The last days of the war with O'Hare

After four decades of warring over the expansion of O'Hare International Airport, it is hard to imagine that the battles that pitted suburbs against Chicago - and later suburb against suburb - may finally be near an end.

In recent years, Bensenville and Elk Grove Village became the last two suburbs standing against the project. That made sense since the two communities stood to bear most of the negative consequences. It has been a bitter, brutal and expensive fight, and for most of it, Bensenville and Elk Grove Village have been Davids fighting Goliath.

But now, from Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson's standpoint, one of those Davids has won. Or at least survived.

As transportation writer Marni Pyke detailed in Friday's editions, Johnson announced the village is dropping its legal battle against the expansion after the Illinois Department of Transportation agreed to rule out use of a widened Route 83 as a bypass to connect to a western access road to the airport.

That bypass proposal would have destroyed Elk Grove's business park, Johnson said, and the village fought it vociferously, at one point recently generating 38,000 comment cards in opposition to it.

"The cloud over our community for the last 40 years has been removed," the jubilant mayor said.

Johnson has declared it a win, and certainly, from Elk Grove Village's perspective, it is. The odds had seemed long that the village would ever be able to get an accommodation it could live with, and the battle had seemed lonely. And a hearty congratulations is due Johnson.

But we prefer to see it is a win for everyone. We have long supported the expansion of O'Hare as vital to the economic health and growth of the suburbs, and we view the western access component in much the same way. As Wood Dale Mayor Ken Johnson said Thursday, an expressway connecting to the west side of the airport would be "an economic shot in the arm. It's an opportunity to be Rosemont West."

That is, everyone has won so far except Bensenville, and there, the verdict is still out.

Already, the village stands to lose about 600 homes to the airport expansion. It could lose more depending on the southern bypass option that is chosen by IDOT.

We believe priority, in that case, needs to be given to the option that will have the most limited impact on Bensenville.

New Bensenville Village President Frank Soto seems to prefer negotiation to litigation, and that's encouraging and constructive.

Through negotiations, Elk Grove Village was able to get what it could live with. That same tact could benefit Bensenville. At least, it's time to try.

What do you think?

Is it possible that after 40 years of arguments over the expansion of O'Hare Airport, compromises can be reached that will satisfy everyone's interests?