Longmeadow Parkway Corridor an Idea 20 Years in Making, and Counting

Steel columns come up from the ground just past Towne Park, the first concrete signs of a project that has been in the works for years.

The Western Bypass construction is well underway but there is another project critical to resolving the region’s traffic congestion problem.

Longmeadow Parkway Corridor is just south of the Western Bypass and is proposed as a four-lane bridge/corridor. The corridor would start at Huntley Road west of Randall Road through Longmeadow Parkway where it will span the Fox River to Bolz Road in Carpentersville.

A northern Kane County bridge has been discussed, researched and debated since 1990. The project will reach a milestone this year with completion of Phase I engineering - which began 20 years ago.

The Kane County Transportation Department, the project’s lead agency, will start Phase II engineering in a few months.

Planning continues even though there’s no funding for the $88 million project. A plan is for the county to sell bonds and repay the monies through a toll bridge, but no decision on how to pay for the bridge has been made.

“We are setting our sights on working to move Longmeadow forward,” said Steve Coffinbarger, assistant director of Kane County’s Transportation Department.

Phase I is close to being done but there are some elements to finish, Coffinbarger said. Work within that phase includes a lot of grunt work for things like environmental clearances, approval of alignment and drainage studies.

Phase II involves more work on right of way acquisitions and developing the scope of the project, including the design. Phase II engineering will be getting underway soon and will take 18 to 24 months to be completed, he said.

So far, the county has either purchased or set aside about 50 percent of the properties it needs for the corridor. It has been purchasing lands, as funding is available, Coffinbarger said. The right-of-way acquisitions have been funded through the state, federal and county. 

The next step would be the construction phase, he said.

A 20-year endeavor

Longmeadow Parkway bridge has been planned for more than 20 years when an environmental study looked at new Fox River bridge crossings throughout Kane County and recommended three new bridges: Illinois 56 in Aurora, Stearns Road in South Elgin and Longmeadow Parkway in Algonquin.

The Illinois 56 project falls under the Illinois Department of Transportation jurisdiction while the other two bridges belong to the county.

Stearns Road was built within the last few years and final work will be completed soon, he said.

While traffic congestion is severe in the north end of the county, Kane did not have the large federal earmarks that Stearns Road had, Coffinbarger said.

Kane County did receive about $4 million in federal dollars, which were put toward land acquisition, he said. And there’s about $2.5 million set aside from construction, he said.

“But larger earmarks that were a little more common place in the past are hard to come by nowadays,” Coffinbargar said. “We had to look at alternative solutions to find funding necessary to make this happen.”

Financing a bridge

An option is a toll bridge. Tolls would pay for bonds taken out to pay for the construction, Coffinbargar said. Counties have the ability, by state statute, to operate a toll bridge so Kane County to decide to move ahead, he said.

Construction funding is going to be a decision by elected officials as we move closer to construction phase, Coffinbarger said. It will be a policy decision, he added.

Kane County board members from the northern end, including West Dundee’s representative Becky Gillam, have been supportive of the plan. She said surrounding communities have voiced support too. It is a project that has long been needed in the area, Gilliam said.

Algonquin Mayor John Schmitt said the village has worked with the county to make the project happen, dedicating land for the corridor. The ultimate decision will be with the county board and Chairman Chris Lauzen, he said.

In January, Lauzen said he wanted to hold a referendum asking voters whether they want a toll bridge. The idea is not going anywhere.

“It seems like it faded away, I don’t think it’s something that had a lot of support,” said Maggie Auger, who represents Algonquin on the Kane County board.

Lauzen was new to the board and was not familiar with the background on Longmeadow Parkway or the fact the county has invested $20 million on the project so far.

Longmeadow Parkway continues to be discussed and is one of the county’s top five road projects, Auger said.

She supports the toll bridge option rather than raise property taxes, she said.

“Most people I talk to say we need a bridge. Period. End of story,” Auger said. “Most people prefer not to have a toll bridge but I don’t know if a free bridge is an option. I think this is a way to help pay it. It’s more of a user fee.”

The toll can also be eliminated once the bonds are paid off, she said. A bridge in Winnebago County had a toll and it is been eliminated, she said.