Oswego Ledger-Sentinel
July 19, 2007
Prairie Parkway opponents join forces
Want funds to widen Rt. 47, improve other existing roads
by Tony Scott
7/19/2007
While the Prairie Parkway is getting closer to a concrete reality,
several anti-Parkway environmental organizations have joined forces.
Illinois Department of Transportation officials and their consulting
firm for the Parkway project, Parsons Brinckerhoff, held public
meetings last week on the latest plans for the highway that will
connect I-80 at Minooka with I-88 in southern Kane County. The road
shifts east-west in southern Kendall County and then is routed between
Yorkville and Plano in the western part of the county.
The anti-Parkway coalition, named 47+, includes Kendall Citizens for
Farmland Protection, the Kane County-based Citizens Against The
Sprawlway, Center for Neighborhood Technology, Environmental Law and
Policy Center, Friends of the Fox River, Natural Resources Defense
Council, Nettle Creek Watershed Conservancy, the Prairie Rivers
Network, the Illinois Chapter of the Sierra Club and the Openlands
Project.
Attorney Stacy Myers-Glen, policy coordinator for the Openlands Project
in Chicago, said the state’s “no build” alternative
to the Parkway, which shows improvements to some state highways, is not
a satisfactory alternative.
“The local, or no-action alternative that they proposed is only half of what the region needs,” she said.
Myers-Glen said projects listed as part of the Transportation
Improvement Plan (TIP) for the Chicago Metropolitan Area for Planning
(CMAP) and other local projects add up to the approximately $1 billion
cost of the Prairie Parkway.
Myers-Glen also said the money that would be used to build the Parkway
should instead be used to improve existing roadways, including widening
all of Route 47 through Kendall County and building a full interchange
access at Route 47 and Interstate 88 in Kane County.
“It would use the $207 million earmarked by the feds to fund this
north-south connector between I-80 and I-88,” she said.
Myers-Glen said her group’s plan is “smarter” and improves local roads while preserving farmland.
“It’s a real disincentive for farmers that see this road
coming,” she said. “They say, ‘Well, this is going to
fragment our ag areas. Why should I invest in an easement that
depreciates the value of my land so I can’t sell it for full
value, if I’m not going to be able to farm here?’”
The majority of legislators, she said, are in favor of an alternative to the Parkway, she said.
“Public sentiment has been shifting,” she said.
“People are feeling a lot more comfortable, especially out in the
more rural areas, to come out and say, ‘We don’t want this,
we want something that’s better.’”
State Senator Chris Lauzen, R-Aurora, who attended the public meeting
in Yorkville, said most of his constituents he surveyed favor an
alternative to the Prairie Parkway, particularly repairing local
highways.
“There is no question they want this (repairing local
roads),” Lauzen said. “So what the heck are we doing
pushing (the Parkway). Who does this serve? The future? We have an
immediate need. We want relief now.”
Question-and-answer
session by IDOT officials
During a presentation to residents, IDOT officials and the agency’s consultants defended the project.
One resident asked why the agency would proceed with the project when
the funding is not available to finish the project. IDOT Project
Engineer Rick Powell said projects like the Parkway are built in phases.
“This is a billion-dollar project; very seldom is a billion
dollars accumulated in one fell swoop,” Powell said.
“Projects like this are typically built one section at a time, as
funding becomes available.”
Powell has given the example of Interstate 39, which took several years to complete, as a similar project.
Residents, via consultant Jason Poppen, also asked the representatives
why the state doesn’t repair existing highways “that are in
dire need of attention.”
“It’s all a matter of funding priorities,” Powell
said. “The state, from time to time, has passed bond issues and
so forth when they find the level of maintenance or repair of the road
system is below what’s needed. Right now, it’s one of the
topics that’s under discussion in the state legislature; they may
pass a bond issue this session, and they may not.”
Road closures included
in latest Parkway plans
Plans for the Prairie Parkway include recommended road closings. The
roads recommended for closing along the Parkway route in Kendall County
are:
•Church Road
•Chicago Road
•West Helmar Road
•Immanuel Road
•South Helmar Road
•Budd Road (with frontage road)
•Schaefer Road
•Faxon Road (relocated)
•Henning Road
•Sears Road
•Jones Road (Kane County)
Final steps nearing
Powell said the agency will next complete a final Environmental Impact
Statement that will be submitted to the federal government sometime
this fall.
Federal officials will then decide whether the state can proceed with
construction of the project. Their decision, deemed the Record of
Decision, will be released late this year.
If all approvals are met, Powell said IDOT could start buying land for
the project next year. Depending on the availability of federal and
state money, construction could start on the Prairie Parkway in 2009.