Better watch it on Route 41 as cops beef up patrols

It'll be a very long arm of the law hovering over Route 41 for four hours Friday night.

Gurnee and Park City police will be among the local agencies joining others from across the Midwest focused on drivers not wearing seat belts on Route 41. The busy highway runs about 800 miles, from Michigan's Upper Peninsula into Indiana.

Officials said the multistate crackdown from 6 to 10 p.m. Friday will be the first of its kind involving scores of law-enforcement agencies. The effort has been dubbed Reducing Auto Crashes through Corridor Enforcement.

Park City Police Chief Walter Holderbaum said his agency will have four squad cars working Route 41 during the crackdown. Route 41 runs through Route 120 in Park City, which borders Gurnee and Waukegan.

"It's a major thoroughfare," Holderbaum said. "We have quite a few accidents on it, too."

Gurnee Police Chief Robert Jones said authorities identified Route 41 as an enforcement priority because of a high volume of traffic crashes that result in death and injury.

"While the primary focus of this enforcement effort will be unbelted motorists, law enforcement will be quick to arrest impaired drivers or ticket speeders and other violators," said Jones.

Police in Illinois, Michigan, Indiana and Wisconsin will be part of the special Route 41 patrol.

An explosion of truck traffic on Route 41 occurred after Tri-State Tollway fees were dramatically increased in January 2005. That triggered complaints to state and local officials about speeding and traffic noise from many residents near Route 41.