When it comes to transportation needs in Naperville, some residents are saying now is the time to get long-range roadwork plans to move into the fast lane.
“The efficient flow of traffic is a quality of life issue that is of extreme importance,” said Jeannette Clark, a director of the Naperville Area Homeowners Confederation. “(Traffic experts) have identified the problems, but a lot of it is just visionary. What can be done to start getting those visions into implementation?”
Clark was among an estimated 70 members of the homeowners confederation who met recently with traffic officials from the state, county and township level at Naperville’s Municipal Center to discuss traffic issues in the area.
Roger Valente, area programmer for the Illinois Department of Transportation, outlined some projects his agency has targeted.
Illinois Highway 59, from 103rd to 111th Streets, will be widened to four lanes, he said. Construction for the $5.2 million project is scheduled to begin this year.
But an identified long-term need for the highway to be widened to six lanes throughout DuPage County and into Will County will not be tackled in the immediate future. Valente said that proposal, while recognized by IDOT as necessary, has not been programmed into the agency’s five-year plan.
A widening of U.S. Highway 34 to six lanes, from Illinois 59 to Aurora Avenue, has also been identified as necessary, but Valente said funding has not been allocated for construction there either.
Valente stressed that most road plans take time to come to fruition. The engineering process alone, he said, typically takes up to four years to complete.
“It boils down to a question of when are the dollars going to be available,” Valente said. “It remains a problem of having the sufficient dollars in a timely fashion.”
A $600,000 resurfacing project along Illinois 59, from south of the Burlington Northern Railroad overpass to McCoy Drive, is included in IDOT’s five-year plan, Valente said.
The homeowners confederation, an umbrella organization that aims to unite members of more than 120 individual homeowners associations in Naperville, organized the traffic panel. Representatives of the state, DuPage County, Will County and area townships outlined the routes for which each agency is responsible and highlighted a variety of long-term road upgrades planned for the area.
Chuck Tokarski, director of the DuPage County Division of Transportation, touched on some projects his agency has planned to help ease congestion and traffic flow in the area.
The widening of Raymond Drive to four lanes from Diehl Road to Ferry Road is under construction, he said. The $4 million project includes the construction of a new bridge over Interstate Highway 88, scheduled to be open to traffic by mid-summer.
Design work is under way for a new four-lane roadway along Ferry Road from Illinois 59 to Eola Road, but construction of the $16 million project likely won’t get started until 2003, Tokarski said.
Another plan calls for an Eola Road interchange at I-88. The $21.7 million project, intended to relieve congestion on Illinois 59 from motorists accessing Diehl Road, is not scheduled for construction until 2003.
Plans are also in the design stages for changes to the intersection of Naperville and Warrenville Roads that would provide additional turn lanes and the relocation of ramps from I-88 that currently intersect Naperville Road. The $26.6 million project is also scheduled for construction in 2003.
Darlene Senger, vice president of the homeowners confederation, said the intent of the weekend meeting was to provide the confederation’s members with a better understanding of how each agency works to address traffic issues.
“Now we’re better equipped to write our senators to communicate that we need these improvements,” Senger said.
State Rep. Mary Lou Cowlishaw (R-Naperville), who was also in attendance, made a plea to the panel of traffic officials to work closely with the various government agencies when planning for road projects.
“We all take (tax) dollars out of the same pockets,” Cowlishaw said. “We need to work together even more than we have before.”
State Sen. Chris Lauzen (R-Aurora) said after the meeting that Illinois legislators should change the formula used to allocate funding for road projects throughout the state. He said the formula currently earmarks 45 percent of the state’s $6 billion road budget for northeastern Illinois, and 55 percent for the rest of the state.
“Legislators can help by making it 50-50,” Lauzen said.
