Aurora Beacon-News
August 7, 2007

Letter:  'Prairie Parkway' a misnomer

The Prairie Parkway is an ill-conceived project that will be detrimental to Illinois farmland and water resources and provide little relief to traffic congestion.

My family owns a sesquicentennial farm in Kendall County, located at Route 47 and Whitewillow Road. Our farm has been a productive and contributing asset to the community since 1841. After 150 years in our family, imagine my anger when I learned the Illinois Department of Transportation has decided to build a highway right through the center of our property.

Kudos to the marketing genius who came up with the name "Prairie Parkway" -- it sounds like a picturesque trail through grasslands with sightings of pheasant and deer, but that is far from reality. Instead, it will destroy thousands of acres of pristine farmland, damage high-quality river and stream environments, and accelerate urban sprawl.

More than 10 environmental and public-interest groups and the overwhelming majority of residents have announced their opposition to the Prairie Parkway and instead support improving and widening Route 47. In fact, IDOT itself estimates that the impact that the Prairie Parkway will have on improving traffic congestion appears to be quite small. Then how can you justify developing a $1 billion roadway that will ruin acres of farmland?

Can Illinois and the United States afford to lose any more farmland? As far as I know, they aren't making it anymore. The Prairie Parkway is a loser all the way around.

Alana Moss
Duluth, Ga.