Mission

ELPC is working to promote effective solutions to fight poorly planned runaway development and promote smart growth communities that increase transportation choices, reduce air and water pollution, and protect our natural places.

 

ELPC joins Moving Beyond Congestion

ELPC has joined the Moving Beyond Congestion coalition, which seeks to create a modern transit network for Northeastern Illinois. Our current transit network is no longer sufficient to meet the needs of our region for the 21st century. Other members include local governments, hospitals, businesses, cultural facilities, schools of all sizes and other leading organizations.

 

Illinois Tollways:  Paving the Way to Urban Sprawl

Illinois Tollways: Paving the Way to Urban Sprawl

Presently, the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority is planning to extend the toll highway system's outer rim in the Chicago metropolitan area. The Environmental Law and Policy Center believes, and the state’s own population forecasts show, that masses of new residents would flock to the areas where this four-part extension would be built. The swelling population and urban sprawl would cause traffic volumes to soar above levels that would develop if the roads were not built. Furthermore the swelling population and urban sprawl would lead to:

• More pollution
• Further commutes to work
• Less open space and parklands
• Loss of businesses and of jobs from existing urban areas

Rather than adding needless extensions to the existing tollway network, the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority should begin the long overdue process of repairing the existing tollway network. At the same time, the Illinois Department of Transportation should focus on transportation alternatives to alleviate the traffic woes in the areas that extensions would be built. Some alternatives are:

• Widening existing thoroughfares
• Updating the technologies used at existing intersections
• Adding more Metra trains and stops on existing commuter rail lines
• Focus on beginning the design process for an outer ring commuter rail line

The Tollway Accountability Campaign is a coalition of 14 statewide, regional and local grassroots citizen groups who believe that the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority (ISTHA) should be more accountable to Illinois taxpayers, and that the Toll Highway Authority’s massive expansion plans should be reconsidered. 

Route 53

Currently, plans of the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority (ISTHA) to build the Route 53 tollway are on hold! The proposed 25-mile road would stretch from Lake-Cook Road north to Grayslake, where it would split east to the Tri-State Tollway and north to Wilson Road. Along the way it would:

Endanger the Environment. The proposed tollway – and all of its associated residential development – would encroach on the flood plain in an area that has suffered repeated and widespread flooding over the past decade. Additionally, the road would slash through one of the state’s most ecologically rich wetlands, threaten habitat for endangered species, increase air pollution, and worsen traffic congestion.

Unleash Sprawl. The state’s official population and employment forecasts show that the construction of the Route 53 Tollway would cause 60,000 new residents – but only 4,000 new jobs -- to relocate to Lake County. These figures are a prescription for more traffic and higher property taxes.

Lose Money. The proposed Route 53 Tollway would lose up to $55 million annually due to high construction costs and low ridership volumes. To plug this funding gap, the Toll Authority would charge drivers on existing tollways, who would rarely, if ever, use the new extension through Lake County.

Now that the proposed Route 53 Tollway has been placed on ISTHA's backburner, the Illinois Department of Transportation should take responsibility for acting upon proposed alternatives.

The I-355 Tollway

The Environmental Law and Policy Center is working with citizens and local civic and environmental organizations to promote alternatives to the proposed I-355 Tollway Extensions from Bolingbrook to Peotone.

The proposed I-355 Tollway cuts through a region of small towns, homes in wooded settings, forest preserves, and prime farmland. The character of the region will change forever if the tollway is built. I-355 will draw population to the area, generating more traffic on local roads, runaway development and sprawl.

Government officials are allowing existing roads and bridges in the area to languish in disrepair. Yet the Illinois Toll Authority wants to spend $700 million for the first 12.5 miles of I-355. That’s $56 million a mile!