Elburn Herald
September 9, 2004
by Susan O'Neill
Kane County Board Chairman Mike McCoy was the keynote speaker for the third annual "Stop the Beltway"
rally and family picnic in Big Rock Aug. 29.
McCoy began what he called his longest speech ever by recalling that it was three years ago that the Illinois Department
of Transportation (IDOT) came up with the idea for an outer beltway that would go from Kaneville to Minooka.
He said that IDOT has ignored the county's 2020 land use plan, and is now spending $19 million to justify the corridor
it has sited for the highway. McCoy, who is a civil engineer by profession, said that the highway would neither
pass an engineering study nor a financial analysis to justify it.
Calling the beltway the "Prairie Porkway," he said that the only reason this project has gotten this
far is because House Rep. Dennis Hastert wants it.
"Without Hastert, this road would go away," he told the crowd.
Although much of Kane County is undergoing tremendous growth, he said the beltway is slotted to go directly through
the two towns that have actually gone down in population.
"They thought they picked the path of least resistance," he said. "I think they found some strong
resistance."
Cheers greeted his words as people gathered to share their opposition to the proposed outer beltway called the
Prairie Parkway. The festivities took place at the Marvel Davis farm on Jericho Road in Big Rock. Davis' farm,
which has been in the family since 1836, was the organization's choice for its annual picnic and rally because
it is one of the farms that the Prairie Parkway would divide in half.
Although McCoy has been a strong and outspoken opponent of the outer beltway, a number of other politicians attended
the rally to demonstrate their support for Citizens Against the Sprawlway. Sen. Chris Lauzen, a longtime ally of
the group, has introduced legislation that would reform the process of restricting property for future highway
construction.
Democratic candidate for Kane
County Board Chairman Tom Medeath referred to a movie favorite in his description of the highway.
"If you build it, they will come," he said. Calling the outer beltway the "Hastert Disaster,"
he said the highway would certainly bring with it more sprawling development, and with it pollution, flooding and
congestion.
"This project will just put more money in the developers' pockets," he said. "That's not going to
help anyone here."
Reuben Zamora, who is the candidate running against House Speaker Dennis Hastert for the seat representing the
14th District in Congress, promised his opposition to the expressway.
"We cannot put this under asphalt," he said, gesturing to Marvel Davis' farm on which the picnic was
held.
Jan Metzger, a researcher with the Neighborhood Center for Technology who has recently summarized the public comments
about the Prairie Parkway, came to the picnic to meet the people who would be affected by the expressway. Her summary
revealed the majority of support for the highway came from McHenry County.
"I wanted to put a face on this," she said. "I wanted to see the people, person by person."
Wrapping up the speeches, Jan Strasma, head of the organization opposing the Prairie Parkway, encouraged the crowd
to "continue this fight for as long as it takes," inviting people back for a fourth and fifth annual
rally against the highway.
"One of these is going to be a victory celebration," he said.
Kaneville residents Rich and Nancy Murray represented the people who were there to oppose the road that would cut
through their communities and their farmland.
They said the reason they moved to a place like Kaneville was for the "elbow room." They extolled the
virtues of their community, talking about the peacefulness that they feel a highway would take away and the pristine
quality of the surrounding land and nearby creeks.
"If you talk to someone closer in (to the city), they'll tell you that 59 and 53 started out just like this,"
said Rich. "Developments just grew up around the highway."
"I just don't want to see the development and what it would do to the farmland," said Nancy. "I'd
like to understand why Hastert thinks this would be a good idea."
Citizens Against the Sprawlway, a group representing about 1,000 residents in Kane, Kendall and adjoining counties,
advocates improving existing highways such as Route 47 and others rather than building the highway called the Prairie
Parkway.
IDOT has sited a 36-mile corridor between Interstate 80 and Interstate 88. It began as an engineering study in
January of 2002 to determine solutions to transportation needs in a six county area that includes Kane, Kendall
and Grundy.
This fall IDOT representatives said they will be conducting a phone survey of area residents to gauge their support
for the highway.