Route 47 corridor plan makes pieces fit together

Openlands has worked with McHenry County communities for many years to achieve a vision for the Route 47 corridor as it traverses the headwaters of the Kishwaukee River. We believe that the 37,000 current and 160,000 future residents have a right to expect that Route 47 will serve as a major transportation corridor that is known for its transportation efficiency, character and landscape preservation rather than its congestion, commercial blandness and environmental degradation.

The recently released Illinois 47 Corridor Planning Study, funded by an IDOT Illinois Tomorrow Corridor Grant (and reported in the Daily Herald Thursday, May 27), is a model project which will hopefully be replicated throughout the region. It is a strong reminder that land use, multimodal transportation, natural areas protection, public open space, farmland preservation, and water supply can, and should, be imagined, engineered, and accomplished as a combined vision.

Openlands has developed and supported actions that protect our rivers and water supply and our natural areas and farmland. When the Route 47 study is successfully implemented, it will affirm what all great regions have in common: that with good planning all of the pieces can, in fact, fit together.

Gerald W. Adelmann

President and CEO

Openlands

Chicago