Story posted Thursday, September 17, 2009
Local Impact Of O'Hare West Bypass
Study: Expressway Will Cost Billions To Construct, Resulting In Thousands Of New Jobs
By TOM ROBB Journal & Topics Reporter
The Elgin O'Hare West Bypass Expressway could bring as many as 21,600 jobs to the Journal-area during the three years of its construction and 62,500 new long-term jobs by 2030 driven by economic growth, according to an impact study released by the Ill. Dept. of Transportation (IDOT) Friday.
The study forecasted the effects of the planned expressway near Elk Grove Village and related transportation projects.
IDOT will host a public hearing at Belvedere Banquets in Elk Grove Village on Sunday, Oct. 4 from 4 to 8 p.m. and will continue to accept public comments through Monday, Oct. 26.
The study will be submitted to federal government regulators as part of the first phase of the project. The 8-1/2 lb. document forecasts impacts from the new highway on everything from local economic development to wetlands to travel times and congestion and gives more detail about how the new highway will be integrated with new public transit options in the Western suburbs including Metra's STAR Line and new transportation centers.
The actual building of the expressway is expected to cost between $2.8 billion and $3.6 billion and would be complete by 2030, according to the report. IDOT cost projections only considered direct costs for the new highway and did not include rail and other transit costs.
Funding has not been secured for the full cost of building the new expressway, which would link I-290, I-90 and I-294 with O'Hare Airport on the west. IDOT Bureau Chief Peter Harmet said funding would likely include federal funds and possibly other sources.
The new highway and related transit projects would trim commute times significantly. The study expects a 10% reduction in overall congestion, a 15% reduction in congestion on secondary roads, a 49% reduction in travel times to O'Hare Airport and a 37% increase in public transit usage. Travel times to locations currently within five minutes of interstates would also be cut by 23%.
The timeline for completion of phase one planning has also been moved up to the first half of 2010, Harmet said.
Plans for the new expressway have been narrowed to two. Option 203 would run an expressway along Thorndale Avenue to Elk Grove Village's border with O'Hare Airport, turning north along airport property to the Elmhurst Road exit to the Jane Addams Tollway (I-90) where a full interchange would be created.
The other option, called 402, would take a similar route but rather than running along airport property, would widen York Road.
The study also discussed how the new highway would be integrated with public transit.
Space would be made in the median of the new highway for express bus or rail lines. Plans are to create 12 new transit corridors covering 226 miles, upgrade for existing transit corridors covering 71 miles, build "inter-modal" transit hubs in Rosemont, Bensenville and Itasca and upgrade an existing hub in Schaumburg to link new and existing bus and rail systems and build 14 new parking facilities.
The study found many local workers live west of I-290 but are employed east of I-290. To aid in transportation of this population, Harmet said shuttle bus service would be added to run between an area east of I-290 to York and Roselle roads and further west to DuPage County.
Between 11 and 18 homes and between 35 and 42 businesses would be displaced by the new highway leading to a direct tax revenue loss of between $2.1 million and $4.4 million. Under the plan other economic development would make up for those losses. Additionally, about 39 acres of wetlands and between four and seven acres of other public lands would be impacted.
Many were concerned with earlier plans to run the expressway down Busse Road through the center of Elk Grove Village's business park. That option has since been taken off the table in the face of much public opposition.
DuPage County Board President Bob Schillerstrom and Bensenville Mayor Frank Soto are heading up a commission to provide local input to the process, something Harmet said he has worked hard to include in IDOT's planning process.
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