Pick up the pace for building bypass

Three years to study a project that already has been on the books for what seems like decades?

That's what state highway planners are now proposing in regard to actually finishing the Elgin-O'Hare Expressway between I-294 and the city of Elgin. And, in a closely related project, getting started on a western bypass around O'Hare International Airport.

The Illinois Department of Transportation is now talking in terms of three years (2007 to 2010) to chart a transportation system, including such features as bike paths and commuter rail lines, for the vicinity. They are counting on three additional years (2010-2013) to do preliminary engineering and environmental studies for each project.

The earliest conceivable groundbreaking date to extend the expressway? 2016.

That's simply too long to wait to get started on transportation improvements that have been needed for so long.

Which is not to criticize IDOT for embracing a planning process that is transparent, solicits public comment and attempts to win the approval of all affected parties.

Obviously, IDOT officials are aware that controversy basically killed the bypass project once before, which is why there's been no progress in nearly two decades. While transportation officials will not say so, they seem to be treading very slowly and carefully in hopes of not arousing the immediate opposition of Elk Grove Village and Bensenville.

Considering the most likely bypass routes linking I-90 and I-294, those two communities certainly have much at stake. It's important to build a bypass that minimizes disruption to both. Officials from both villages say they'll cooperate with IDOT's planning process. Elk Grove Mayor Craig Johnson told the Daily Herald's Joseph Ryan that he supports a bypass but cannot agree to let it cut a large swath through his village's industrial park.

Reaching consensus on a precise bypass route undoubtedly will be difficult, but going through the planning process in slow motion will not resolve that.

Many uncertainties remain concerning O'Hare expansion itself, including such basic questions as how Chicago will pay for it all and whether the new runways will, if completed, deliver anything close to the promised relief in air-traffic delays.

What is certain, though, is that the absence of western access to O'Hare and the lack of a western bypass makes traffic on other sides of the airport far worse than it needs to be and greatly inconveniences airport users coming from the west. No matter how airport expansion issues are -- or aren't -- resolved, transportation officials can benefit the entire vicinity by getting started on the bypass and Elgin-O'Hare Expressway extension sooner rather than later.

IDOT officials have many of the right ideas when it comes to dealing fairly and openly with all parties. They just need to pick up the pace.