Route 53 extension boondoggle
The Route 53 extension should be abandoned for the following reasons:
There is no money available for this wasteful and unnecessary multibillion dollar boondoggle.
Lake County residents are being asked to pay higher gas taxes and tollway fees to make travel more convenient for Wisconsin and Indiana truck traffic.
Lake County residents want east-west roads improved.
Uncongested Route 45 runs parallel to the latest proposed route and the north-south tollway does as well.
Lake County residents pay some of the highest property taxes in the country to acquire forest preserves and protect the environment. We do not need this ecological, air pollution, and noise disaster shoved down our throats.
Lake County roads get busy during rush hour as does every other road in the Chicago Metropolitan Area.
Will County has three times the job growth and commuters as Lake County.
The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning has deemed the Route 53 extension as unnecessary and put it on the back burner in their ON TO 2050 program.
When Route 53 was extended to Lake-Cook Road from Dundee Road 30 years ago, it did not ease the local traffic on Dundee Road as promised.
The 1,100 acres acquired over the past 48 years can be sold to pay for necessary improvements. The old Illinois Tollway Board that proposed the Tri-County Access Project was a hotbed of nepotism and corruption.
The new Lake County Board should give impacted communities primary consideration other than towns that are miles away, and understand that road builder associations and developers have a vested interest in what they propose.
Harry Georgas
Long Grove