Ike Expressway widening part of 
a massive transportation concept

By ERIC LINDEN

The very preliminary plan to put an additional two lanes on the
Eisenhower Expressway through Oak Park and Forest Park is only part of a
multi-billion region-wide transportation recommendation for the future.

As revealed yesterday on oak-park-journal.com by Oak Park Village
Trustee Rick Kuner, who works as a transportation planner, one idea of
the transportation recommendation calls for construction of a so-called
High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lane on the I-290 expressway through Oak
Park, Forest Park and other areas. The new project presumably would cut
into the spaces in both local villages, and Kuner said the new lanes
"raise some serious concerns."

More information is now available from the Chicago Area Transportation
Study (CATS), a regional group that exists to promote and coordinate
mass transit and other forms of transportation. In a report loaded with
capital-letter acronyms, the HOV lane through Oak Park is part of CATS'
2020 Regional Transportation Plan that purports to expand, maintain and,
in some cases, revolutionize transportation in the greater Chicago area.

A HOV lane is one reserved only for vehicles with more than one person
in them. It is designed--and used throughout the country--to reduce
traffic by, theoretically, putting more people in cars and reducing the
number of cars. But Kuner is among the traffic planners who believe that
HOV systems do not work as is claimed.

"Most transportation planners, including me, will tell you that we
cannot build our way out of congestion," Kuner said in what he called a
"warning" to local residents. "New or improved roadways tend to attract
more traffic, which is called `induced demand.'”

But the officials at CATS believe a host of new construction will reduce
congestion now and as predicted for the future. "Some tough choices were
made to select the regionally significant new projects identified in the
(2020 Regional Transportation) plan," according to CATS.

In its recommendations for expanding transportation on several fronts by
the year 2020, CATS has recommended the Eisenhower HOV--the first such
lane in the Chicago area--as part of a $2.482 billion Chicago-area
highway expansion package that also includes three new expressways, 10
lane additions to existing expressways and a major new interchange.

Besides a host of new capital expenditures, the 2020 Regional
Transportation Plan also includes recommendations to maintain and
improve the existing transportation systems. It also includes a public
financing plan that features some new taxes and fees.

Specifically under the new local lanes recommendation, the Eisenhower
would be widened between Austin Boulevard and I-88 to the west to
accommodate an HOV lane in each direction. Also, all the interchanges in
the stretch would be redesigned and the number of traffic lanes would be
equalized. Currently, the number of lanes on the expressway goes from
five to the west of the I-290 and I-88 interchange, narrows to three at
that point and increases to four at Austin Boulevard.

According to CATS, the HOV plan and additional lanes "will address the
(lane) imbalance while providing an incentive for carpooling to reduce
the number of single-occupant vehicles" on the expressway.

Currently, according to CATS, Phase 1 engineering has begun and "an
interim solution is underway." That unidentified "interim solution" is
expected to be completed in 2001, so a new HOV lane, if it ever were to
happen, is at least a few years in the future. In the meantime, IDOT
last week selected the Chicago transportation consulting firm of
Parsons, Brinkerhoff Quade & Douglas to do preliminary engineering
studies and a design report for the reconstruction of the Eisenhower
Expressway from Mannheim Road to Cicero Avenue. The firm was one of the
consultants signed on for 49 highway improvements throughout the
state--a number not unusual in Illinois for a year.

But even if the HOV plan is years away, CATS expects there to be future
public input on any elements of the 2020 plan that are implemented. The
agency's 2020 report calls for planners to address impact of their
report on several aspects that could be issues with new HOV lanes on the
Eisenhower. Areas requiring public input and other consideration,
according to CATS, include "on-street parking along commercial strips,
park lands and mature residential areas." Further, any element of the
2020 plan also must address "not only the economic and social impacts
... on existing land use and transportation patterns, but also on
potential future redevelopment strategies and plans. In all cases and
areas, the road design recommendations must be coordinated with the
needs of public transit, bicycles and pedestrians."

As for financing all the proposed projects, CATS recommends "three major
assumptions for funding increases":
* Increases in state motor fuel taxes, vehicle registration fees and
related sales taxes
* A growth in sales tax revenue to coincide with a forecasted growth in
the number of households in the Chicago region
* Revenue to be transferred to the state in later years from the federal
gasoline tax that is now earmarked for reducing the federal deficit

None of these funding hikes is at all certain, but CATS warns that "if
the region does not make efforts to realize these increases, resources
will not be available" to perform the recommended aspects of the 2020
plan. Also according to CATS, about $34 billion will be available for
transportation projects from now through 2020, which the agency
maintains is "not nearly enough to substantially expand the
transportation system and meet the increase in demand from a growing
region."

That regional plan--including the new HOV lanes on the Eisenhower--was
developed by CATS after several years of study and public hearings and
other forms of citizen involvement, which were not covered extensively
in area media. CATS maintains, however, that it used "a wide range of
techniques to promote citizen involvement, including direct mailings,
open houses, public meetings in all parts of the region and newspaper
ads."

Now, the many agencies responsible for operating and/or maintaining the
region's transportation system will develop their own plans and programs
in response to the 2020 report and recommendations--including new HOV
lanes on the I-290 Eisenhower Expressway. Following is a list of the 20
highway-related projects called for in the 2020 Regional Transportation
Plan.

-- Extension of IL 53
-- Add lanes on I-94 from IL 22 to IL 60
-- Add lanes on I-90 from IL 25 to Randall Road
-- Add lanes on I-294 at Roselle Road and O’Hare Bypass at the East
    Elgin-O’Hare Extension
-- New Elgin-O’Hare Expressway from Hanover Park to Streamwood
-- New Mid-City Transitway
-- Extension of the CTA Orange Line on the city's Southwest Side
-- Add lanes on I-88 from I-290 to IL 31
-- I-290 HOV from Austin Boulevard to I-88
-- Add lanes on I-55 from Naperville Road to I-80
-- Add lanes on I-294 from 95th Street to IL 394
-- Extension of the CTA Red Line
-- New I-57/I-294 interchange
-- Add lanes on IL 394 from I-80/I-94 to Sauk Trail
-- Add lanes on I-80 I-55 to US 45
-- Add lanes on I-80/I-94 from IL 394 to the Indiana state line
-- Add lanes on I-57 from I-80 to the West Airport Access Road
-- New South Suburban Commuter Rail Corridor
-- Outer Circumferential Commuter Rail Corridor
-- Metra North Central service enhancements