Future Highways in suburbia (Chicago, Aurora: taxes, price, authority)

[westburbsil]

With all the talk out there about the United States focusing on building new roads, bridges in this country to help spur economic development(this is not a political post! or simply for better convenience. Where would you like to see it in Chicago in the next 10 years? Here are mine

1. An expressway to Evanston - Connecting to 94. Evanston might be the most difficult suburb(and one of Chicago's greatest) to get into unless your coming from the city.

2. West suburbs Fox Valley - The one major negative out here in the Fox Valley is highway access. There is none and you are stuck driving up to 90 or 88 to head east. A new highway going from say 355 at around north ave west and ending at Route 47.

3. Extending 355(53 north) east to say grayslake

[chet everett]

The "Prarie Parkway" corridor will probably link I90 to I80 at some point, mostly west of Rt 47, to avoid the anger of folks in Kane Co and bring more prosperity to those in Kendall Co...

The opposition to 355 north extension, along with spotty land holdings, makes this harder to envisions.

Speaking of land costs, there is just about no way the State of Illinois would ever spend the going rates for land suitable for the right of way to link Evanston to any true expressway -- some of the lots are under tenth of acres and sell for over $500K, not cost effective...

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by westburbsil

With all the talk out there about the United States focusing on building new roads, bridges in this country to help spur economic development(this is not a political post! or simply for better convenience. Where would you like to see it in Chicago in the next 10 years? Here are mine

1. An expressway to Evanston - Connecting to 94. Evanston might be the most difficult suburb(and one of Chicago's greatest) to get into unless your coming from the city.

2. West suburbs Fox Valley - The one major negative out here in the Fox Valley is highway access. There is none and you are stuck driving up to 90 or 88 to head east. A new highway going from say 355 at around north ave west and ending at Route 47.

3. Extending 355(53 north) east to say grayslake

Hasn't all the talked ended with Republican control of the House?

[andrewesque]

Originally Posted by chet everett

Speaking of land costs, there is just about no way the State of Illinois would ever spend the going rates for land suitable for the right of way to link Evanston to any true expressway -- some of the lots are under tenth of acres and sell for over $500K, not cost effective...

Also, wouldn't there be significant political opposition from landowners/homeowners who -- given the North Shore/north suburban areas this expressway would likely go through -- would be very well-heeled and have lots of resources/political clout to fight it?

[westburbsil]

Hello Chet, not up to date on the politics of everything, but why would anyone oppose the Prarire Parkway? Wouldn't that promote growth in Kane County more than anywhere. I understand with Evanston it probably would have no chance, but boy would it be more convenient!

[gramirez2012]

Really need:
1. 53 extension north
2. N-S highway from 90 to 80, west of Elgin through Kane/Kendall counties.

[chet everett]

The opposition to the Prairie Parkway also caused problems for former Speaker Hastert and , together with the anti-Bush mood of the previous election cycle, led to the election of Bill Foster. Subsequent moves to get the road back on track have been a little shaky due to stalled development efforts, but generally most folks on the wesst edge of Aurora, Batavia, St. Charles or Geneva are not in favor of major north-south highway development that would likely cause more congestion on undersized feeder streets until / unless those are upgraded. The expansion of such streets would likely result in more taxes from the municipalities / Kane Co.... The opposition is also heavy among folks with the family farms that still dot that area.

[reppin_the_847]

As convenient as it sounds on paper, you can bet your top dollar that an Edens to Evanston highway spur would cause Lake Shore Drive to get much more congested than it currently is. There once was talks of extending Lake Shore Drive north through Edgewater and Rogers Park to link it to the southern border of Evanston, but there was a lot of local opposition to this as well. I don't even know if a spur from Evanston to the 94 Edens has ever been proposed. I do agree that although unrealistic, it sounds like it would be so convenient in terms of linking Rogers Park & Evanston up with the rest of the northern suburbs.

Forget all the highways though. I just wish they could bring the "North Shore Line" railroad again that linked Chicago to Milwaukee on a commuterlike level with plenty of intermediate stops. The Amtrak Hiawatha train to Milwaukee is a bit pricey and the service ends too early in the evening to be practical enough to catch a show or game in one city, and return to the other city in the same night. When looking at Amtrak's service levels between NYC & Philadelphia (similar mileage, but Philly is much more prominent than Milwaukee + the areas in between are dense all the way, yes I know), our railroad service connecting Chicago to Milwaukee is an absolute joke & Metra is never going to extend the UP-North to Milwaukee.

[cubssoxfan]

The IL 53 north extension is needed and was favored by a majority of voters when it was an advisory referendum on the November ballot. NIMBY opposition from snooty homeowners in Long Grove and Hawthorn Woods has stalled it, even though I doubt most of these homeowners were there since the highway was planned in the mid/late 60's. Biggest chance for having it built is via the Toll Authority, but I don't know if they can currently finance it.

On an earlier plan from the 40's or 50's there was an expressway proposed running the length of Lake Cook Rd. from about the current Rte 53 terminus to the lakefront.
There was a Fox valley Expressway proposed running near Rte 59, but local opposition prevented it.
What I find ironic about the FVE is many opponents stated it would cause too much growth. Noe look at that corridor; the growth happened anyway!

[pvande55]

How about all those highways proposed in the past? Of course the Crosstown was on the drawing boards (when they had drawing boards) for decades until opposition and declining population killed that. Someone else already mentioned the "Foxway," also the Waukegan-Richmond Freeway, and the South Suburban freeway. Some got partially built including the Elgin-O'Hare and the Lakeshore Freeway, known as the Amstutz.