Springfield -- My friend John McCarron missed the point when writing his Dec. 14 column about the Prairie Parkway Corridor Protection Study in Kendall County. (Read John McCarron's column in Dec. 14 Tribune)
The facts are clear it was not the chicken but the egg.
In the last 10 years Kendall County's population increased 38 percent--more than twice the DuPage growth rate and nearly eight times the Cook County growth rate.
And no new highways were built in that time period.
Since 1990, employment in Kendall County increased 45 percent, about the same rate as DuPage County, but more than 5 times the rate of growth in Cook County.
Along these lines, sales tax growth in Kendall County has had more than twice the growth rate of DuPage County and nearly six times that of Cook County.
Granted, Kendall County is still much smaller than either of these two giants, but it is growing rapidly and no new expressways have been built.
All Kendall County officials want is to protect a corridor so that a transportation facility could be constructed at some point in the future when it is needed.
If the growth never comes, the corridor can be used for hiking, bicycling, horse trails or all three.
But if the growth continues as in the past, they will have shown great vision by keeping their options open.
I wish today we had the same option in the Route 59 corridor.
Kirk Brown, Secretary
Illinois Department Department of Transportation