Foes unimpressed with Longmeadow Parkway progress

More than 70 percent of the Longmeadow Parkway is complete or under construction. Though most of the project has become a reality, opponents remain, at best, unimpressed.

The parkway will bring a new crossing over the Fox River at the far northern part of the county. The 5.6-mile project will run along more than 1,000 acres that proponents of the plan envision for new homes and commercial tenants.

Two sections of the project already are open to traffic. Two more sections are under construction, including a portion that goes into the Brunner Forest Preserve. That segment, along with a pending toll bridge, is what upsets opponents most.

"They have destroyed Hickory Hills Park, will decimate Fox River Shores and damage the Brunner and Buffalo Park Forest preserves with their unethical plans to use public funds for this wasteful highway," said Billita Jacobsen, a former Kane County Board candidate and longtime project opponent.

She pointed to the pursuit of profit over addressing the concerns of residents along the pathway as a major source of ill will toward the county. Some $500,000 earmarked for a new lodge at the for-profit Raging Buffalo Snowboard Park in Carpentersville is a prime example, she said.

"How many existing roads could be repaired with $500,000," Jacobsen said. "How much soundproof fencing could have been built so residents along the four lanes could have been spared some of the din from traffic so near their homes?"

Kane County Department of Transportation staff members are well-aware of the views of opponents. They have gone so far as to post a myths vs. facts response to some of the points raised in the past few years.

Steve Coffinbarger, who oversees the project for the county, said the staff does whatever it can to minimize the impact on residents. For instance, the segment under construction that goes into Brunner now has a grade-separated crossing of Longmeadow Parkway over Route 31. That means there will be less excavation of soil than there would have been if an at-grade crossing were used. The county also has seen repeated success in actual construction bids' coming in far below original estimates, shaving taxpayer dollars from the final price tag.

Down the road

The other segment of the project seeing work right now is on the far eastern end. It involves the widening of Route 62 to four lanes. Both portions under construction have 2019 completion dates.

That leaves about 30 percent of the work yet to come, including the construction of a toll bridge over the Fox River. The county board will take a vote May 8 on hiring an underwriter for a $30 million bond issuance to build the bridge. Tolls are envisioned as the mechanism to pay off that debt and fund the bridge's future maintenance. The board has not yet voted on a toll or a possible sunset for the toll.

That vote awaits updated traffic projections and revenue estimates of what different toll amounts would generate. Those studies will conclude in June or July.

Longmeadow opponent Chris Kious said any toll represents an unfair tax on residents.

"The tab for a significant portion of the Longmeadow Bridge is set to fall on the shoulders of the residents of northern Kane County," said Kious, a candidate for the county board. "The toll on this bridge will force residents of Algonquin, both rich and poor, to pay the same extra fee just to drive across their town. The county board has held the line on increasing taxes ... except for this tax on northern Kane County residents."

The toll bridge, which will be two bridges with a mechanically stabilized embankment wall in between, is on target to see construction bids this September. It will take two years to build. County officials still believe the construction work will finish in 2021.

Though some tree planting is underway, it's not until the total construction project is over that the bulk of the landscape restoration and upgrades will begin. The project will see the removal of 5,765 trees but the planting of twice as many. Likewise, the 4.16 acres of wetlands impacted will be offset by 17.13 acres of new wetlands.

Opponent Linda Cools said nothing new created can replace what residents who live along the construction route have lost.

"Their properties and home values are being destroyed," she said.