Aurora Beacon-News
January 9, 2002
By Dave Parro
STAFF WRITER
Highway misconceptions: IDOT admits miscommunication of process
YORKVILLE - Both sides of the outer-belt freeway argument can agree
on at least one thing: Residents in western Kane and Kendall counties
have been poorly informed when it comes to the process of building
the proposed Prairie Parkway.
To make sure everyone's questions are answered, The Conservation
Foundation will hold a public meeting tonight in Yorkville, where
state and county officials will be on hand to present both sides of
the issue.
The Naperville-based foundation's executive director said it will be
the first of two meetings to give people better knowledge of the
process that will follow the current corridor-protection
measures.
"People need to understand that, even if they do lay a corridor, it's
far from over," said Brook McDonald, who will moderate tonight's
meeting. "I don't want people to walk away with their tails between
their legs."
Illinois Department of Transportation officials are saying basically
the same thing: Corridor protection is by no means a commitment to
building the proposed 33-mile highway connecting interstates 88 and
80. Identifying a 400-foot corridor for protection simply secures the
land for possible future use against encroaching development;
construction is not a sure thing.
When the time comes for actually conducting environmental,
engineering and traffic studies, any number of things could happen.
The highway could be built within the designated corridor, or it
could be moved to an alternative corridor. The state could scrap the
plan in favor of modifying existing roads or of mass transit, or it
could scrap the plan altogether.
That's what IDOT officials say they failed to communicate to the
concerned public.
"I think people are upset that we left them out of the process for
where the highway is going to be located," said Tom Sancken, IDOT
study and plans engineer for the Ottawa District. "If they think
we've designated where a highway is going to be located, then they
have every right to be upset with us."
Sancken said IDOT officials will present information tonight that
hopefully will clear up some misconceptions about the freeway before
the state records a centerline after the Feb. 10 public-comment
period ends.
IDOT was invited to the meeting because The Conservation Foundation
wanted people to get more information from the state than was made
available at the public hearing last month in Yorkville, McDonald
said. At the hearing, information was given during a slide show, but
no formal presentation was made by any
official.
"We're asking IDOT to have a human being talking to the crowd," he
said. "I've asked them to go into more detail about the project."
The Conservation Foundation also invited highway opponents Mike
McCoy, Kane County Board chairman, and Jan Strasma, organizer of
Citizens Against the Sprawlway, to give a brief presentations and to
answer questions. Jason Poppen, Kendall County administrator, also
will be present.
McDonald said representatives from the office of U.S. House Speaker
Dennis Hastert, R-Yorkville, have not responded to an invitation.
Hastert has been the catalyst for getting the highway plans discussed
again after those plans stood on the back burner for years.
Attendees will be able to submit questions for panelists to answer
during the two-hour meeting, which will take place at 7 p.m. at the
Beecher Community Center, 980 Game Farm Road in Yorkville.
The Conservation Foundation will hold another meeting Feb. 5 in the
auditorium of Waubonsee Community College to discuss the land-use
implications of the proposed freeway through Kane, Kendall and Grundy
counties.