Survey crews out in neighborhoods to check O'Hare bypass options

Surveyors will be scouting neighborhoods and commercial areas that are potential locations for a western bypass around O'Hare International Airport between now and spring.

The surveys come as Illinois Department of Transportation planners narrow their options for a western bypass around O'Hare that links I-90 and I-294 to the Elgin O'Hare Expressway. The state intends to extend the expressway east along Thorndale Avenue to the airport and construct the bypass as part of the project.

Public hearings on alternatives for the new construction will start this fall with final decisions expected before the end of the year, IDOT Bureau Chief of Programming Pete Harmet said.

Four designs are in play. For the north leg joining I-90 with the bypass, choices include building a highway mainly on airport property or on a widened York Road.

For the south leg linking with the Tri-State Tollway, options are constructing an elevated highway either west of County Line Road in Bensenville or east of the Union Pacific Railroad tracks in Franklin Park.

The field work will include surveys of wetlands, historical or archeologically significant sites, soil and geology, the location of utilities, and traffic.

"Environmental surveys are going on now and as we get in to September, we'll do ground surveys and traffic counts," Harmet said.

Although actual construction won't occur any time soon, the surveying, some of which is weather-sensitive, needed to begin so detailed engineering plans can move forward when the state sets the design in stone, Harmet said.

"If we do not start until next year, we'll have lost a full year," he said.

IDOT anticipates holding public hearings on the alternatives in October. Reaction from affected communities will be a factor in making a decision.

Already Bensenville leaders have said they oppose building the bypass near County Farm Road. Elk Grove Village residents fought a plan to put it on Route 83 and IDOT dropped that concept this spring.

The impact of the bypass ranges significantly, according to IDOT estimates.

For example, building the project using airport property would cost about $3.6 billion, impact 28 acres of wetlands, affect four parks, potentially displace 57 structures including 20 homes plus commercial and industrial property, and potentially affect 1,065 jobs.

Building the project by widening York Road would cost about $2.5 billion, impact 26.5 acres of wetlands, affect three parks, potentially displace 47 structures including 18 homes, and potentially impact 760 jobs.