Was there really a need to widen road?

With Illinois billions in debt and the country in trillions of dollars in debt, who is responsible for letting the Illinois Department of Transportation throw away $35.5 million to widen a road that works just fine the way it is?

According to IDOT, 4:30 a.m. is peak traffic for the road in front of my home. IDOT said that in the year 2000 there were 445 cars making a right hand turn onto Bloomingdale Road. By this year, there will be 445 cars that will be making that same turn at 4:30 a.m. By 2020, 460 cars will be turning at 4:30 in the morning.

So for this reason IDOT will widen Rohlwing road to 4 lanes and put in 350-foot-long right and left turn lanes onto Nordic. In doing this they will destroy all our trees and flowers. Many of you have stopped to tell us how you have enjoyed looking at them over the years. This will all be gone. The new road will be about where our fence and flowers are now. Illinois will be further in debt, and hundreds of roads in Illinois that really could use this money will remain unrepaired. All because in 2000 someone at IDOT added a zero to the car count and no one bothered to double check it. Some of you may have seen me in the morning taking pictures. I've been getting up at 4:20 a.m. looking for all those cars, but I can't seem to find them.

Karen Fahlgren

Itasca