Elgin Courier-News
August 6, 2007
August 6, 2007
By HEATHER GILLERS Staff Writer
Ten area nature groups are forming a coalition to push for alternatives to the proposed Prairie Parkway.
The groups, which range from grass-roots coalitions to chapters of
national organizations, share commitments to protecting farmland,
natural resources and the environment.
They are asking legislators to forgo the $1 billion parkway, which
would connect Interstate 88 in Kane County to Interstate 80 in Grundy
County, and instead improve a grid of local roads, including Wikaduke
Trail, Illinois 126, U.S. 34 and Illinois 71.
"It's really coming together this month," said Stacy Meyers-Glen,
policy coordinator for one of the groups, Chicago-based Openlands.
"There are still some groups outstanding that may be joining us."
The groups also are emphasizing the need to widen Illinois 47,
something the parkway project proposes to do only south of Yorkville.
They plan to lobby legislators to steer future transportation budget
allocations away from the planned highway, which has only a quarter of
the necessary funding.
"There were a lot of people working independently, helping out, and
then we decided, 'We got to get a group to put up a big
front,' " said Tim Gerk, who chairs Kendall
Citizens for Farmland Protection.
The coalition, which is calling itself 47+, includes:
• Citizens Against the Sprawlway, a group of Fox Valley residents opposed to the parkway project.
• The Chicago-based Center for Neighborhood Technology, which supports sustainable development.
• The Environmental Law and Policy Center, a Midwest environmental advocacy organization.
• Friends of the Fox, a group of area residents devoted to protecting the Fox River.
• The Natural Resources Defense Council, a national environmental action group.
• Openlands, which is dedicated to preserving open space in Illinois.
• The Champaign-based Prairie Rivers Network, a group that works to protect Illinois streams.
• The Nettle Creek Watershed Conservancy, which is dedicated to protecting the creek near Morris.
• The Illinois chapter of the Sierra Club, a national environmental group.
Citizen input has long been a part of planning the parkway, a process
that has been in the works for about six years and has entailed
hundreds of public hearings. Illinois Transportation Department
Engineer Rick Powell said the highway has involved "more than any other
project in the history of IDOT."