For the better part of 30 years, there has been a long-standing battle over the construction of the Longmeadow Parkway Bridge Corridor. With the site initially known as the Bolz Road project, it appears the battle has finally been won by those in favor of constructing the bridge.
On Feb. 29, a ceremonial groundbreaking was held at the Algonquin Village Hall, where local dignitaries took photographs with shiny new shovels around an area of dirt in a parking lot that is not even where the new bridge is planned for construction. Local citizens were noticeably absent from the ceremony.
The Longmeadow Parkway Bridge Corridor will extend through portions of Algonquin, Carpentersville, Barrington Hills and unincorporated Kane County. It will begin west of Randall Road at the Huntley and Boyer roads intersection, cross the Fox River and end on Route 62.
Current estimates of the cost of the bridge range between $115 million to $120 million. A portion of that cost will be paid through a toll expected to be $1.50 during peak hours and $1.00 at other times of ay, according to the county’s website.
Kane County Board Chairman Chris Lauzen is confident the bridge is needed at the north end of the county.
“I respect the opposition to this project, but everyone is not going to agree. Eight different communities and two counties have supported this project,” Lauzen said.
A nonbinding referendum question will be on the ballot in Dundee Township on Tuesday asking local residents if they want to have this bridge built. Lauzen said, “Why do we have a referendum now, when we haven’t been able to convince one local government to oppose it?”
Taxpayers against the Longmeadow toll bridge worked hard to get this referendum question on the ballot and are hoping that if large numbers oppose the bridge, others citizens in the southern part of Kane County will be opposed to it too.
“With $62 million coming to our area for the bridge, it is important that we finish what was started for the good of our region,” Lauzen said.
With the groundbreaking ceremony, it seems that the construction of this bridge is moving forward, even if the nonbinding referendum shows an overwhelmingly large number of Dundee Township citizens are opposed to the bridge.
Once the bridge is completed, only then will we know if there is an unsatisfactory effect on the environment, if property values in the area drop drastically, or if people will use the bridge even if they have to pay a toll.
The Longmeadow Parkway Bridge is moving forward, even after a nearly 30-year battle by several grass-root groups to stop it. In the end, there will be one more way to cross the Fox River in Kane County.
Linda McDaniel-Hale is a Fox Valley resident who offers opinion on local topics.
