Sound off on O'Hare ring road proposals

Elk Grove Village residents in March will have the chance to comment on two O'Hare International Airport ring road proposals - one of which will go through the village's business park, village officials said Thursday.

Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson said the Illinois Department of Transportation would be discussing the two road plans between 4 and 7 p.m. March 11 at Belvedere Banquets, 1170 W. Devon Ave.

Also, Johnson said he hopes to have a rally outside the banquet hall at 6 p.m. He encouraged residents to come out to protest the plan that would harm the village's business park if it's built.

IDOT officials were not available for comment on Thursday. A spokesman for the O'Hare Modernization Program didn't have any comment on Thursday.

Johnson said one of the proposals would turn Busse Road into a wide highway, running from Thorndale Road to the Northwest Tollway.

"This is our nightmare," Johnson said. "This would cut our business park in half."

The other proposed road, east of Elmhurst Road and west of O'Hare International Airport, would not be detrimental to the village's business park, he said.

So, he's hoping residents will come out to voice their views about the roads, he said.

Last year, IDOT had unveiled a number of alternatives for the completion of the Elgin-O'Hare Expressway and a western bypass around the airport. State engineers said the project is needed to ease congestion and allow for better access to a busy airport, which Chicago is working to expand.

Options have included building a ring road around O'Hare that links up to the Tri-State Tollway south of the airport near Bensenville, Schiller Park and Franklin Park. Variations had included widening segments of York Road and Route 83 or converting them into expressways.