No one neutral on whether to build Prairie Parkway

It's up to Illinois tollway directors to decide if the Prairie Parkway is a congestion-relieving economic panacea or a farm-destroying boondoggle.

With its rebuilding and widening program wrapped up, the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority is poised to adopt a new project. Already, tollway directors have heard pitches for the Elgin-O'Hare Expressway and extension of Route 53 into Lake County among other needs.

On Thursday, the plan to build a 37-mile four-lane highway connecting I-80 and I-88 took center stage. The Prairie Parkway is estimated to cost $3.26 billion and would run through Kane, Kendall and Grundy counties. The project also is at the center of a lawsuit.

"We need the Prairie Parkway, we need to begin building it," Kendall County Board Chairman Anne Vickery said. "We need the jobs."

Kendall County farmer Judy Maierhofer countered, "I am an endangered species. My farm is in the footprint of the Prairie Parkway it would be totally obliterated."

The highway would provide a needed north-south route and address inadequacies with the existing arterial roads, tollway planner Rocco Zucchero said.

"One of the problems out there is that there are a lot of two-lane roadways," he said.

However, Zucchero noted the parkway would impact 2,505 acres of prime farmland and 188 farms, displace 21 homes and affect forests and wetlands in the vicinity.

Cindy Skukrud, a Sierra Club clean water advocate, said the parkway would fragment habitats and damage streams and forests. "I'm concerned about salt spray damaging trees and affecting water quality," she said.

Big Rock Township Supervisor Sandy Carr told directors the highway would bisect communities and could pollute the private well system. "This will promote more traffic and extend sprawl," she said.

Others argued the focus should be on widening Route 47 instead of building the parkway.

Vickery contended the region needs both the Prairie Parkway and Route 47 improvements. "Sprawl is here already," she said. "They're going to come I can't stop it."

Kane County Chairman Karen McConnaughay called the Prairie Parkway a key to solving larger regional problems of congestion, freight movement and job creation.

While Route 47 should be addressed, "it's not a regional solution to the movement of traffic in the region," she said.

State Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia, an Aurora Democrat, and state Sen. Chris Lauzen, an Aurora Republican, both spoke against the plan.

Chapa LaVia said the recession had halted growth in the region given as a justification for the road.

Lauzen characterized the fight as politically connected landowners against "regular folks." "I've read studies demonstrating the relief to congestion and traffic is minimal," he said.

Tollway officials are still evaluating a menu of potential construction projects and could make a decision at year's end.