"Yes" vote is not consensus on Rt. 53

This week roughly 22 percent of the voters of Lake County went to the polls and voted on the advisory referendum question, "Shall the State of Illinois construct the extension of Illinois Route 53 from Lake-Cook Road north to the existing Illinois Route 120?" Roughly 76 percent voted "yes." Now what? This is not "consensus." There are still 25 percent of the voters who have strong opposition to a conventional expressway running through Lake County, doing little or nothing to resolve our local congestion problems.

The reality is there is a traffic congestion problem throughout Lake County and the majority of the voters voted in frustration caused by that congestion. But building a big new road won't solve it. Large expressways are a 19th Century solution to a 21st Century challenge. We can do much better. Picture a forward-looking, coordinated program of transportation improvements that provided traffic congestion relief. First, completing the local road improvements already agreed upon by the Lake County Transportation Summits in 2005 and 2006. Second, a program of innovative, cost-effective public transportation improvements including bus rapid transit coordinated with Metra stops, and "Park and Ride" lots. Third, where clearly demonstrated need exists, building new "context sensitive" roads. Not high speed expressways serving traffic from Wisconsin to Schaumburg, but local parkways that serve our local and regional needs.

Now is the opportunity for our state legislators to come together in a nonpartisan fashion and work purposely toward a regional solution comprised of many individual projects that the Lake County residents can truly come to consensus around.

Michael Sands

Grayslake