Crain's Chicago Business
June 1, 2007
By Bob Tita
(Crain’s) — The Illinois Department of Transportation
(IDOT) selected a route Friday for the controversial Prairie Parkway
expressway through Kane and Kendall counties that would terminate near
Minooka.
The selection of a route will trigger a new round of studies and
hearings that will last through the remainder of 2007. Land acquisition
for the roadway could begin as soon as 2008, state transportation
officials say. The project is expected to cost more than $1 billion.
The northern leg of the designated 37-mile route intersects with
Interstate 88 near Kaneville in southern Kane County and runs parallel
with State Route 47 west of Yorkville before jogging east and south and
connecting with Interstate 80 near Minooka.
State transportation officials said the route causes the least
disruption to farms and other land uses in Kendall County. As part of
the project, State Route 47 would be widened to four lanes between I-80
and Caton Farm Road.
The other route that was considered ran in a straight line through
Kendall, connecting with I-80 near Morris in Grundy County. The state
says the Prairie Parkway would save drivers $4.5 billion over 15 years
by reducing travel times in the outer fringe of the Chicago
metropolitan area.
Opponents of the project maintain the same benefits could be achieved with less disruption by widening State Route 47 instead.
“IDOT is looking at two choices and both of them are the wrong
ones,” said Jan Strasma of Citizens Against the Sprawlway, a
group opposed to the Prairie Parkway.
In April, the state announced plans to build an initial 5-mile stretch of the expressway near Yorkville over the next six years.