Elburn Herald
December 16, 2004
Local governments include Prairie Parkway in their comprehensive plans.
by Susan O'Neill
Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) officials presented over 150 alternatives suggested by members of
the public at their Prairie Parkway Study open houses held last week in Sugar Grove and Morris.
The suggestions were gathered during IDOT's public meetings held this past summer, and included everything from
new freeways and extensions to the widening of existing roads, realigning existing roads with bypasses and extensions
or enhancements to mass transit.
"It looked like a big spaghetti bowl," IDOT Prairie Parkway Study project engineer Rick Powell said of
the map.
Powell's job, in conjunction with members of the engineering firm Parsons Brinckerhoff and Smith Engineering, is
to pare down the recommendations to a manageable number. Parsons Brinckerhoff, a Chicago-based firm, and Smith
Engineering, located in Yorkville, were selected by IDOT to conduct the ongoing study of the Prairie Parkway.
Last week's meetings were the most recent in many meetings IDOT and other officials have held with the public,
public officials and other stakeholders in the process. The purpose was to communicate the feedback obtained in
meetings last summer, as well as to outline the current status of the study.
On July 31, 2002, IDOT sited a 36-mile corridor between Interstates 80 and 88, effectively preventing any development
from taking place along the centerline while IDOT studied if and where such a highway should be built. The $18
million engineering study commenced in January 2003 to determine solutions to transportation needs in a six-county
area that includes Kane, Kendall and Grundy. The timeframe identified to complete the study is four to six years.
There were two or three variations on the protected corridor suggested, explained Powell. The Kane County plan
showed a road that would swing east of Route 47. An Orchard Road corridor was another recommended alternative,
and variations on widening Route 47 was brought forward by a number of people, he said.
The next step in the process is to con-duct a functional screening, said Powell. The purpose of a functional screening
is to evaluate how different alternatives would handle traffic. Since it would be impossible to screen all of the
alternatives suggested, the study team will narrow it down to the 15 or 20 options that fit the purpose and need
of the project.
The various factors that will be looked at in this screening include the number of cars on the road, the level
of congestion, expected crash frequency and travel time from one community to another. From this analysis, the
best performers will be chosen, those that are determined would solve the traffic problem.
These alternatives will then go through a locational screening, explained Powell. This screening takes into consideration
environmental factors, the impact to homes and businesses and the costs and benefits of each. How long this process
will take will in some part be determined by how many viable alternatives there are, he added.
"If there's only a few, it might move faster," he said. "We may be down to a preferred alignment
within a year."
Powell said that they had received a lot of good input from all of their sources, although there were no real surprises.
"People are most concerned about what's in their own backyard, and what will make the traffic flow better
through their community," he said. "We're looking for a regional solution. We're still examining the
options without any real bias."
He added that one of the factors that will influence the direction they will take is ongoing development in the
area. Some alternatives might be difficult at this point with developments that have sprung up since the study
began, he explained.
"We have to deal with the environment that we're given," he said.
Although Powell insists that IDOT officials are keeping an open mind as to what solution the study will come up
with, Jan Strasma, head of the community group created to oppose the outer beltway, Citizens Against the Sprawlway,
said he is skeptical.
Strasma said that the study contract between IDOT and Parsons Brinckerhoff calls for the identification of three
alternatives to the outer beltway, and then the selection of one from among those three.
"They're focusing on one project to solve the problem," he said. "That solution is an interstate.
We believe in diverse solutions, using and supplementing existing highways rather than putting all of our eggs
in one basket."
In the meantime, several communities and governmental agencies such as Minooka, Plano and Kendall County have included
the protected corridor in their comprehensive plans, he added. Sugar Grove is updating its comprehensive plan to
include the sited corridor.
Sugar Grove's Community Development Director Scott Buening said that although the exact location may shift as IDOT
concludes its study, the village placed the Prairie Parkway sited corridor in its plans because that is the best
information available at the current time.