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Aurora Beacon-News
December 10, 2001
Tuesday forum: Notices of intent to link I-88 and I-80 could come early next year
By Dave Parro
STAFF WRITER
YORKVILLE — Kane County has already voiced its opposition, Aurora's mayor has said he supports it, and Kendall
County officials are biting their tongues.
Residents living near the proposed "outerbelt" freeway through the two counties haven't really had their
chance to speak.
At least, not yet.
When the Illinois Department of Transportation holds its only open house hearing Tuesday in Yorkville for the proposed
33-mile corridor that would connect Interstates 80 and 88, residents will get their first chance to see detailed
maps and displays of the "Prairie Parkway Corridor." The hearing marks the beginning of a 30-day public
input period before the centerline can be approved by the Illinois secretary of transportation.
The IDOT hearing, which will not include a formal presentation, will be at the Beecher Community Center, 980 Game
Farm Road in Yorkville, from 4 to 7 p.m.
Pushed by U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Yorkville, the western route has already been scrutinized. Eventually,
Hastert wants the freeway to extend north of Interstate 88 to Interstate 90, completing a ring around the Chicago
metropolitan area.
"It's being pushed in such a way that makes it a self-fulfilling prophecy," said Brook McDonald, executive
director of the Conservation Foundation. "The planning process is a process that almost guarantees it will
be built, whether they need it or not."
Citing a centerline before studying whether the freeway is necessary and looking at possible alternatives will
ensure its construction and urban sprawl before considering its impact on surrounding land, McDonald said. The
Conservation Foundation already plans to hold its own public information session at the Beecher Center in Yorkville
— the same place the IDOT hearing will be held — on Jan. 9, to make sure residents know the foundation's position.
"Our role is not necessarily to fight it, but to make sure people are aware of the consequences," McDonald
said.
Kane County has already taken one step to oppose the freeway. Its Executive Committee, led by County Board Chairman
Mike McCoy, approved a resolution last week that says the highway "is contrary to the spirit and intent"
of county land-use and transportation plans. The County Board will vote on the resolution Tuesday.
Aurora Mayor David Stover then issued a statement Thursday supporting the freeway, saying the concerns that it
will encourage sprawl are premature. The county's open space and agricultural preservation commitments can still
be kept while diverting heavy traffic from local road networks, he said.
Stover plans to introduce a resolution to the Aurora City Council on Tuesday.
The Kendall County Board has not made any official statements on the corridor, though members will be closely studying
the plans and listening to residents. Kendall board Chairman John Church, like McCoy and McDonald, said his concern
lies with what the outerbelt freeway would mean for surrounding land, especially agricultural land and open space.
Church said details of the plan, like the number of interchanges and the exact centerline of the highway, will
affect how the Kendall County Board officially responds to the proposal. Church said another consideration will
be how state and federal officials see the road benefiting county residents.
More important than the outerbelt freeway is constructing an effective local road network that relieves congestion,
Church said.
"I'm trying to picture how this particular proposal fits into that," Church said. "We need to be
real cautious not to add to our (existing) problems."
Tom Sancken, IDOT study and plans engineer, said residents will be able to make comments to a court reporter at
the hearing Tuesday or can fill out comment forms to give their input. For a month after the hearing, comments
will also be considered.
"We'll review all the comments and suggestions we see and make any necessary changes to the plan," Sancken
said.
After the public comment period, the centerline will be legally recorded, and property owners will be notified
of the state's intention to purchase right-of-way land. McCoy has criticized that technique because the state's
intention to buy will be recorded with the property regardless of how far in the future the highway might be built,
unfairly making it difficult for owners to sell their land.
Any minor changes the state makes to the centerline after public input will be published in local newspapers, Sancken
said, but Tuesday's hearing is the only one scheduled.
The proposed centerline starts at I-88 just east of where Dauberman Road meets I-88, runs south through Kaneville,
curving slightly east until it runs straight down west of Route 47 to the Kendall County line.
In Kendall County, it runs south along the same straight line, across Route 34, the Fox River and Route 71, then
south until it cuts east north of Lisbon, crossing Routes 47 and 52, before proceeding straight south again before
jutting east to meet I-80 near Minooka.