In his biggest concession yet to opponents of a state project to widen Illinois Highway 53, DuPage County Board Chairman Robert Schillerstrom announced Tuesday he will form an ad hoc committee to examine the impact of the controversial project.
Members of Neighbors Influencing Fifty-Three Improvements have been urging Schillerstrom since June to join the fight against a plan to widen the road from two lanes to five in parts of DuPage.
Schillerstrom, who originally supported the project, then shifted to a neutral position, and he credited NIFTI’s well-researched, grass-roots campaign as a factor in his decision to form the committee.
“The NIFTI group has voiced some opposition that makes some sense,” Schillerstrom said after Tuesday’s County Board meeting. “A lot of these citizens groups act out of emotion, but these folks have a pretty common-sense approach. They’ve done their homework, and they’ve come in with an alternative.”
The ad hoc committee may recommend endorsing NIFTI’s alternative plan, which calls for the addition of a single turning lane in the center of the 6-mile stretch of Illinois 53 that cuts through Glen Ellyn and Lombard.
“We’re excited that they’re taking a close look at this issue, and we’re absolutely hoping to get a resolution in support of our three-lane vision,” NIFTI member Bob Gans said Tuesday.
NIFTI, which represents more than a dozen school and park districts, environmental groups, and homeowners associations, was influential in convincing state transportation officials in October to drop 2 1/2 miles from the project between Roosevelt and Butterfield Roads.
But the Illinois Department of Transportation has said it still plans to widen two sections of Illinois 53: from Roosevelt Road to North Avenue, and from Butterfield Road to Park Boulevard just north of the East-West Tollway.
In addition to fighting those plans, Gans said NIFTI will urge the ad hoc committee to push the state for environmental-impact studies and the creation of wetlands to help purify polluted water that would run off the new pavement.
NIFTI presented those concerns to the County Board’s Environmental Committee last month.
The road expansion project also raises questions that touch on the work of several other county committees, Schillerstrom said, including panels on transportation, public transportation, public works and storm water.
“Any one of those committees should realistically have some say regarding this, so there isn’t just one committee that would be able to focus on this,” Schillerstrom said. “I’m going to try to appoint a committee that will cut across all those issues.”
Although Schillerstrom wouldn’t say whom he plans to appoint to the committee, he noted that District 4 board member Gwendolyn Henry said she would like to sit on the panel.
Other board members who urged Schillerstrom to form the ad hoc committee include John Noel, Paul Didzerekis, Michael Formento and Thomas Bennington, Schillerstrom said.
Henry, who supports NIFTI’s three-lane plan, said she shares the group’s environmental and safety concerns along with its hope that a resolution from the county would go a long way in swaying IDOT officials.
“There are a lot of school buses that use [Illinois] 53, and a five-lane road makes it very difficult for children to cross the road,” Henry said.
Schillerstrom said the final decision on the project’s fate rests with IDOT. But if the ad hoc committee recommends opposition to the expansion, he wouldn’t rule out exerting political pressure.
“It’s a state decision, but we carry a little bit of weight around here,” Schillerstrom said.
