Aurora Beacon-News
December 9, 2004
First review of ideas: Choices range from new expressway to just widening roads
By David Garbe
STAFF WRITER
SUGAR GROVE — State officials presented to the public for the first time Wednesday night a summary of all the options
being considered under the Prairie Parkway study.
The study focuses on how and where to build some kind of major improvement to the north-south transportation infrastructure
in Kane and Kendall counties.
Most of the focus so far has been on a proposal to build a new north-south expressway through the western portions
of the two counties.
But at Wednesday's public forum, area residents got a chance to see the whole range of alternative projects that
the Illinois Department of Transportation plans to analyze.
The collection looks rather chaotic.
On a map of the seven-county area covered by the study, more than 150 ideas for new or improved roads jostle for
space in what looks more like abstract art than a regional transportation plan.
Despite all the complexity, most of the options fall into two categories.
First is the construction of an entirely new highway to connect Interstates 88 and 80. This would be a limited-access,
multi-lane expressway of some type that would run through some portion of Kane and Kendall counties.
Ideas for what route such a new road would take are varied. One would place the road along the two counties' western
borders.
Another suggests that the road should go somewhere through the eastern portion of the counties, roughly along the
Farnsworth Avenue corridor.
Even the original concept, a highway running mostly parallel to Route 47, had several possible variations. Some
suggest a direct parallel to Route 47, others a wide sweep west into the Big Rock area.
In the second general category, ideas call not for a new highway but for the widening of existing roads.
Popular candidates for improvement under these proposals include Routes 47 and 59, as well as more local roads
such as Randall, Orchard and Farnsworth.
IDOT representatives at the meeting stressed that the Prairie Parkway study remains in its early stages and that
all of these different options remain on the table for the decision-making process.
That process is set to begin early next year, officials said, as engineers begin to slowly reject or combine some
of the ideas that have been collected.
"Right now, no one's really deciding anything except to rule things out that don't work for whatever reason,"
said IDOT project manager Rick Powell.
Those reasons will include environmental impacts, land acquisition costs, engineering capabilities and a wide variety
of other factors, he said.
"At the end of this process, we'll be left with a single plan or a very small number of alternatives that
we can do some serious engineering on," Powell said.
At that point, which officials said would likely be years from now, the study will be complete and IDOT will recommend
a single plan of action.
Asked when the public will be able to see any specific plan, Powell said, "That depends on how many viable
candidate plans there are."
He added that any type of action is unlikely for the foreseeable future, as the study is funded only to collect
and organize information.
No governmental agency has budgeted to provide the Prairie Parkway with funds for any construction or land acquisition.
12/09/04