You know I remember this fight back in 1977 when Long Grove thought their "way of life" was being destroyed by the IL-53 extension. Lake County WAS pretty rural back in 1977, but has any of these NIMBY's checked Google Earth and seen what Lake County looks like now?
Negative impact to wetlands? Excuse me, but I think the over 30+ sub divisions that have been built along the entire ROW has done more overall damage to the "wetlands" than a highway could ever produce. Lawn fertilizers, chlorine from leaking pools, back yard oil changers.
This road should have been done in 2007.
From the Chicago Tribune:
A Lake County environmental group on Thursday sued the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority to stop it from spending any more money to study an extension of Route 53.
The lawsuit, filed in Lake County Circuit Court in Waukegan by Livable Lake County and six area homeowners, alleges the Tollway failed to abide by state law in pursuing the controversial project. Specifically, the lawsuit claims that the Tollway violated the Illinois Toll Highway Act by failing to get proper authorization for the corridor from the Illinois legislature and not holding required public hearings.
Anthony Vega, a representative for Livable Lake County, called the Route 53 extension a “highway boondoggle.”
“They’re just spending money to widen highways that are destructive to the environment,” said Vega, who said the suit was filed Thursday afternoon. “This is a pattern of wasteful spending. Building roads won’t solve congestion – if anything, it will just worsen it.”
The Tollway last spring approved spending $25 million for an environmental impact study on the controversial project, which has been discussed since the 1960s. The proposal would stretch Route 53 from suburban Arlington Heights in Cook County to Grayslake in Lake County, and also widen Illinois Route 120, creating a new, T-shaped, 25-mile toll road.
At the hearing last May, representatives from multiple construction companies spoke in favor of the project, saying the extension would bring jobs and relieve congestion in a growing region. Environmental groups and officials from the suburbs of Hawthorn Woods and Long Grove opposed it, noting the extension’s projected $2.65 billion cost and potential negative impact to wetlands.
The environmental study is expected to take three to five years – there have already been three previous studies. A blue-ribbon advisory council formed in 2011 of public officials and representatives from business and other groups favored a four-lane boulevard with maximum speeds of 45 mph and a number of environmental features.
The homeowners who joined in suing the tollway claim they have refrained from making property improvements because of the “recent revival” of the proposed project.
Tollway spokesman Dan Rozek said the agency hadn’t received a copy of the lawsuit or otherwise reviewed it. But he did note in an email to the Tribune: “The Illinois Tollway has followed all applicable state and federal regulations for initiating an Environmental Impact Statement regarding the Illinois Route 53/120 Project.”
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Topic: Illinois Tollway Notes (Read 283807 times)