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Aurora Beacon News
April 12, 2003
By Dave Parro
STAFF WRITER
A number of traditional Prairie Parkway opponents have joined together to form what they say will be an objective alliance aimed at overseeing the state's study of the controversial highway.
Fourteen public-interest and governmental organizations met for the first time this week as the Prairie Alliance for Sensible Transportation, which organizers said will ensure "full public participation in the transportation planning process and consideration of all alternatives" for the proposed, 36-mile, outer-belt highway through Kane, Kendall and Grundy counties.
Though most of the alliance members have opposed the road, or at least the process by which a corridor for it was sited last year by the Illinois Department of Transportation, the group's main purposes are public education and oversight, said founding member Jan Strasma.
"If that happens, the end product will be much better, whatever it is," said Strasma, head of Citizens Against the Sprawlway, the lead opposition group.
IDOT in January started "Part A" of what could be a multi-year Phase I engineering study for the highway connecting Interstates 88 and 80. The first year of the study will focus on collecting information to determine the transportation needs in the area.
Once those needs are assessed, IDOT will determine whether to proceed with further engineering and environmental studies or end the study altogether. IDOT officials have said public input will play a role in determining what improvements ultimately get built.
Strasma said the alliance will "look over the state's shoulder to make sure they do what they're supposed to do." The group will hold a forum at 7 p.m. May 7 at the restored Kendall County Courthouse in Yorkville to provide the public with more information about the study process.
The forum will serve a three-fold purpose, Strasma said. It will provide an opportunity to give an update of where the study is; look at the entire $18.75 million Phase I study, not just the needs stage, and explain how the public can be involved.
Dan Reedy, manager of the Kendall County Farm Bureau, said the alliance will have to avoid turning into an opposition group, even if its members continue to independently fight the outer belt. The Farm Bureau agreed to be a member only as long as the alliance avoids taking a position and focuses on public education, he said.
"It's going to be hard," he said, "because, if you look at that group, almost everyone is against (the Prairie Parkway) in one form or another."
Among others, the alliance includes the Naperville-based Conservation Foundation, the village of Big Rock, the Environmental Law and Policy Center, the Kendall County Citizens for Responsible Growth and the DeKalb County Farmland Foundation.
IDOT officials, who recorded a protection corridor for the Prairie Parkway in July, have said that all alternatives to the outer belt are still possibilities. The public-input process started in January with two open houses, and IDOT says more meetings will be held at key points during the study.
Rick Powell, IDOT's project manager for the Prairie Parkway, said the state is currently meeting with municipal officials to gather traffic and needs information for a report that will be published at the end of the year. More public meetings will be held to present the findings at that time, he said.