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Aurora Beacon-News
January 11, 2002
Eastern corridor: Details could be released by end of month
By Dave Parro
STAFF WRITER
A group of concerned environmentalists, elected officials and residents could present an eastern, nonstate alternative
to the proposed corridor for the Prairie Parkway by the end of the month.
A preliminary map has been drawn for a highway route that would aim better to alleviate Fox Valley congestion and
to protect more environmentally sensitive areas. Those involved plan to meet Jan. 15 to refine their proposed corridor.
The alternative route, connecting Interstates 80 and 88, would be east of the proposed state corridor in order
to better serve highly congested, developed areas.
Brook McDonald, executive director of the Naperville-based Conservation Foundation, said the alternative corridor
will be presented to the Illinois Department of Transportation and representatives for U.S. House Speaker Dennis
Hastert, R-Yorkville, a major backer of the project.
If both parties seem receptive to the idea, it could be made public in the next few weeks. McDonald would not comment
on the players involved or the map's details because the process is still in the early stages.
"We feel that, the farther east this is, the less sprawl we'll see; the farther west we go, the more sprawl
we'll see," McDonald said. "If what they're saying is that they want to alleviate congestion in the Fox
Valley area, why would you build it out toward Plano?"
McDonald said the proposed, 33-mile, highway corridor that runs between Yorkville and Plano encourages sprawl because
it would place the road just beyond the current edge of the metropolitan area. It also would do little to relieve
local traffic congestion because it's too far from development for local travel, he said.
Though IDOT has its own eastern alternative route, the group's route also will take into consideration more environmental
constraints in Kendall, Kane and Grundy counties, McDonald said.
For example, the route runs east of the Aux Sable watershed in southern Kendall County to avoid encouraging development
through the sensitive environmental area. IDOT's proposed routes run west of the watershed. The alternative route
also seeks a better area to cross the Fox River.
Ecologist Dick Young, who worked with IDOT two years ago in the early stages of discussing a corridor, said his
original recommendations were somehow miscommunicated to transportation officials. They were under the impression
that Young thought eastern alternatives were not environmentally viable, Young said, but the scientist said he
never made such statements.
"It appears there are some very viable corridors in there," Young said, "and they felt it was a
closed-in area."
IDOT chose the central corridor of the three it studied because rapid development would have caused more homeowners
to be affected by the proposed protection area in the east, said Gregg Mounts, IDOT program development engineer.
McDonald said there are options for avoiding highly developed areas while still keeping the highway close enough
to serve larger populations.
At the Fox River crossing for the proposed central IDOT corridor, Young said, there are some "difficulties"
when it comes to environmentally sensitive areas such as fens and "recharge" natural areas. McDonald
said better environmental crossings lie to the east, at places IDOT has not yet considered.
The corridor that will be presented by the end of the month will cost more when it comes to land acquisition because
it is so close to development, but McDonald said construction costs would be lower because it will be 10 to 15
miles shorter than IDOT's corridor.
Mounts said IDOT will consider the alternative proposal and encourages similar suggestions from other people as
well.