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Aurora Beacon-News
September 11, 2002
2020 projections: Ridership numbers suggest even four-lane road should be considered
By Mike Norbut
STAFF WRITER
YORKVILLE ó Kendall County officials may now have the data they need to justify an Eldamain Road extension, as
a study projects the road would get heavy use by the year 2020.
Projections are high enough to suggest it might even be necessary to make the extension a four-lane road, according
to the study completed by Chicago-based Land Strategies, Inc.
The study estimates the Eldamain Road bridge over the Fox River would have about 18,000 cars on it a day by 2020,
said Todd Fagen, a principal with Land Strategies. Without that bridge, traffic would grow on Fox River Drive,
Route 47 and Orchard Road, he said.
"When you're talking 18,000 cars, that's more of a threshold of a four-lane roadway," Fagen said. "My
feeling is build the two-lane road and preserve enough right-of-way for a four-lane road."
County Board members reviewed the study, which they've waited more than six months to receive, at their Public
Works Committee meeting Tuesday. They decided to put off any action on the road until next month, giving other
county officials and members of the public time to review the study.
County engineer Francis Klaas suggested the county move to at least put the road extension proposal into its
comprehensive plan, if officials decide not to record a center line. Since the county does not have a right to
corridor protection like the state has, recording a center line would not prevent landowners from "doing anything"
on their property, Klaas said.
"I really believe this will be needed whether or not the Prairie Parkway is built," he said.
The County Board decided against setting a center line for Eldamain Road in January after residents had clamored
for a study, especially in light of the state's Prairie Parkway plans.
The state set a center line for the proposed outer-belt highway in July. County officials, however, maintained
the road extension ó and another bridge over the Fox River between Yorkville and Plano ó would be necessary for
local traffic.
Conspicuously absent from the study are traffic projections for the Prairie Parkway and how the highway may affect
Eldamain Road traffic. Klaas said the Chicago Area Transportation Study could not provide those projections because
the road did not exist in its traffic model.
Instead, the study assumes Prairie Parkway traffic could reduce local traffic by about 40 percent. However, Klaas
said that does not erase the need for the road and additional bridge.
"That's still enough cars for at least a two-lane road," he said. "At 12,000 cars a day, you start
looking at a four-lane road. So even 40 percent off of 18,000 (about 10,800) is still close to that."
The extension for Eldamain Road, as proposed, would cross the Fox River south of River Road and cut southwest
to connect with Highpoint Road where it meets Fox Road.
The route would follow Highpoint Road south until it nears Route 71. It then would break away from Highpoint
Road, cross Route 71 about 500 feet to the east and eventually join Lisbon Road.