By David R. Kazak
Daily Herald Staff Writer
Kane County's top official pitched his own outer-belt expressway plan Tuesday, saying the line he's drawn is the
compromise all sides in the debate should embrace.
While County Board Chairman Mike McCoy's proposal was hailed by some as a step forward in the contentious outer-belt
talks, it remained unclear Tuesday if his idea will bring the consensus he's seeking.
That's because the road McCoy said should be built would cut through unincorporated land between two fast-growing
communities in southern Kane County - Montgomery and Sugar Grove.
Last week, leaders in those communities voiced support for the state's proposed outer-belt corridor as it now sits
- that is, farther west in the undeveloped farmlands of Big Rock and Kaneville townships.
Shifting the corridor to where McCoy said he wants it would disrupt development planning both towns have been doing
for years, officials said. Each town's growth plan shows the area as someday filled with thousands of homes.
Another question remains with the Illinois Department of Transportation, which sparked the debate over the so-called
Prairie Parkway when it announced in December its plan to protect the future expressway's corridor from development.
The question: Will IDOT listen to McCoy after he publicly called state officials "less than truthful"
about their own outer-belt plans?
Regardless of unknowns, McCoy presented optimism Tuesday along with his alternate outer-belt proposal, which he
said should begin just west of Aurora, where Route 56 splits off from westbound I-88.
For a number of miles past that split, Route 56 remains an interstate-style roadway - four lanes with a split median.
That alone, McCoy said, would reduce costs for the state since the roadway would need little improvement.
Where Route 56 cuts west and joins with the two-lane Route 30, an outer-belt expressway could continue on south
for another three miles to Kane County's border with Kendall County.
There, McCoy said, the roadway could turn west and follow a power line right-of-way. The expressway then would
turn southwest, eventually joining up with the state's original planned corridor between Yorkville and Plano.
That route then snakes on south, eventually turning southeast through Kendall County farmland before hooking up
with I-80 near Minooka in Grundy County.
McCoy acknowledged that it wouldn't be possible to connect a northern extension to the outer-belt - one linking
I-88 to I-90 west of Elgin - to his proposed route. But, he said, he didn't think it out of the question that traffic
could be shunted farther west again along the I-88 corridor before turning north onto the extension.
So far, state transportation officials have said consideration of the I-88/I-900 link is years away at best, with
planning and construction even further off.
McCoy touted the benefits he said his route has over the state's, which slices through nine miles of western Kane
County farmland that he and other local officials have vowed to protect from development.
McCoy said the area around his proposed route - even by Sugar Grove's and Montgomery's predictions - will be in
great need of traffic relief in the years to come. An expressway there, he said, would relieve that congestion.
As for whether the state should care about Kane County's local traffic problems, McCoy said it had better.
"This project is a billion-dollar project," he said, noting that such an amount could only come from
the federal government. "We'd like to think that at least a portion of that billion dollars should go toward
handling existing traffic congestion for existing citizens.
"I don't know if IDOT cares, but I'm pretty sure Congressman Hastert will care, especially if it has some
benefit to Kane County," he said.
Karen Steve-McConnaughay, a Kane County board member and chairman of the county's transportation committee, said
she believes McCoy's plan is "good."
Earlier this year, Steve-McConnaughay, a St. Charles Republican, said she thought McCoy was handling the outer-belt
issue poorly. She said he was fighting too hard against IDOT and U.S. Speaker Dennis Hastert, who long has supported
the construction of an outer-belt expressway in Kane and Kendall counties.
After McCoy's presentation Tuesday, Steve-McConnaughay said she hopes the rest of Kane's leadership rallies behind
the chairman and this plan.
"This provides an opportunity for the board to unify behind a solution that has the largest benefit for the
people of Kane County," Steve-McConnaughay said.
Will the state listen?
"I would certainly hope they take the time to look at the plan and work with us," she said. "In
fact, I'm hoping for that."
Jan Strasma, spokesman for the citizen's opposition group Citizens Against the Sprawlway, said he felt McCoy's
proposal "adds to the mix" of the outer-belt debate, but that his group still advocates more study before
any corridor - including McCoy's - is designated for permanent protection by IDOT.
"That's our goal, to get all the information out there before any decision is made," Strasma said.
Illinois Department of Transportation spokesman Richard Adorjan was unavailable for comment late Tuesday.