Daily Herald
Dec. 1, 2007
More property owners along the proposed Prairie Parkway learned this
week that their land is included in the Illinois Department of
Transportation's revised corridor protection map.
The map is established to stave off development in the area where the
road will be built. That means owners of properties within the
established corridor must notify IDOT before making improvements. IDOT
officials revised the map after finalizing the highway's route in June.
A total of 224 properties are included in the revised map, up from 191
in the former map. The new map includes 127 properties that weren't in
the old map; 97 properties were in both maps. Ninety-four properties
from the original map, approved in 2002, were dropped from the revised
plan, according to IDOT engineer Rick Powell.
IDOT has "freed a number of property owners from development
restrictions -- that's a good thing -- but placed restrictions on a
whole new group of owners for an unlimited period of time," said Jan
Strasma, chairman of Citizens Against the Sprawlway, a grassroots group
that opposes the project. "The Prairie Parkway may never be built, but
the restrictions live on indefinitely."
Strasma believes it's unlikely the road project will garner any more
federal funding because of the retirement of its most powerful
proponent, former House Speaker Dennis Hastert.
The next step in IDOT's process is developing the final environmental
impact statement and design report. The record of decision, which is
the federal authorization to proceed with the project, is expected
later this year or in early 2008. Land acquisition could start in 2008,
and construction could begin as soon as 2009. The highway would run
west of Route 47, linking the Reagan Tollway near Kaneville with I-80
near Minooka.
View the map online at www.prairie-parkway.com.