John McCarron suggested recently (Op-Ed, Dec. 15) that the solution to traffic congestion in the collar counties is to initiate Metra commuter rail service on the EJ&E Railway, a freight carrier that loops around Chicago through the collar counties.
This suggestion offers no resolution to the traffic gridlock that already exists in Will County. Metra estimates it would be 10 years before a commuter train would roll on the “J,” and that’s assuming the ongoing studies prove the project feasible–that people would actually use the service and that money can be found to pay for it.
Moreover, the EJ&E Railway runs east and west through Will County. What’s needed is a north-south solution, and the solution is already at hand: the extension of Interstate Highway 355 from Bolingbrook to New Lenox. Highway planners more than 30 years ago identified this 12.5-mile extension as essential to the Chicago area’s growth.
It’s time to get on with the project. SAFE (Southern Alliance For Extension) has collected more than 8,000 signatures of people who support the extension of I-355. We appreciate Mr. McCarron’s suggestion, but Will County cannot wait a decade for a solution that may never come. We need relief now.
