Morris Daily Herald
August 29, 2012

Even after demise, opinions split on Prairie Parkway

Some see a missed opportunity, others applaud preservation of farmland

By Christina Chapman-Van Yperen

The proposed Prairie Parkway is a no go and some local officials feel this is a "missed opportunity" for Grundy County.

The 37-mile highway was supposed to connect Interstate 88 to Interstate 80 through Kane, Grundy and Kendall counties. Part of the proposal included widening a 12-mile portion of Illinois 47 to four lanes.

Last week, the Federal Highway Administration withdrew its approval of the Prairie Parkway, after it did not receive a "high funding priority in the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning's 'Go to 2040''' land-use and transportation plan, according to published reports.

The plan now is for the state to use the money originally intended for the parkway to widen Illinois 47 between I-80 and I-88.

Under an agreement that also ends litigation, millions of dollars that had been designated for the highway will now go toward expanding existing roads in the Kendall County area, according to published reports. This includes improving U.S. Highway 34 and bridges across the Fox River.

This was done by the FHA in connection with the settlement of a lawsuit. It was brought by Friends of the Fox River and Citizens Against the Sprawlway against the U.S. Department of Transportation and the FHA, as published in previous reports. They accused the federal agencies and IDOT of violating the National Environmental Policy Act by approving the parkway without adequately considering other transportation options.

The organizations said the parkway would destroy prime farmland, hurt the Fox River and damage the small towns it would cut through.

"I don't know that it hurts us, but an opportunity was lost for Grundy County," said Nancy Norton Ammer, CEO for the Grundy Economic Development Council.

In the northeast part of the county, Ammer said there were discussions for new intersections with streets such as Brisbin Road and Gore Road that municipalities such as Minooka were doing future planning for.

"It's unfortunate. Infrastructure brings jobs and infrastructure brings opportunities," she said.

Grundy County Board Chairman Ron Severson said the opposite and called the cancellation of the project "great."

"Look at what is happening in the world. Food prices are going up and every year the population is going up, and some day farmland is going to be very valuable and to take farmland out of production for another road . . . I always said put money (in 47); widen 47 and get the same effect and it won't take up more farmland."

Severson added that in his conversations with IDOT he was told the department has never had a project with so much opposition.

"Now we've got what the public wants and it makes sense," he said. "People along 47 won't agree . . . but it makes sense because the road is already there."

There would have been jobs associated with the construction of the parkway, but depending on who won the bid, the jobs couldn't be promised to local people, and the jobs would be temporary, said Severson. He would rather see the farmland stay and the farm counties keep their character.

The GEDC is pleased to see the plans to widen 47 continue, but Ammer said she was not surprised by the halting of the Prairie Parkway project as a whole.

"Once (House) Speaker (Dennis) Hastert retired, we knew there was a lot of controversy with the new congressional person not supporting it," said Ammer. "The momentum was lost once he retired."

"There was opposition, but also a lack of supporters. There was the negative, which there always is, but their cheerleaders also retired or went away so there wasn't a counter balance to the negative," she added.