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Aurora Beacon-News
Janaury 22, 2002

IDOT has tough sell on outer belt

By Dave Parro
STAFF WRITER


Trying to distinguish: First year will focus on all options

  SUGAR GROVE — Opponents of the Prairie Parkway think state officials will have a difficult time the next two days trying to convince the public they haven't made up their minds about building the controversial outer-belt highway.

  The Illinois Department of Transportation and its hired consultants will hold two open houses today and Thursday to provide information about the start of its multi-year Phase I engineering study. The first year will be spent studying current and future transportation needs in Kane, Kendall, Grundy, DeKalb, Will and LaSalle counties.

  Rick Powell, project manager for the study, said the first task will be to address the transportation situation in the area near the corridor protection strip for the Prairie Parkway, but it won't specifically evaluate the proposed 36-mile highway through Kane, Kendall and Grundy counties.

  "We recognize that our biggest challenge is separating what has been done in the past with the corridor protection study and this study," Powell said Tuesday.

  IDOT's first meeting will be held tonight at Kaneland South Elementary School in Sugar Grove, and a second meeting will be held Thursday at The Fountains of Minooka. Both open houses will include exhibits, a slide presentation and officials who will be available to discuss the study.

  Jan Strasma, spokesman for Citizens Against the Sprawlway, said he doubts residents will be able to distinguish between a transportation needs study and one for the Prairie Parkway, especially because the state has already recorded a 400-foot-wide protection strip on 193 parcels of land.

  IDOT has also sent out press releases and public information proclaiming the beginning of the "Prairie Parkway Phase I study," making the difference hard to find, he said.

  "Suddenly, they want us to believe they're starting with a clean slate," Strasma said. "That's going to be a tough sell."

  Powell said the first year of the study, which is estimated to cost $3 million, will focus on all options for addressing transportation needs in the area, including the outer belt. A total of $18 million has been allotted for the entire Prairie Parkway study, which could take place over the next five years.