Road trip runs into Route 53 referendum

Every once in a while, the walls of the office start closing in, the message light on the phone keeps blinking, I'm late for deadline and everyone's giving me the skunk eye.

In other words, time for a road trip.

Fortunately for me - I'm a transportation writer. I can tell my boss I'm going to investigate potholes on Caton Farm Road and he won't bat an eye.

This time I had a bona fide excuse to escape. Lake County is holding an advisory referendum on extending Route 53 on April 7.

I don't know what it is about Route 53 but it seems to lie low for a year or so, then suddenly rears its head, riling up people from Glen Ellyn to Gurnee.

In DuPage County, widening Route 53 is what draws angry crowds in Lombard and Glen Ellyn.

In Lake County, the hot issue is lengthening the highway north from Lake-Cook Road to Route 120.

As a quick primer, the Illinois Department of Transportation and state tollway authority have identified extending Route 53 as an option for improving traffic in Lake County. The project could cost more than $1 billion. Although the referendum is nonbinding, results will likely impact whether the government prioritizes the project or mothballs it.

It was a bucolic, sun-drenched morning Thursday, as I steered the 2000 Honda Civic onto I-294 and let its powerful engine take over.

My first destination was Gurnee, north of where the extension would end. For about half an hour I stalked people in the parking lot of the Warren-Newport Public Library.

What did I uncover? About 70 percent had no idea there was an advisory referendum on the ballot.

The remaining 30 percent knew only too well.

"They've been talking about that for 30 years," Mick Glenn of Lake Villa said, laughing.

"That's an argument that's been going on for 40 years," Gurnee resident Carol Waldron said.

"I'm against it because of the traffic and congestion. I used to live in Mundelein where they were proposing to extend it, I sold my house because of it and moved here."

Having finished with my comprehensive Gurnee survey, I drove south to the epicenter of the Route 53 debate. Long Grove. The village has fought expansion ever since it came up.

Touring around the galleries and boutiques while scarfing down cider doughnuts from the Long Grove Apple Haus, I found just one person who supported the referendum.

"I think they should do it because of the traffic congestion," said Brenda Reilly, who lives in Des Plaines and works in Long Grove. "Long Grove has been fighting it for a long time but it's inevitable. It might relieve some of the traffic congestion."

"I think it would be horrible," said Donna Shallenberg, a store manager at The Artistic Gardener and Grayslake resident. The project would destroy the county's "pastoral atmosphere," she added.

WARNING TO SCHAUMBURG RESIDENTS - YOU MAY TAKE OFFENSE TO THE FOLLOWING QUOTE.

"It's taking what they have in Schaumburg and shifting it north," she said.

Over at Trillium home decor shop, owner Tobin Fraley, who sits on the plan commission, had similar sentiments. "Right now Route 53 is congested in the mornings," he said. "If we extend it and there's an economic turnaround and all kinds of building takes place - suddenly property farther north becomes more valuable and you're back where you were - packed streets."

Long Grove retiree and park board president Lee Bassett lives near a wetlands connected with Buffalo Creek he says would be destroyed by Route 53 construction.

"There's all kinds of wildlife out there," Bassett said, describing how he had just watched a pair of red-tailed hawks. "I would hate to see it lost. There are a number of alternatives that can be considered or improvements made to roads."

Every argument has a counterpoint and this column's rebuttal comes from Lake County Board member David Stolman.

Stolman - who stressed he was speaking as a resident and not in his official capacity - said there's lots of folks who favor the extension.

"All we're trying to do is come up with a viable alternative," Stolman said. "I think that people are at the point where they're fed up and tired of sitting in traffic." Those people include those inconvenienced by weather-related Route 41 closings and residents in west Lake County with limited north-south options, he explained.

Arguments that extending Route 53 will bring more development are flawed, he contends. "Those developments come no matter what. Lake County's population has increased dramatically.

And if the community comes together, the results could be something to be proud of, Stolman said. "It doesn't have to be a concrete jungle. You could create a boulevard. It could be a parkway. The technology is such the environment could be protected."

Want to know more? Lake County will have a live chat at 11 a.m. March 24 on the topic appearing on lakecountyil.gov or LCTV - Comcast channel 18 or 30 or AT&T channel 99. Questions can be e-mailed to Route53questions@lakecountyil.gov.