Morris Daily Herald
December 8, 2006
By Jo Ann Hustis
Herald Reporter
Richard White was one of the rare people at Thursday evening's public
hearing on the Prairie Parkway whose property is not affected by the
proposed traffic corridor to link Interstates 80 and 88 in Grundy and
Kane counties.
Which didn't stop White - who lives south of Morris - from having an opinion on the project.
"If this is a sign of progress, it has to go, but it's going to hurt
one person or the other, no matter which way you go," he said of the B5
corridor option four miles west of Morris on I-80 in Nettle Creek
Township, and the B2 corridor option on I-80 about three miles west of
Minooka.
"Gotta expand. Everything's got to grow. Illinois 47 needs a four-lane
highway. It definitely needs a four-lane highway," added White.
An estimated 150 people were in the audience at White Oak Elementary
School in Morris for the legally required public hearing on the
proposal by the Illinois Department of Transportation.
White said he was there because of a personal interest in new buildings
and such, and because he wanted to hear about the proposal first-hand.
"Something's got to go, whichever route you take," he said.
Terry Lang recently moved to Ashley Road, at White Willow Road, north
of Morris after he lost a six-foot wide strip from his property, plus a
75-foot easement, to the widening of U.S. 6 in Channahon.
After learning the B5 corridor will go right through the back yard of
his present home, along with the start of an overpass in front of his
house, Lang believes highway construction is dogging him wherever he
goes.
"I look at a beautiful sunset now, and they want to put an expressway around my house," he said.
"They want to start a hill to go over the expressway right in front of our house. This is what I'll be looking at.
"There's also several other people who live down here - the same thing.
They're going to have an expressway running through their backyards,
right off the road. It's only a quarter-mile behind the house, and
that's not very far."
Lang said he felt the same about his property as do those who live in
the path of the B2 corridor in Nettle Creek Township. He noted 22 homes
will be impacted, whichever corridor is chosen for the parkway.
Furthermore, Lang wasn't much aware if IDOT's previous informational meetings on the proposal were of help to the public.
"I don't know if the (B2 or B5) decision is really made at these. It
looks like they went through a lot of work to get our opinion after the
facts - after they spent all this money on it already," he said.
"I thought they'd be buying my house, but I don't think they want my
house. They just want a little bit of the frontage. I have a little
forest in front of my house, with a little pond in front of it, and
that's what they want to take."
Randy Carroll of Shorewood has property that will be impacted whichever corridor is chosen for the parkway.
Carroll has one section of land in the B5 corridor, and another section in the B2 corridor.
"I think, for the road's sake, going toward Minooka is best because it
makes more sense. That's because they're doing (the proposal) to make
truck traffic run more smooth on the interstates and not congest some
of the auxiliary roads," he said.
Carroll did not know if the public informational meetings have been a help to the area.
"I think it's a good thing to let the people know," he said. "Whether
they are helping I think depends on how (the road) infringes on your
life - your farm, your home. Nobody will really know, until the road is
up and going, how it's going to affect their life."
Grundy County landowner Barry Grommon of Plattville said the proposal
will affect his family's property north of Interstate 80, at Nelson
Road.
"It will impact our property greatly because the on-off ramps will take up a considerable portion of our land," he said.
Grommon believes there is a need for the proposed parkway because of
the amount of traffic currently on Interstates 80, 88, and 55 in
Northeastern Illinois.
"Whether it has to go through our neck of the woods, I don't know," he said. "I can't answer that.'
Grommon preferred IDOT chose a different corridor from the one which would affect his family's property.
He also thought the department has worked to lessen the highway's impact on landowners.
"They have done things since the last time I was here to a meeting, so they are trying to make it easier," he said.
Donna Davis of Airport Road would like the B2 corridor through Nettle
Creek Township because this would shorten her daughter's commute to
work in Naperville.
She was curious as to why IDOT did not choose instead to widen Illinois 47, from Morris to I-88 in Kane County.
"I think Ed Nelson will ask for an explanation. They had to leave their
place this past winter. They rented the farm on South School Road, and
it looks like (B2) is going to be going right through there," she said.
"That might be why they wanted to raze the place. They tore it all
down. But, he doesn't know that. The owner just said they didn't want
anybody here anymore."
Davis, White, Lang, and the others might have just a short wait for IDOT to name the final corridor.
IDOT planning engineer Rick Powell of District 3, Ottawa, said the
deadline for public comment is Jan. 16, 2007, followed by the
announcement.
"We're not sure how soon we're going to do the announcement after the comment period is over," he said.
"If we have a clear-cut answer, we hope to not delay it any longer than
we need to. So, we're going to try to make a sort of prompt
announcement of our recommended alternative after the comment period is
over."
Powell said earlier this could be as early as the first to middle part of February.
About 250 people attended the initial public hearing Wednesday evening in Yorkville.
"Obviously they were people whose property was going to be impacted,
and were interested in looking at the maps and such," said Powell, who
led both hearings.