120 Corridor Planning Council Last Night

Last night was a 120 corridor Planning Council Meeting, I am not going to write about the discussion of bylaw changes and discussions on how to get the Request for Proposal funding (RFP) moving, but I am going to include the copy of a letter that I wrote in my capacity as Chair of the 120 CPC to the Daily Herald and other area newspapers last week. This letter was published in the Daily Herald on Monday the 6th.

Get involved with Route 120 planning
The need for improved east-west corridors through Lake County becomes crystal clear as more than 500,000 motorists sit in traffic each day in a county that'’s one of the fastest growing in the state.
In particular, Route 120 from Green Bay Road in Waukegan in the east to the McHenry County line in the west, was identified as the number one priority at last year'’s Lake County Transportation Summit; part of a bipartisan effort to combine Lake County'’s 12 votes in Springfield to more effectively deal with transportation issues.
While the Lake County and Illinois Departments of Transportation pinpointed Route 120 as a critical traffic bottleneck, hundreds of residents also have expressed their concern by speaking at public forums and by posting Web site comments.
A state grant to begin feasibility planning for improving the corridor has recently been approved. The targeted area traverses Waukegan, Libertyville, Gurnee, Wauconda, Mundelein, Hainesville, Round Lake, Round Lake Park, Volo and Grayslake. In addition, we have obtained $2 million in federal funding for engineering.
While support for the Route 120 corridor has been overwhelming, some questions still exist that should be addressed.
First: the Route 120 corridor has no connection to plans for the extension of Route 53 --— an issue that has been shelved in Springfield for lack of a budget and has had a polarizing effect on residents. That said, highways can'’t be built in a vacuum. Existing Route 53 rights-of-way will be considered in the planning of Route 120 in order to save time and taxpayer dollars, and plans must incorporate north-south connections along Route 120, whether or not Route 53 is built. And while all sorts of options are being studied, the possibilities of roundabouts and other ways to speed traffic flow must be considered only in the context of future growth.
Second: although feasibility studies have not yet begun, residents have weighed in with assumptions and dire predictions about the effects of the corridor on area homeowners and visiting wildlife. While the exact location of Route 120 has not been determined, every effort will be made to ensure that the corridor is planned with care and an eye to protecting the quality of life as well as our precious natural resources.
To get the facts about the Route 120 planning and implementation process, we urge you to get involved. Meetings of the Route 120 Corridor Planning Council are open to the public; the dates are posted regularly in this newspaper and on the Web site, www.120now.com.
There, you''ll also find detailed information about the Route 120 corridor. Let's act now to ease traffic congestion and make Lake County a more enjoyable place to live and work.

Sincerely
Bill Gentes
Mayor of Round Lake
Chair, 120 Corridor Planning Council
Member, Executive Committee Lake County Transportation Alliance