The communities along busy Palatine Road agree that significant improvements are needed to alleviate traffic congestion.
The stretch between U.S. Highway 14 and Milwaukee Avenue is particularly troublesome, with its hodgepodge of lane configurations and narrow frontage roads. The road cuts through Wheeling, Prospect Heights, Arlington Heights and Palatine.
But there’s little agreement among these towns when it comes to shaping a single plan to make physical improvements to Palatine Road.
The Illinois Department of Transportation discovered that recently when it proposed widening Palatine Road by two lanes, converting it into a six-lane miniature expressway between Illinois Highway 53 and Schoenbeck Road.
Developing consensus among the communities has become the mission of the Northwest Municipal Conference, which recognizes that unless everyone can agree on a single plan, improvements to Palatine Road could be in jeopardy.
The municipal conference, a group of mayors and other municipal officials from the northwest suburbs, has begun organizing a task force on Palatine Road that also would include representatives from Northbrook and Northfield. Those towns are concerned about plans to widen Willow Road, which merges with Palatine Road at the Tri-State Tollway.
“I think what the task force would do is sit down and see how each town’s plan fits within the overall performance of the corridor,” said Mark Fowler, the municipal conference’s director of transportation.
The plans to improve Palatine Road ignited controversy earlier this year when IDOT proposed turning the roadway into a mini-expressway. IDOT wants to eliminate stretches of frontage road and increase the number of lanes in some areas, including a span between Rand and Schoenbeck Roads in Arlington Heights.
But several towns that would be affected by the improvements–Arlington Heights in particular–aren’t convinced that IDOT’s plans are good for their communities. They complain that IDOT’s improvements would alter the character of their communities and bring traffic too close to homes.
The idea for the task force grew out of a meeting called by Arlington Heights Mayor Arlene Mulder in November.
“What we’re trying to do is look at it as a whole,” Mulder said.
One appealing aspect of IDOT’s plans is the proposed overpass at Wheeling Road, which would eliminate long backups at the intersection during rush hours.
But if IDOT, as it has suggested, were to increase the number of lanes in Arlington Heights before the Wheeling Road overpass is built, the backups would only worsen, said Prospect Heights Mayor Edward Rotchford.
“They’re going to be moving all this traffic and sending it nowhere,” he said.
