Aurora Beacon-News
October 4, 2005
¥ Broad route established: Specifics of plan and final approval await further study
By David Garbe
STAFF WRITER
YORKVILLE &emdash; After two years of studying alternative suggestions from the public and its own engineers, the Illinois Department of Transportation has concluded that the original path it proposed for the Prairie Parkway is the best.
The decision represents a major step forward in the planning process for the new north-south freeway, although IDOT officials cautioned that they don't expect to start mixing any cement until at least 2009.
At this point, the Parkway planners said, their study has simply made two critical determinations: First, that traffic in the region demands a major divided highway; and second, the route it should follow should create the best traffic flow with the least disruption to the existing landscape.
The chosen route runs from Interstate 88 near Kaneville through Big Rock Township and between Plano and Yorkville to connect with Interstate 80 in northern Grundy County.
The route mostly follows the path of the 400-foot wide protected corridor that IDOT established in 2001 to prevent development from aborting the Prairie Parkway before the concept could even be properly studied.
The pathway IDOT is now focusing on ranges from more than two miles wide in parts of Kendall County to 1,000 feet wide through much of Kane County.
Choosing exactly where in that pathway to build will be a matter for the next year's worth of study. Engineers said the wide boundaries give them the flexibility to navigate around environmentally sensitive or residential areas.
The favored routes will be outlined tonight and Wednesday in open house public-information meetings conducted by IDOT. The meetings are from 5:30 to 8 p.m. today at Yorkville Middle School, 702 Game Farm Road, Yorkville, and from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at White Oak Elementary School, 2001 Dupont Ave., Morris.
Connecting with I-80
Perhaps the most significant decision remaining on the horizon is where the Prairie Parkway will connect to I-80.
Planners are offering two alternatives, one which continues the straight north-south path and another that swings far east to connect with I-80 near the southeastern corner of Kendall County.
The straight version offers a slightly shorter road that would have a impact fewer homes or sensitive environmental areas, while best serving traffic that is trying to bypass the increasingly crowded local roads in the region.
The easterly version would better serve residents &emdash; particularly in Kendall County &emdash; who are trying to use the Prairie Parkway to drive to work and other local destinations.
IDOT officials said they will likely decide between the two routes over the next year and that public opinion will factor into the choice.
Widening local roads
Although the largest portion of the plans IDOT presented this week focus on the construction of a new freeway, they also include the widening of Route 47 through the southern half of Kendall County.
IDOT considered widening other local roads as part of the Prairie Parkway project, and some local roads will be widened independently of the federally funded project.
Route 47, for example, is already scheduled to be widened through the northern half of Kendall County.
The WiKaDuKe trail corridor, a network of roads extending south from Eola Road in Aurora down to Will County, has also been negotiated to be widened through contributions from developers who build along it.
But none of the local widening projects will be enough to support the traffic produced by the expected boom in the region's population, said Edward Leonard, an engineer contracted by IDOT to manage the Prairie Parkway study.
"These roads were not designed to see the speeds or volume of traffic they're seeing," said IDOT project engineer Rick Powell, and their burden will become heavier in the future.
In addition to roadway improvements, the study analyzed a range of public transportation options, including expanded bus routes and even new rail lines.
IDOT's focusing efforts have ruled out most of those ideas, although some new bus services along the WiKaDuKe trail would likely be included in the final proposal, Powell said.
The best option
After studying all those options, IDOT found that only a major new road will divert enough traffic to reduce the crowding on roads like Route 47, Leonard said.
"The freeway alternatives perform better in almost every area," he said.
Placing the new freeway also proved relatively straightforward, the engineers said: Potential routes to the east of Yorkville would run across too many residences and environmental soft spots, whereas routes west of Plano were too far out of the way of most drivers who live within the six-county study area.
IDOT officials said they will spend the next year or two surveying the areas designated for the Prairie Parkway before identifying specific land to accommodate the freeway.
Although the project received more than $200 million in funding under the recently enacted federal transportation bill, construction on what is potentially a billion-dollar project will likely just be starting when the bill expires in 2009. More money would have to be allocated to complete it at that point, officials said.
10/4/05