Elgin Courier-News
Oct. 25, 2007

State budget inaction threatens Kane road projects

• Illinois capital bill: Budget battle could endanger federal highway funds


BY STEVE LORD Staff Writer
GENEVA -- The ongoing battle for money in Springfield makes good copy, but it is starting to make local officials nervous.

Inaction on a capital bill, which could help fund Illinois Department of Transportation projects, puts some major Kane County highway projects in danger. The local projects need the state money as matching funds for federal money already set aside for Kane.

Projects in danger
The federal government has set aside $300 million for Fox Valley road projects. But if the state fails to come up with money to match that federal funding, several Fox Valley road projects may be eliminated. Among those are:


• Stearns Road bridge corridor, north of St. Charles


• Longmeadow Parkway bridge corridor, in Carpentersville


• Anderson Road rail overpass, in Elburn


• Illinois 47 and Interstate 90 interchange, near Hampshire


• Prairie Parkway, linking Interstate 88 in Kane County with Interstate 80 in Grundy County

"We have not gotten permission to access federal funds," said county board member Bill Wyatt, R-Aurora, chairman of the board's Legislative Committee. "And every year we wait, the money becomes 10 to 15 percent less effective."

Members of the Legislative Committee on Wednesday fretted that if IDOT cannot meet its commitments for matching funds, the federal money will have to go back to Washington. That would kill key projects such as the Stearns Road and Longmeadow Parkway bridge projects in the county's north end, the Anderson Road overpass in Elburn, and the Illinois 47 and Interstate 90 interchange near Hampshire.

Also threatened is the Prairie Parkway project, which would stretch from Interstate 88 in Kane County, through western Kendall County, and link with Interstate 80 in Grundy County.

All those projects got money in the last federal highway transportation bill, signed into law in 2006 by President George W. Bush during a visit to the Caterpillar Inc. plant south of Aurora. It was money former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, R-Yorkville, worked to get included in the bill.

The federal money for these projects totals about $300 million, Wyatt said.

The money must be spent by August 2008 or go back into the federal budget.

Wyatt said he was in Chicago last week to testify in favor of the State Legislature developing a capital bill. But the budget discussion became more a discussion on gaming in the state and the prospect of more casinos in an attempt to raise money for capital projects.

A casino in Chicago and two more casinos, one in the south suburbs and one in the north suburbs, have been discussed. Kane officials are wary of the casinos north and south because they could threaten the business of the Aurora and Elgin casinos.

"Instead of the population supporting capital projects with a reasonable tax structure, we've got such bloated bureaucrats and other problems down there that we're talking about gaming to fund capital projects," complained County Board member Gerry Jones, D-Aurora.