The Will County Board voted 12-7 to proceed with condemnation cases on land from Parker Road to Golden Oak Drive in Homer Glen so that 143rd Street can be widened, but Homer Glen and Homer Township officials remain opposed to the county’s latest proposal.
The county’s Division of Transportation is reducing the scope of the 143rd Street project, which initially called for the street to be widened from two to five lanes from State Street/Lemont Road to Bell Road. The modified plan only calls for the eastern segment to be widened to five lanes, starting at around Parker Road and heading east towards the already planned Bell Road intersection improvement project.
No construction date has been set, but a contract is likely to be awarded next year, transportation director Jeff Ronaldson said. A federal grant worth $7 million must be obligated by 2026 and not proceeding with the widening puts future federal dollars at stake, Ronaldson said.
In the meantime, the county has to acquire about 31 parcels in the modified eastern segment to proceed with the widening. Under the original plan, the county had to acquire 116 parcels.
The County Board agreed Thursday not to proceed with condemning land in the western portion of 143rd Street from about State Street/Lemont Road to Parker Road and to withdraw any offers previously made.
Residents and elected officials in Homer Glen and Homer Township have protested the road project for nearly two years.
After the vote, Homer Glen Village Manager Joe Baber said the village will still be fighting the five lane expansion and will try to work with the county to redesign the project.
Homer Glen resident Diane Cernak told the board residents appreciate the rural character of the village. It incorporated in 2001 to control its own destiny and prides itself on being an International Dark Sky Community and a Tree City USA, she said.
Residents have been fighting the project, saying the five-lane road would seize homeowners’ property, destroy large trees and wildlife habitats, increase truck traffic and add more noise and pollution. Homeowners in the nearby Dawnwood neighborhood oppose the widening.
Board member Dan Butler, a Frankfort Republican, said the County Board needs to listen to its local leaders and residents. Hundreds of people have emailed or spoken before the County Board and asked them to stop the project.
“The people should be in charge, not the government,” Butler said.
Board member Dawn Bullock, a Plainfield Democrat, said the existing two-lane stretch of 143rd Street is a scenic drive, but on its western end is an Interstate-355 interchange and two warehouses and on its eastern end near Bell Road is a strip mall.
“The job of our transportation committee is to make sure the roads that are out there that are county-owned roads are safe for people to travel,” she said. “…This is going to be a traffic thoroughfare unfortunately whether people want it to be or not because of what is now at both ends of it.”
The 143rd Street widening is included in the county’s 2050 long-range transportation plan, but Ronaldson said traffic counts warrant a five-lane road now.
Michelle Mullins is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.