Oswego Ledger-Sentinel
Dec. 21, 2006
Hundreds view state proposals at two public hearings
by Tony Scott
Bill Jager, who lives on his family farm near the southern Kendall
County town of Plattville, said Illinois Department of Transportation
officials have told him that he will get compensation if he loses his
home and property to the Prairie Parkway expressway project.
But the way Jager sees it, his farm is priceless.
Jager and approximately 250 other area residents crowded the Yorkville
Intermediate School Dec. 6 to view the two proposed routes for the
expressway project, which will link Interstate 80 with Interstate 88,
as part of a public hearing by IDOT. The agency also held a similar
hearing last Thursday in Morris.
North of Caton Farm Road, both proposed routes go over the Fox River
and through Plano’s far west side, eventually connecting at I-88
in southern Kane County. However, south of Caton Farm Road, one route
connects to I-80 east of Route 47 near Minooka, while the other travels
straight south to just west of Morris.
IDOT is accepting comments from residents on the Draft Environmental
Impact Statement until Jan. 16. The agency is scheduled to announce a
decision on which route they will study further sometime early next
year, according to officials.
The agency will conduct public hearings on final road closure
recommendations and the remapping of a corridor route for the
expressway also early next year.
Following those hearings, the agency is expected to complete a Final
Environmental Impact Statement and obtain final federal approval of the
project sometime late next year.
Jager said the Minooka route, called “B5” by IDOT, will go
right through his family’s property, which includes his
160-year-old farmhouse. Although IDOT will have to pay property owners
directly impacted by the highway, Jager said “all the money in
the world” won’t make up for the impact on his home.
“My property, right now, is priceless,” he said. “My
great-great grandfather lived there, my great-grandfather lived there,
my grandfather lived there, my father lived there, I live there and my
kids live there. All the money in the world won’t change
that.”
Jager said the Minooka route is proposed “for no apparent reason. It’s not going to save anybody any time.”
Jager noted that the state’s plans propose closing Chicago Road
near Plattville if the B5 route to Minooka is picked. He said if that
happens, a trip to Plattville, which he now does on foot, will take a
good 10 minutes by car.
He said he favors the widening of Route 47, but that the project should
ensure that the highway is an open, limited access route.
“If they widen it, but they have a stop light or stop sign every
mile, it’s not going to help anybody,” he said. “They
should limit access.”
Cliff Oleson, a Plano resident and member of the city’s Plan
Commission, said he also favors the route that connects near Morris.
However, he said the Parkway will “split (Plano) in two” no
matter what, dividing the more established areas from the new
subdivisions on the city’s growing far west side.
“If it has to go through, though, it should go straight and not wander off to Minooka,” Oleson said.
Corey Johnson, a Yorkville resident, said he favors the B5 route,
connecting at Minooka, as opposed to the straight-line B2 route to
Morris. Johnson acknowledged that the B2 route will help alleviate
regional truck traffic on Route 47 and other state highways, but that
the B5 route will help commuters and will bring more jobs to the region.
Either way, Johnson said the expressway is needed in addition to any widening of Route 47.
“Anybody that’s tried to go north on Route 47 at 6:30 or 7
in the morning or 4:30 at night, you’re stuck in gridlock,”
Johnson said. “It stinks. It’s really deteriorated our
quality of life. You need 47 widened, and you need to be able to
circumvent 47.”
IDOT officials have said only a portion of the project will be
constructed beginning in 2009, if plans are approved by federal and
state officials. That portion would run between U.S. Route 30 in Kane
County and end at Ill. Route 71 south of the Fox River in Kendall
County.
During a question-and-answer session at the public hearing, Rick
Powell, IDOT project manager, acknowledged that the Parkway
construction is about a $1 billion project.
Powell said when the agency first initiated engineering studies on the
project, it had around $14.6 million in federal funds. However, the
agency received an earmark of $207 million for the project in last
year’s federal highway bill. He said the state needs to
contribute $1 for every $4 in federal money in order to receive those
federal funds. But beyond that federal earmark, Powell admitted that
state officials aren’t sure about where the money will come from
for the project in the future.
“There is a variety of sources from which it might come from, but
we’re really not sure when or where the funding is going to come
from, from now until whenever it might be completed,” he said.
Ed Leonard, a consultant for IDOT on the project, said the widening of
Route 47 is an option for helping alleviate traffic problems, but that
the area ultimately needs more than that.
“Everybody up here believes that widening 47 is necessary, but it
is not adequate to meet all the transportation needs,” he said.
And while the B2 route to Morris would help move traffic, B5 has been
favored overwhelmingly by local governments and Leonard said the
agency’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement shows the B5 route
“does a much better job of serving those high-growth and
high-employment growth areas in Will County, and helps correct that
imbalance that Kendall County has.” The agency’s studies
have shown that there is an imbalance of projected jobs and new homes
in Kendall County.
But Jager fears that, regardless of the route, the Parkway will simply
become “another 180, a road to nowhere.” Completed in 1969,
the Interstate 180 highway spur connects the town of Hennepin, Ill.,
with I-80 near Princeton, Ill. It has the reputation of being one of
the least-traveled highways in Illinois.
“I was on that road (180) not too long ago, at 4 on a Tuesday
afternoon, and I didn’t see another car,” Jager said.
However, Jager believes the state has had its sights set on building
the Prairie Parkway, as opposed to looking at widening Route 47 as a
true solution.
“They’re so intent on building a new road,” he said.
“Nobody’s ever imagined a world without it.”