It's not Route 53 work without controversy

It's an expressway, it's a major arterial and it's a meandering two-lane street. Route 53 comes in many guises but the state's latest attempt to widen and modernize the roadway in the Addison/Itasca area is facing pushback by some residents.

It's a familiar story. Homeowners along Route 53 have fought expansion projects in Glen Ellyn and a plan to extend the roadway into Lake County also generates controversy.

In this case, the Illinois Department of Transportation is focusing on a segment of Route 53 stretching from the Elgin-O'Hare Expressway to Army Trail Road.

It will cost about $65 million to build two lanes in each direction with a median, left-turn lanes, storm sewer system, noise walls and new traffic signals. Work should start in spring 2011 and last through 2012.

But before the dirt and asphalt starts flying, the state needs to acquire 8 acres of land involving 173 properties. The state will not take any homes; instead it's aiming to acquire easements along Route 53.

That means a flurry of condemnations. IDOT is engaged in 92 condemnation proceedings and has acquired 58 parcels so far.

The letter notifying her of a pending court date was a bolt from the blue for Karen Fahlgren.

“It was a real shock,” said Fahlgren, who has lived with her family along Route 53 in an unincorporated neighborhood near Itasca since 1988.

Hiring a lawyer to fight the condemnation is an unaffordable expense, Fahlgren said. “We live within our means, we pay our bills, we don't have anything extravagant.”

The street doesn't see enough traffic to justify the cost of the project, she said. “The state is $13 billion in debt. How they plan to do this project, I have no idea.”

If the city wins its case, the roadway will be much closer to Fahlgren's house and many of the beloved spruces and cedars that screen her home from Route 53 will be felled, she said.

“Those trees will be gone and they can never be replaced,” she said. “We won't regain that canopy. We bought here because of the trees. We loved the woods and the forest and the atmosphere.”

Fahlgren also pointed out that the road was resurfaced last year as part of the federal economic stimulus program. IDOT spokesman Guy Tridgell confirmed about $1.4 million worth of resurfacing occurred on parts of Route 53 between Lake Street and Irving Park Road in 2009.

That work will be torn up as part of the reconstruction.

Tridgell said the repairs were essential and when IDOT started them, the widening was expected to occur several years hence. The General Assembly only recently came up with funding to accelerate the project.

State transportation department engineers expect traffic along the Army Trail to Elgin-O'Hare stretch will increase from 15,000 to 18,000 vehicles a day to 28,000 in 2020.

With numerous rear-end and turn-related crashes, antiquated traffic signals and outdated design as well as the capacity problem, the road needs an upgrade, Tridgell said.

“When the project is over, there will be a new, safer road reducing travel times in an area that is fast-growing,” he said. “These improvements are demanded by the conditions.”

Residents like Fahlgren are unconvinced.

“To make this road into a superhighway is a waste of money.”

Flotsam and jetsam

- Two ramps at the Willow Road/Edens Expressway interchange will be closed until the end of November. This includes the westbound Willow Road ramp onto the expressway south and the northbound ramp onto west Willow Road.

- It's a quiet refuge at one of the world's busiest airports and it's celebrating 50 years. The O'Hare International Airport Chapel opened in 1960, offering an escape for airport employees and travelers. The interfaith chapel offers a Roman Catholic Mass along with Protestant and Islamic services. Open 24 hours a day, you can find it on the Mezzanine level in Terminal 2.