Preservationists watch Illiana Expressway proposal

Illinois preservationists are working with state officials to make sure historic properties aren’t affected by the proposed Illiana Expressway.

The 47-mile route would link Interstate 55 south of Chicago and I-65 south of Gary.

Virginia Ferry is head of the Will County Historic Preservation Commission.

She’s tells the Southtown Star that an Interstate 355 extension built a decade ago destroyed old family farmsteads and other homes that some thought should have gotten a historic designation.

But she hopes that won’t happen this time around.

Three properties on the National Register of Historic Places are near or within the path of the project. So are seven other sites that are being recommended for inclusion on the register.

Hearings on the expressway’s final route will be held this fall.