A
coalition to promote improvements to Illinois 47 and other local roads
between I-80 and I-88 in Kane, Kendall, and Grundy counties.
Coalition Members
American Farmland Trust
Center for Neighborhood Technology
Citizens Against the Sprawlway
Environmental Law and Policy Center
Friends of the Fox River
Kendall Citizens for Farmland Protection
Natural Resources Defense Council
Nettle Creek Watershed Conservancy
Openlands
Prairie Rivers Network
Illinois Chapter of the Sierra Club
Join our coalition - send an e-mail to info@47plus.org |
IDOT Cuts Planned Funds for Prairie Parkway
Illinois
Department of Transportation has quietly removed most funding for the
proposed Prairie Parkway from its six-year Highway Improvement Program
included all money designated to begin actual construction. It
has also modestly increased the planned funding for Illinois 47
widening from south of Yorkville to Sugar Grove.
Meanwhile, Congressman Bill Foster is readying legislation for shift
federal funds designated for the Prairie Parkway to improvements and
expansion of Illinois 47 between I-80 and I-88. The 2005 federal
transportation bill included earmarks totaling $207 million for the
proposed Prairie Parkway -- which carries a total cost of about $1
billion. According to IDOT, about $37 million of the federal
earmarks has been spent for land acquisition and engineering as of
April of this year.
According to a May 20, 2009, Daily Herald story:
"The state's plan did not identify money for two significant suburban
projects - extending Route 53 north of Lake Cook Road and the Prairie
Parkway, which would stretch from I-88 to I-80 in Kane, Kendall and
Grundy counties.
"Concerning the Prairie Parkway, [IDOT Secretary Gary] Hannig noted
that "it is a growing area and there's a lot of congestion. There needs
to be some solution to the problem."
"But because of litigation and lack of a local consensus, IDOT is holding back on funding."
The Highway Improvement Program, updated each year, is the budget blueprint for highway projects in the next six years.
The 2010-2015 Highway Improvement Program, announced May 20, includes
just $2.4 million for preliminary engineering and land acquisition for
the Prairie Parkway in Fiscal Year 2010 which begins July 1,
2009. All construction funding has been omitted.
The previous year's highway improvement program included $207.5 million
for the Prairie Parkway -- $16 million for land acquisition in FY 2009
and the rest for engineering and construction in the future.
The new six-year program finally begins to address improvements to
Illinois 47 with $3 million for land acquisition to widen Illinois 47
through Yorkville (engineering work is essentially completed) and $2.6
million for engineering work for improving sections of the highway
between Caton Farm Road south of Yorkville and Sugar Grove. (Last
year's version of the six-year plan had just $1.5 million for
engineering work.)
Lawsuit challenges federal approval of Prairie Parkway Project
Friends
of the Fox River and Citizens Against the Sprawlway, two members of the 47+ Coalition, filed a lawsuit on
March 25, 2009 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of
Illinois in Chicago against the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)
for violating Federal law in how it approved the Prairie Parkway
project.
See federal lawsuit
See 47+ Coalition comments on the Prairie Parkway Environmental Impact Statement
Legislative Hearing on Capital Bill
Rep.
Linda Chapa LaVia held a legislative hearing March 20 in Aurora to seek
the views of local officials, area organizations, and individuals on
projects to be funded in the Illinois Capital Program being developed
by the legislature.
The
47 Plus Coalition presented testimony urging funding of Illinois 47
improvements and other local roads instead of spending more money on
the proposed Prairie Parkway. Several other speakers also
supported the 47 Plus concept. Not one of the speakers backed the
Prairie Parkway.
See 47 Plus testimony
Take
Action:
The
decision on funding for Illinois 47 and/or the Prairie Parkway will be
made in Springfield as the legislature decides how to spend our scarce
highway tax dollars.
$207 million in federal dollars is already "earmarked" for a
"north-south connector between I-80 and I-88" -- IDOT wants to spend it
on a 5 mile segment of the Prairie Parkway between Illinois 71 and US
34. But it could instead tap that money for improving
Illinois 47.
Write or e-mail your legislators,telling them NOT to fund the Prairie
Parkway and to put the tax money into improving Illinois 47
and
other area roads.
[
Find your
Illinois elected officials here.
Look for "My Elected Officials" ]
|
Choosing
Illinois 47 and other local road improvements over the Prairie Parkway
means:
Avoiding
agricultural impacts:
Loss
of 2560 acres of farmland, affecting 189 farms. Nine farm
residences
would be lost and farm buldings would be lost on another 52
farms.
Avoiding
environmental impacts:
The
proposed Prairie Parkway crosses streams and tributaries at least 83
times, destroys 58 acres of forests, and could impact several
threatened and endangered species. It would degrade pristine
stretches of Big Rock Creek and Aux Sable Creek as well as the Fox
River.
Avoiding
community impacts:
We
help protect rural areas of Kane and Kendall counties from accelerating
sprawl.
IDOT estimates that an additional 5,400 acres of farmland
will be
lost to induced development caused by the Prairie Parkway.
We
save the villages of Big Rock and Kaneville, threatened with unwanted
growth and congestion as the Prairie Parkway cuts a swath through the
community.
Avoiding
financial impacts:
The
$1
billion cost of the proposed Prairie Parkway can be diverted to other
important transportation projects, projects that might not be funded
because of the enormous cost of the Prairie Parkway. Our
state
and federal tax dollars should be invested in sensible improvements and
expansion of the existing highway network. |
