Daily Herald
October 5, 2005
By Patrick Waldron
Daily Herald Staff Writer
More than 100 people turned out at a hearing in Yorkville Tuesday night to review IDOT's two proposed locations for the new Prairie Parkway, linking I-80 to I-88.
After two years of study, the Illinois Department of Transportation narrowed its list of possible plans down to two this week from more than a dozen.
One option is to take a future Prairie Parkway from the Reagan Memorial Tollway northwest of Sugar Grove south into southern Kendall County and then east toward I-80 near Minooka in Grundy County. The second option has the parkway headed in a practically straight line south of Plano in western Kendall County.
The two options were shown to county and municipal leaders Monday and residents Tuesday.
"If they started putting in blacktop right now it would still be years too late," Paul Burd of Yorkville said. He said the traffic on Route 47 can make driving on the major north-south street tedious.
Outerbelt finalist
Despite assurances from IDOT project engineers that they are conducting environmental studies and will find the best fit for the proposed highway, many people had concerns what impact a four-lane highway would have on the environment.
Deanna Berard said the project will threaten wildlife, including deer, foxes and an occasional bald eagle, near her home in Plano.
"When the bridge goes across the Fox River (near East Silver Springs State Park) it is going to ruin it," Berard said, "It's such a shame."
IDOT representatives maintain the slimmed down alternatives package enjoys widespread support in the region, including approval from municipalities around the Fox Valley.
Even before IDOT's presentation at Yorkville Middle School, the Kendall County Board narrowly voted to endorse the Sugar Grove option, which is the closest to the protected corridor created by the state in 2002.
Kendall County Board President John Church, an Oswego Republican, voted against the option but in some aspects said IDOT is getting closer to what he personally would like to see.
"It should get east as quickly as possible," Church said.
He doesn't like the second IDOT option running south of Plano in western Kendall County. But he and the county board do like the fact IDOT is acknowledging the importance of local road improvements.
"I have said all along the local road network is crucial and it is even more crucial than the parkway," he said.
To the north, Sugar Grove Village President Sean Michels said the options on the table make sense and fit in well with what his community is trying to do.
"It seems to be a good western boundary for us," he said.
The Kane County Board has yet to weigh in like its southern neighbor, but county board Chairman Karen McConnaughay, a St. Charles Republican, said the panel supports the IDOT approach that has involved residents and community leaders. She would like to see an option with the least environmental impact and one that protects as much Kane County farmland as possible.
Despite all that, not everyone thinks IDOT is making sense.
Jan Strasma, spokesman for the group Citizens Against the Sprawlway, said he finds limited hope in the state's realization that improving Route 47 and completing the WiKaDuKe along the Eola Road corridor is key to the region's transportation future.
"They've got part of it right," Strasma said. "We still believe strongly a freeway is not the right alternative for Kane and Kendall counties. Area residents will be much better served by improvements to the existing highways."
The reduction in parkway options represents progress of the slow-moving project which got its biggest boost this summer when $207 million was set aside for its construction as part of the massive $286 billion federal six-year transportation spending package.
¥Daily Herald correspondent John Johnston contributed to this report.