A new bus route for Carpentersville?

Could Carpentersville use another bus route?

Village officials hope the Regional Transit Authority thinks so.

Carpentersville has applied for a grant to help fund a transportation study examining whether the community could sustain an east/west bus route from PACE.

Through its Community Planning Program, RTA would pay for 80 percent of the study, while the village would pick up the remaining 20 percent during the 2012-2013 budget year. RTA is working in conjunction with the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning on the project.

If approved, authorities envision a route linking east side employees to their jobs along Maple Avenue, Commerce Parkway and within Old Town. Officials estimate that the village has over 6,000 homes east of the river, and that those residents comprise the bulk of that area's workforce.

“We're really trying to get some cars off the road and especially for a commute that isn't that far, but you still need a car for it,” Economic Development Coordinator Jan Murphy said. “We'd just like to see if there's an opportunity to link through public transit to give people an alternative — automobiles are expensive.”

Officials would like to see the route travel Route 68, go through the Golfview and Hazard Road areas and connect to routes 25 and 31. The route would also connect east side residents to stores and other businesses on Randall Road.

“It would be great to let some of these people have access to shopping but also to the small businesses in the area,” Trustee Doug Marks said. “I think it's a win-win situation for everyone.”

Right now, PACE operates two routes through Carpentersville that go from north to south — the #543 and the #803.

“We're devoid of getting people from the east side to the west side and vice versa,” Village Manager J. Mark Rooney said.

Carpentersville is one of 10 communities under consideration for the grant. The other towns are Lake Villa, Fox Lake, Mount Prospect, Round Lake, Evanston, Kenilworth, Cicero, Olympia Fields and LaGrange.

The proposals will go through a public hearing in August and the RTA board is due to make its final selections in October. Funding would be approved by December, said Heather Tabbert, RTA's manager of local planning and programs.