The last place a proposed Fox Valley Freeway should run is on the east side of Elgin, if it`s to go anywhere at all.
That was the consensus of all but one state legislative candidate from the Elgin area at a forum Monday on the expressway, sponsored by the Poplar Creek Valley Concerned Citizens.
Three of the eight Republican primary candidates in state Senate District 33 and House District 66 races said there should be no new expressway at all.
Four legislative hopefuls acknowledged that the highway could relieve traffic congestion or give an economic boost to the region, but said that it should not run through builtup residential areas east of the Fox River.
And one candidate, James M. Kirkland, the current state representative from Elgin who is running for state Senate, took no position. Kirkland said the state first should complete feasibility studies.
The proposed freeway has become a hot campaign issue up and down the Fox River in recent weeks because of new ”mini-corridor” maps showing possible expressway routes from the Wisconsin state line to the Joliet area.
The maps, drawn by a consultant to the Illinois Department of Transportation, show several potential expressway corridors on the Cook County side of Elgin in the vicinity of the Rolling Knolls Golf Course on Rohrson Road.
Kirkland said that at this time he can neither support nor oppose the project: ”It`s easy to say no . . . but there are some preliminaries that should be done.”
Steven J. Rauschenberger, Kirkland`s opponent in the primary, and House candidates Thomas M. Hartwell, Douglas L. Hoeft and William C. Chesbrough said they opposed routing the freeway east of Elgin.
House candidates Robert Conway and Daniel F. Dring Jr. came out against the freeway wherever it was built, drawing applause from many in the audience. Sandra Wegman, another House candidate, did not attend the meeting, but a position statement read to the audience said that she too opposed the freeway. Saying that his home backs up to where the expressway could go, Conway said, ”The thought of a $2 billion (highway) coming through is more than I can bear, and I assume a lot of you feel the same way I do.”
”Any plan that proposes rolling up 600 homes in the 33rd District, it amazes me it`s even being considered,” Rauschenberger said, adding that the expressway should instead run up Randall Road, west of Elgin.
Hartwell said, ”A road like this may be good. But it should not be on the east side.”
Dring said that a freeway would not be worth the jobs if it also destroyed homes and wetlands.
