Posts tagged ‘Environmental Law and Policy Center’

47 Plus Coalition: Federal Government Withdraws Prairie Parkway Approval, Ending Federal Funding for the Highway Project

by , posted on Thursday, August 23rd, 2012 at 1:18 pm

from a 47 Plus Coalition press releaase

The federal government has rescinded its approval of the proposed Prairie Parkway which would connect I-80 and I-88 in Kane, Kendall, and Grundy counties under an agreement to settle a lawsuit filed by opponents of the highway project.

The action eliminates federal funding for the project, and the Illinois Department of Transportation will now shift federal funds previously allocated to the Prairie Parkway to improvements to Illinois 47 and US 34.

After an 11-year fight, we have finally scuttled this highway which would have destroyed thousands of acres of prime farmland, threatened the Fox River and its tributaries, and forever changed the area’s small community way of life,” said Jan Strasma, Chairman, Citizens Against the Sprawlway (CATS), the grassroots organization long opposing the highway.

Note: The Prairie Parkway opponents will celebrate the end of the project at the 11th Annual “Stop the Beltway’ Picnic which begins at 4 pm Sunday at the Marvel Davis farm, 47W066 Jericho Rd, near Big Rock, about 5 miles west of Illinois 47.

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