Crain's Chicago Business
Aug. 23, 2012

Hastert's Prairie Parkway suffers two likely fatal blows

In a pair of major but little-noticed actions, federal regulators appear to have all but killed plans for the proposed Prairie Parkway in the Fox River Valley.

In one step, the Federal Highway Administration Wednesday officially retracted its 2008 approval of an environmental impact statement needed for the expressway, which would run through Kane, Kendall and Grundy Counties on the western edge of metropolitan Chicago.

Perhaps even more decisively, the feds agreed to a request by the Illinois Department of Transportation to redirect to other projects the bulk of the $207 million that has been reserved for the 37-mile long road.

That money had been earmarked by former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert when he represented the Fox River area in Congress and was in a position to steer substantial federal funds there.

But Mr. Hastert now is out of politics, and it appears his project is out of luck.

The Illinois Department of Transportation declined immediate comment on the twin actions. But environmental groups are ecstatic.

"For all of us who work to protect the natural resources of the Fox River and the prime farmland of Kane and Kendall counties, we're delighted with this conclusion," said Jerry Adelmann, president and CEO of Openlands.

"We commend Gov. (Pat) Quinn's senior team for focusing on resolving this longstanding problem and working with us . . . on a smart solution," said the Environmental Law & Policy Center's Howard Learner, referring to the shift of the earmarked funds to other Fox River Valley projects, including improvements on Illinois 47 and U.S. 34.

"This is a better and affordable transportation solution," Mr. Learner said.

An umbrella group of greens, known as Citizens Against the Sprawlway, are targeting one final bit of Prairie Parkway life: a 400-foot-wide corridor the state has established for the proposed road.

Within the corridor, affected property owners are not allowed to make improvements to their property without state review and approval, lest such actions drive up acquisition costs.

No word yet from IDOT on whether it will abolish that corridor zone.