DeKalb Daily Chronicle
December 12, 2001

Hearing on Prairie Parkway draws hundreds of curious residents

By Chris Rickert - City Editor

YORKVILLE - They came by the hundreds Tuesday to learn more about a new road that backers say is crucial to easing traffic in Chicago's far western suburbs but critics contend will simply accelerate sprawl and eliminate more farmland.

Yesterday's public hearing on the so-called Prairie Parkway, a proposed four-lane highway linking interstates 88 and 80, saw people lined up all the way out to the parking lot of Yorkville's Beecher Community Center.

Inside, citizens were treated to a 10-minute slide show on why the proposed route - which would run from I-88 just east of Kaneville to I-80 just west of Minooka - was chosen. Also featured were detailed maps that allowed residents to pinpoint how close they would be to the road.

Although the road would be a good 6 miles from the DeKalb County border and, if approved, wouldn't be built for at least a decade, there were a number of locals at the hearing, including County Administrator Ray Bockman and Planning Director Paul Miller.

DeKalb city Alderman Steve Kapitan, 3rd Ward, was there, too. He said that while growth undoubtedly is pushing farther west from the Chicago metro area, "if you build a major interstate highway, that will attract and accelerate growth."

Standing with Kapitan and wearing buttons declaring "No Outerbelt Freeway," DeKalb residents Julia Fauci and Donna Gorski, who also serves as president of the DeKalb County Farmland Foundation, expressed similar reservations.

Gorski called it "a road going nowhere" while Fauci said she'd rather see existing roads expanded and an increased emphasis on public transportation.

All three believed the road would help to spur development in DeKalb County.

A few steps away, Kane County Board President Mike McCoy, R-Aurora, said transportation studies don't show any pressing need for the road. Just before Tuesday's public hearing, the Kane County Board tabled a resolution sponsored by McCoy that would have put the board on record as opposing the road.

"Most of the board has reservations about it," McCoy said, but many fear clashing with Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, R-Yorkville, who has been a strong supporter of the road.

"It's a pet project," McCoy said. "Siting it now before it's needed will establish land speculation and growth."

But not everyone was opposed to the plan. Art Olbebeken of Montgomery said the highway would redirect traffic from the dangerously overcrowded Orchard Road, and he wanted to see it built.

Others admitted to certain Not-In-My-Back-Yard feelings about the project.

While recognizing a need for the road, Lester Hume of Big Rock said it "will change the whole countryside." He thought it should be located closer to DeKalb, where growth is not as extensive as in Kane and Kendall counties.

The road would come directly up to Orland Berg's property line. Berg, who has been farming in Kendall County for 55 years, said he remembers when Route 52 was built and his mother would take in some of the men who built the road as boarders.

"I don't know if it's needed at this point," Berg said about the Prairie Parkway. "I just didn't want to be one of the unlucky ones (with land near it)."

Instead of hosting what would likely have been a very long traditional public hearing, Illinois Department of Transportation officials provided tape recorders, comment sheets and even a transcriptionist for those who wanted to sound off on the proposal.

Representatives from the engineering firm contracted by IDOT to map out the road, Edwards and Kelcey, also were on hand to answer questions.

Residents have 30 more days to comment on the plan to IDOT.