Extension is just another polluting highway
It is disheartening to listen to the sugarcoated version of the New Route 53 plan being marketed by the Route 53/120 Project Blue Ribbon Advisory Council.
Seriously, does anyone really think for a moment that this four-lane "parkway" will have commuters traveling at 45 mph speeds while enjoying the scenery? Soon they will be advertising this as a weekend destination, a place to picnic, bicycle ride in, around and under the tollway.
Particularly scary, the term "primarily paid for" by tolls and the Illinois Tollway with no mention of taxes to be paid by Hawthorn Woods, Long Grove and Mundelein (the special taxing district) for the benefit of Gurnee.
It begs the question of when, if ever has anything in Illinois been done at or under budget and sufficiently funded before and not after construction?
If truthfully advertised by its proponents as servicing in an eco-friendly way the needs of Lake County residents, why not also prohibit all "truck traffic, 18-wheeler diesel-powered semis" that will use the road day and night?
As far as the alternative recommendations are concerned, once 53 is built, the same monies mentioned in the alternative cost studies will have to be spent to widen, improve and add to the east-west roads needed to feed Route 53.
As to the $17- to $18-billion dollar economic impact touted by Lake County Partners, it's just another way of restating in more favorable terms the new housing and the ancillary infrastructure that will be needed to support $18 billion of unnecessary development in Lake County.
Sorry, I can't accept the environmentally friendly veneer that is being applied to what at the end of the day will just be another noisy, 24/7 polluting highway.
Richard Bertsche
Long Grove