IDOT has concluded the screening of preliminary alternatives, considered the public preliminary commentary, and selected the shortlist of alternatives to fix the growing travel problems of the region.

Based upon the evaluation of travel benefits, a freeway alternative in combination with widening IL 47 and the WiKaDuKe corridor offers the best overall performance.  These combination alternatives address the diverse travel demands in the study area and best address the Purpose and Need.

Since the initiation of this study, progress has been made by others in the planning and construction of improvements to IL 47 from north of Caton Farm Road to I-88, and to the WiKaDuKe Corridor (Eola Road, Steward Road and Ridge Road) between I-88 and I-80.  Improvements are being planned and built by others regardless of the Prairie Parkway Study, so IDOT now assumes that those sections will be built by year 2030.  The remaining segment of IL 47, from Caton Farm to I-80, will move forward into the next phase of the Prairie Parkway Study as a part of the build alternatives.

When assessing which freeway corridor to combine with IL 47 with location of the similar performing freeway corridors becomes a distinguishing factor.  The environmental impact analysis indicated higher overall impact for freeway corridors located to the east and north of Yorkville.  The forecasted travel benefits between these corridors are not great enough to warrant the greater impacts created by corridors to the east and north of Yorkville.  The freeway corridor alternatives west of Yorkville are comparable to alternatives east of Yorkville at addressing the purpose and need, but without the higher level of environmental impacts.  Alternatives to the far west do not sufficiently reduce the level of anticipated environmental impacts enough to offset the loss in overall travel benefits.

The B2 and B5 corridors represent the corridors having the preferred blend of rating high at addressing the range of diverse travel needs, while being located close to the population centers, and resulting in a lower level of anticipated environmental impacts.

This recommendation represents a blend of factors:

1.) Providing travel benefits by addressing the transportation Purpose and Need measures.

2.) Minimizing potential environmental and development impacts.

3.) Allowing for compatibility with local planning.

4.) Incorporating context sensitive principles.

These factors contribute to the following recommendation of alternatives to advance further detailed engineering and environmental studies for the Prairie Parkway Draft Environmental Statement.

• No-Action Alternative (no additional improvements other than those with significant probability of being built by Year 2030)
• Combination Build Alternative: Freeway B5 and Il 47 from Caton Farm Road to I-80
• Combination Build Alternative: Freeway B2 and Il 47 from Caton Farm Road to I-80

In addition, the potential form inclusion of other transportation improvements, such as traffic management and travel demand techniques, bicycle trails, expanded bus service, or reserving a right-of-way for a future transit improvement will be examined as a component of the build alternative.

On September 9th, these alternatives were presented to representatives of the United States and Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, the Federal Highway Administration, Illinois Department of Agriculture, United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Illinois Department of Natural Resources, and the United States Corps of Engineers.  All concurred that these are appropriate choices to advance for further studies.

©Copyright 2005 Prairie Parkway Study