home valuation, and we'll keep watching the Woods Creek schedule along with you.