Lincolnshire Mayor Barbara LaPiana is generating a smoke screen on the reconstruction of Illinois Highway 22 to obscure the village’s real motivation–choking off traffic in Lincolnshire and forcing traffic into other areas (“Review IDOT,” Voice of the people, Jan. 26).
The mayor knows that the state cannot use road-fund money or bond funds designated for the reconstruction of Illinois 22 to pay for general government operations. State law prohibits such uses.
She has chosen this approach to take advantage of the state’s budgetary problems as a way to attack the Department of Transportation’s proposal for reconstructing and improving safety on Illinois 22.
The village of Lincolnshire has proposed a three-lane roadway. Statistics show that a three-lane design with the high volumes of traffic in Lincolnshire would be dangerous compared with a five-lane design proposed by the department. The accident rate for a three-lane road is almost twice the level of a five-lane road and the fatality rate is more than twice as high.
LaPiana’s letter contained too many errors and misstatements to address. Just another example is her allegation that the project will impact 80 wetlands. The actual number is just slightly more than one-tenth of an acre out of seven wetland areas in the Lincolnshire area.
The issue is not a choice between roads and human services; it is about safety and service to the motorist. After safety, the department must look at how improvements to Illinois 22 serve through traffic as well as local travel.
