Elgin staff changes course on Route 20

Elgin City Council members Wednesday evening will revisit the discussion over financing a study to convert Route 20 from a bypass into an urban highway.

The proposal to fund a $97,715 feasibility study was tabled before public discussion at the Jan. 26 meeting. The city staff is presenting the proposal to the council once again, albeit with a different recommendation.

An initial report to the council urged members to give staff the go-ahead to commission a study of Route 20 traffic patterns. Now staff recommends the council decline it.

“Great ideas don’t always make great policy,” City Manager Sean Stegall said.

Early support of the project was based on a report by the Chicago-based Congress for the New Urbanism, which advocated a new design to make the road more accessible to pedestrians and cyclists.

Mayor David Kaptain said in January while still just a councilman that he did not support the redesign — unlike then-Mayor Ed Schock.

With the mayoral change and two new council members, Stegall said he would like direction from the new council about their expectations before the staff spends any more time on the project.

Though Stegall said the redesign holds a lot of potential, he acknowledged now may not be the best time to fund the study.

“The support that is required by the community for an endeavor like this has to be significant,” Stegall said. “It doesn’t appear to be there.”

A vocal opposition formed against the proposed redesign leading up to the April council election. The Committee to Save the Route 20 Bypass, composed of neighborhood leaders, formed to endorse council candidates who opposed the plan. The committee argued against reduced speed limits and stoplight intersections.

The memo to council members for Wednesday’s meeting based staff’s recommendation to forgo the study on a lack of funding for construction at the city and state level.

Because the traffic data would be time sensitive and future construction projects are uncertain in this economic climate, the city would run the risk of needing to redo the study if construction is significantly delayed.

Council members will discuss their options at the 6 p.m. meeting Wednesday in the council chambers of city hall.