Second group opposes Red Gate Bridge; St. Charles mayor stands firm

St. Charles Mayor Don DeWitte put out a message to all would-be funding sources of the city's Red Gate Bridge project last week when he said there is "overwhelming support within St. Charles Township, on both sides of the (Fox) River, for the construction of this river crossing."

But now a second group of neighbors is challenging that statement.

Up until now, Wayne residents were the only visible community group actively opposed to the bridge in recent months. But when Chuck Ingersoll saw DeWitte's comment about "overwhelming support," he just couldn't believe DeWitte had his neighborhood in mind. Ingersoll is president of the River Bend Community Group. The community is located just of east of the Fox River in unincorporated St. Charles. Ingersoll sent out an e-mail with DeWitte's quote asking his neighbors for a reaction. In 14 responses, only one of them was in favor of the bridge.

The responses ran the gamut from Ingersoll's neighbors saying the bridge project "needs to be killed and buried before the stink gets any worse," to a more common theme that the bridge would be river crossing overkill.

"Here on the east side of the river, my best estimation is that, if anything is overwhelming, it's opposition to the Red Gate Bridge Project," read another response. "But outside of those extremes, my sense is that many folks are interested in seeing what effect, if any, completion of the Stearns Road corridor project will have on the traffic needs."

The Stearns Road Bridge project is something frequently pointed to by Wayne residents as a new Fox River crossing that will ease enough of the traffic swarm as to make Red Gate a $30 million waste of money.

But DeWitte has said repeatedly that studies show the only long-term answer to the area's traffic backups is multiple river crossings. On Friday, he said he also has the survey results that bolster his claim of "overwhelming support."

St. Charles commissioned a community survey in April 2009 with 2,243 participants from St. Charles, Wayne and the surrounding unincorporated area of about 70,000 people. In that survey, 65 percent of people said they support the Red Gate Bridge. About 12 percent of respondents opposed the bridge. Another approximately 23 percent said they were unsure how they felt. However, 69 percent of the people responding also lived on the west side of the river. DeWitte also acknowledged some people will no doubt say the survey was biased because it was commissioned by St. Charles.

"We'll be the first to admit there are NIMBYS in various pockets who are opposed to the project," DeWitte said. "But from our standpoint the level of support in an area of 60,000 to 70,000 people is clear."