Activists and environmentalists have called a taxpayers’ public meeting for Thursday night to rally opposition against the proposed Illinois Highway 53 toll road through central Lake County and its planned Richmond extension to McHenry County.
The meeting is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. Thursday at Mundelein High School, 1350 W. Hawley Rd.
“We think there are better alternatives to building a tollway,” said Cindy Skrukrud,executive director of the McHenry County Defenders, Woodstock.
“Roads like this one act like a magnet, and end up bringing more traffic, more congestion and, usually, more sprawl-type development to an area,” Skrukrud said. “It’s really time to stop thinking we can build our way out of congestion.”
“We’ve got to start looking at alternatives,” such as new commuter rail lines and improvements to existing roads, she said, “and this meeting . . .is a chance to talk to people about these alternatives.”
Organizers include the McHenry County Defenders, Mundelein Against the Tollway, Sierra Club, Environmental Law and Policy Center, Lake County Conservation Alliance, Illinois Citizen Action and Citizen’s Transportation Coalition.
Topics will include the tollway’s impact on flooding, wetlands, air quality, urban disinvestment and suburban sprawl.
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As planned by the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority and the Illinois Department of Transportation, the proposed toll road would run from the present terminus of the Illinois 53 expressway at Lake-Cook Road north to a point just south of Grayslake.
Near Grayslake, the road would fork. One leg would run east to the Tri-State Tollway near Waukegan, and the other would head west to Richmond and would link up with the U.S. Highway 12 freeway coming south from Lake Geneva, Wis.