Elburn Herald
August 19, 2004
Non-profit research group explains that majority of support comes from McHenry County.
by Susan O'Neill
A recent analysis conducted by a non-profit organization of public comments solicited by the Illinois Department
of Transportation (IDOT) reveals a lack of local support and consensus for the proposed Prairie Parkway.
The Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT), a Chicago-based organization that provides tools and research to
communities for transportation and land use planning, reviewed more than 1,100 comments on file at the IDOT District
3 Office in Ottawa.
The study found that 85 percent of those living within five miles of the proposed corridor oppose the Prairie Parkway.
Additionally, CNT explained that of those considered living close enough to regularly use the highway, considered
to be 15 miles or less, more than 75 percent oppose the proposal. Meanwhile, the study showed that much of the
support for the highway, which would travel through Kane and Kendall counties, comes primarily from McHenry County
businesses and residents.
From December 2001 to January 2002, IDOT held a public hearing period on the choice of an alignment for the proposed
Prairie Parkway. During this time, citizens were encouraged to provide their comments on the proposed corridor
along which the highway could potentially be built. The corridor is a 36-mile stretch of land that would connect
Interstates 88 and 80 through Kane, Kendall and Grundy counties.
"By ignoring the details of these comments, IDOT compromises the public process and marginalizes the voices
within the community," said Kane County Board Chairman Mike McCoy. "Residents in Kane and Kendall counties
deserve a more thorough analysis of their opinions by decision-makers in this project."
CNT researcher Jan Metzger agreed with Mccoy, and explained that while the comments are a treasure trove of information,
the issues and concerns contained in the comments has yet to be adequately addressed.
"Taking their opinions is one thing," she said. "Reading them and making decisions based on them
is another thing altogether."
She explained that IDOT summarized the almost 1,200 comments into a half-page report that was basically bullet
points of the themes mentioned.
"They did not say how many people said something, and they didn't say where they lived," she said. "Was
it a huge majority or a slight majority? Was it a unique comment or part of a campaign?"
For example, the 90 comments from McHenry in favor of the Parkway might be better understood when it is taken into
account that the McHenry Economic Development Commission initiated at least one of the post-card writing campaigns.
"I admire good organizing," said Metzger. "But somebody was obviously seeing this road when it would
be extended to their county as an economic benefit."
She said that two themes were represented strongly through a number of the comments about the proposed corridor.
One was that people were angry about the lack of attention that was paid to both Kane and Kendall County's comprehensive
land use plans and the agricultural protection zones included in those plans.
Eighty people, all of whom were opposed to or had neutral or mixed responses to the proposed parkway, cited the
local county plans as a source for their misgivings or questions. The corridor site chosen by IDOT cuts through
an area designated by the county for agricultural use.
Secondly, although IDOT requested comment on only the proposed alignment, many comments instead suggested improving
several other north-south routes, such as Interstate 39, Route 23 and Route 47 as possible alternatives to building
a new highway. Route 47 was mentioned 132 times, primarily by people who opposed the Parkway, explained Metzger.
Metzger said she traveled to the District 3 offices in Ottawa to review and analyze the comments contained in IDOT's
bound book of documents. Not including her driving time, she said it took her roughly 40 hours to tabulate the
comments. She said she wants to demonstrate to IDOT that the methodology used to complete her summary is not cumbersome,
and is something that IDOT and other entities could replicate in future summaries of public comment.
"(Metzger's summary of the data) pointed out how superficial IDOT's analysis of the comments was," said
Jan Strasma, chairman of the Citizens Against the Sprawlway. "You almost wonder why they bothered to have
a public hearing."
"There was fairly ringing opposition (to the highway) outside of McHenry County," said Strasma. "IDOT
basically said, 'we don't want to hear that.'"
IDOT spokesperson Matt Vanover said the purpose of the public comment period was to determine which of three corridors
would have the least individual and environmental impact, and therefore which corridor should be protected.
"We were not trying to gauge public support for the Prairie Parkway with the public comment period,"
said Vanover.
He explained that IDOT's attempts to gauge public opinion of the highway will come this fall when it conducts telephone
surveys of between 1,000 to 1,500 randomly-chosen residents of the study area, which includes Kane, Kendall, Grundy,
Will, LaSalle and DeKalb counties.
Vanover said that the telephone survey will ask about public perceptions of transportation problems and needs in
the area, and will identify attitudes toward various alternatives, including a new road, light rail, a no-build
solution, boosting arterial roads or improving existing roads.
McCoy said he hopes that IDOT will still be able to keep an open mind regarding solutions for the transportation
needs of Kane County. He said he felt that siting the corridor would just become a self-fulfilling prophecy, and
he thought that asking the public's opinion about it two years later at this stage of the study was somewhat backwards.
He added that it is foolish not to support federal dollars coming into your community, but that he would like to
see them used in a more productive way. He said he thinks the money would be better spent on improving local roads,
and he would like IDOT to strongly consider a Route 47 improvement.
"We don't feel the Prairie Parkway is the right solution. It doesn't address future growth; in fact, it promotes
future growth," said McCoy. "The Prairie Parkway doesn't do anything for Kane County."
He added that he didn't think public officials in the area so much support the Parkway as they support U.S. Speaker
of the House Dennis Hastert. Hastert has been an outspoken proponent and supporter of the highway.
"They want to stay on his good side because he sits on a lot of federal pork," said McCoy.