Great sales job on terrible highway
The Rt. 53 extension has been presented artfully and with great public relations prowess as primarily a traffic congestion relief plan.
The recently published Land Use Plan gives clues to what the astronomically expensive project really is - an ambitious and far-reaching development scheme.
The report runs 170 pages -a bureaucratic tome with gorgeous maps, eloquent words and well-intentioned ideas, written by consultants and paid for by you and me, the taxpayers.
Most people will never read it, so let me summarize.
First 100 pages: We love our green space in Lake County - see where it is on these 30 maps? We'll just need to take these 500 acres of pristine wetland to build the most expensive stretch of highway ever constructed in North America, ever.
Don't worry, we'll replace those 500 acres by converting these other 500 acres that are currently "opportunity landscapes." Let's shove all the important green stuff into a few parks and preserves and connect them with bike trails. Volunteers can give tours.
Last 70 pages: Meanwhile, in The Corridor (a three-mile wide, 12-mile long stretch of land at the heart of our small towns and communities) look at the millions of square feet of retail and industrial and office space and thousands of tidy homes the developers will build. Aren't they beautiful and new and shiny?
This is all so well researched. We know exactly what we're doing. What a devilishly clever way to sell a 1970s highway. In 2015. When Illinois is strangling in a budgetary morass, the wheels of its governing bodies grinding to a halt as it is, without a $2.8 billion highway boondoggle.
We must not spend money we don't have on a highway we don't need. If you agree, tell Aaron Lawlor, CMAP, your mayor, the Tollway and Gov. Rauner. Today.
Vanessa Griffin
Hawthorn Woods