Kane County Department of Transportation considers the Longmeadow Parkway Bridge Corridor an active construction project but, is complying with a temporary restraining order a federal judge issued this week.
“We have an active construction project totaling over $13 million with a complete date at the end of the season. Every day we are not working during construction season is a potential delay to the project,” Kane County Department of Transportation Executive Director Carl Schoedel said.
The $13 million figure is for the latest phase of the 5.6 mile route, officials said. The total project is estimated to cost $115 million. Construction work began Monday and was stopped after the judge’s ruling.
The Transportation Committee discussed pending litigation during executive session at its regular meeting Tuesday, however, there was no public comment on the federal lawsuit that led to the temporary restraining order. The committee did approve purchasing additional right of way land for the project.
Stop Longmeadow, a group opposing the project, filed the lawsuit citing the project threatens the habitat of the rusty patched bumble bee, court documents stated. The animal was added to a national endangered species list, court documents stated. The rusty patched bumble bee has been found in Brunner Family Forest Preserve, which is along the Longmeadow Parkway Bridge Corridor route.
The rusty patched bumble bee was added to the endangered list in March, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Bumble bees are “among the most important pollinators of crops such as blueberries, cranberries and clover and almost the only insect pollinators of tomatoes,” according to its website.
The Department of Transportation routinely has projects where it must deal with animals on the list, Schoedel said. There were numerous species on the list within the Stearns Road corridor, including a mussel found in a stream along the corridor, he said. Mitigation was done for the mussel, he said.
Kane County does whatever is required in the permitting process to make sure the species on the list are safe, Schoedel said.
An argument federal attorneys made to Stop Longmeadow’s lawsuit is that it is premature because the current construction does not impact Brunner Family Forest Preserve and the county has not applied for permits for work near the preserve, court documents stated.
However, federal Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman granted the order stopping the construction until an April 28 hearing.
Any delays longer than the April date would be “new territory” for the department, Schoedel said.
Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
