Aurora Beacon-News
December 13, 2001
By Dave Parro
STAFF WRITER
YORKVILLE ó It's likely that state transportation officials
will be looking at changing the little things after they review
public comments about the proposed outer-belt freeway through
Kane
and Kendall counties.
They'll be altering their proposed centerline for the "Prairie
Parkway" based mostly on overlooked considerations brought to their
attention in the next 30 days ó such as where a school might
be located or county road plans that were unknown when the freeway
plans were drawn.
Unless the unexpected happens, though, the corridor protection area
will likely be legally recorded by the state early next year,
possibly within a few weeks of when the public input period ends Jan.
11, in order to preserve land for a future highway.
"If we're going to do this, we need to record a centerline," said
Scot LaSalle, location and environmental engineer for the Illinois
Department of Transportation's Ottawa district. "It's likely that
we're going to record a centerline ... but there's always the
potential that we could stop a project."
A total of 851 people attended the IDOT informational hearing Tuesday
in Yorkville, and officials started reviewing their comments
Wednesday. A week after the public input period ends, IDOT will issue
a summary report of public opinion. Within two weeks to two months
after the report, a centerline will be recorded if the state decides
to proceed with the four-lane highway connecting Interstates 88 and
80.
Though the 400-foot corridor cuts through 191 parcels of land,
LaSalle said the state only identified two houses ó both just
south of Route 30 ó that would have to be removed. The path of
the highway was chosen to minimize the number of property owners
affected and to limit the damage to open space, parks and
unincorporated areas, he said.
"That's why it wasn't straight in a lot of the areas where you'd
probably expect it to be," he said.
As one of three possible corridors studied for the outer belt, the
western Kane and Kendall corridor was chosen because it has more open
space than the proposed corridor to the east and provides a more
direct route than the proposed route to the west.
The eastern route, which would have cut between Oswego and Yorkville,
was the shortest route, but it would have been limited by heavy
development along Route 34 and the Fox River. The western corridor,
between Plano and Sandwich, was the least direct and cut through the
most agricultural land.
Even with the center corridor drawn to minimize its impact on
property owners and the environment, the proposal continues to draw
new criticism from residents and officials concerned with the
potential for rapid development.
As for the northern section of the highway that would connect
Interstate 88 to Interstate 90 northwest of Elgin, there are no plans
to record a centerline. Pat Pechnick, bureau chief of programming for
IDOT's Schaumburg district, said no work has been done on a
feasibility study since late 1998, when several alternate alignments
were presented to Kane County.
IDOT has no plans or timeline for a next step for the northern
section because officials don't see the need to secure land as they
do through Kendall and southern Kane counties.
"To the south, there is a need to preserve a corridor because of the
development pressure," Pechnick said. "To the north of I-88, the same
development pressures aren't there."
Staff Writer Mike Norbut contributed to this report.