Rt. 53 plan is dead … or is it?

State road builders say extending Route 53 north is officially on the shelf after decades of failed attempts to get the massive project built.

"Right now we … don't have any money for it," says Tom Murtha, transportation planner at the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning.

Still, this often tried -- and failed -- project to cut Northwest suburban congestion appears to have life as the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority looks at reviving the plan, and some say it just needs more clout to really get off the ground.

After all, the Illinois Department of Transportation owns 904 acres purchased over 30 years for the contentious project as officials wait "until a stronger political consensus moves forward," says state transportation spokesman Mike Claffey.

In fact, there has been recent forward movement.

Tollway officials now are studying the extension -- along with several other regional improvements -- as a project they could take on. It is unclear when they will make a decision. Making the extension a tollway would likely circumvent the need for federal money because the tolls would presumably cover construction and loan costs.

Some political supporters also are still pushing behind the scenes. State Rep. Sid Mathias, a Buffalo Grove Republican, said he recently lobbied Gov. Rod Blagojevich to build the road from Long Grove to Grayslake.

"There is a real need for it," argues Mathias.

The Route 53 project would extend the six-lane highway, which now ends at the clogged Lake-Cook Road, north to Grayslake and then east to the Tri-State Tollway, and west to Wilson Road. It could cost well over $1 billion.

Proponents say it would relieve horrible traffic on north-south routes like Route 12, Route 45, Route 83 and I-294 as well as east-west routes 22, 60, 176 and 137.

Critics say the congestion can be more easily reduced by widening other roads. They also argue the extension would unnecessarily rip up wetlands, increase pollution and disturb communities.

"We are still adamantly opposed to it," said Long Grove Village President Maria Rodriguez.

Citizen groups on both sides of the issue -- with bumper stickers and fervent rallies -- have long kept the issue charged, making it the third rail for Northwest suburban politics.

The project's latest revival to fall flat came in the last half of Gov. George Ryan's term, in 2001 and 2002. After months of lobbying from Lake County groups on both sides of the issue, Ryan's tollway officials backed out and passed the buck to Blagojevich, who has not pursued the project.

"The big political forces have tended to be against it instead of being for it," said Joe DiJohn, Metropolitan Transportation Support Initiative director at the University of Illinois at Chicago. "But as traffic increases, something has to be done."

When politicians oppose Route 53, they have often cited the opposition of local communities, including Long Grove and Mundelein. Yet projects with staunch opposition have been muscled through before when clout is in play.

For example, the O'Hare International Airport bypass -- opposed by Bensenville and Elk Grove Village -- won millions of dollars in federal funds with the backing of Chicago Mayor Richard Daley and DuPage County Board President Robert Schillerstrom.

The far southwestern Prairie Parkway is also sparking local opposition groups, but the project's chief champion, former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, made certain funding came through.

As for Lake County, many local officials support the plan. But U.S. Rep. Melissa Bean, a Barrington Democrat, and Rep. Mark Kirk, a Highland Park Republican, haven't committed.

Bean said she will push the project only if the state supports it, while state officials say they won't move forward until there is a "political consensus."

"It hasn't come up as an issue recently," Bean said, referring to her routine meetings with county and village officials.

Even without heavyweight clout, the plan doesn't seem to be on its last breath, and that worries opponents.

For example, the state is now examining how to widen Route 120 in Lake County. If completed, that would make up the northern leg of the original Route 53 extension plan. Bean is supporting that plan.

Plus, the project's mere inclusion in the tollway's planning process is a wake-up call for some.

"It raises some real questions about whether or not it is truly dead," said Terry Pastika, director of the Elmhurst-based Citizen Advocacy Center, part of the coalition of Route 53 extension opponents.