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The Frankfort Station 121516
The Frankfort Station 121516
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6 | December 15, 2016 | The frankfort station News<br />
frankfortstation.com<br />
Walsh pushes progress in post-election<br />
Kirsten Onsgard, Editor<br />
Will County Executive<br />
Larry Walsh emphasized<br />
economic vitality and political<br />
cooperation during the<br />
annual State of the County<br />
address Dec. 7 hosted by<br />
the Joliet Area Chamber of<br />
Commerce and Industry.<br />
The speech came days after<br />
Walsh was sworn in for his<br />
fourth term as Will County<br />
executive, a position he has<br />
held since 2004. The Democrat<br />
overcame Republican<br />
challenger Laurie McPhillips<br />
in the November election.<br />
Walsh praised his former<br />
opponent and other Will<br />
County politicians for running<br />
respectful campaigns, and<br />
urged collaboration among<br />
officials going forward to fulfill<br />
a vision marked by capital<br />
projects and infrastructure<br />
overhauls in the rapidly growing<br />
county. Will County’s<br />
population increased 34 percent<br />
from 2000 to 2010 and is<br />
among the 100 largest counties<br />
in the country, according<br />
to the US Census Bureau.<br />
To about 50 chamber<br />
members, officials and<br />
residents, Walsh reiterated<br />
many of his campaign platforms<br />
— such as economic<br />
development, health, capital<br />
projects and infrastructure<br />
investment — and projects<br />
detailed in the county’s 2011<br />
master plan while looking<br />
to the past and future of the<br />
county.<br />
That included the launch<br />
and continuation of overhauls<br />
of aging county buildings,<br />
such as a $29.5 million Joliet<br />
public safety office to replace<br />
the “dilapidated” Sheriff’s<br />
Office. Ground broke on the<br />
85,000-square-foot facility<br />
on Laraway Road in October<br />
after a 2013 confirmation.<br />
The facility could be completed<br />
by the end of 2017.<br />
Construction is set to<br />
begin on a 10-story, $195<br />
million judicial complex —<br />
which will include county<br />
departments and 28 courtrooms<br />
— by spring 2018.<br />
Walsh praised these projects<br />
as helping to “streamline<br />
county government<br />
operations,” and in the case<br />
of the judicial complex, increase<br />
safety by better moving<br />
visitors and detainees.<br />
The county has also been<br />
investing heavily in transportation<br />
infrastructure and<br />
road spending, to the tune of<br />
about $30 million per year,<br />
Walsh said.<br />
The County Board is expected<br />
to approve a new<br />
Please see County, 8<br />
Will County Executive Larry Walsh is sworn in for a fourth term Dec. 5. Photo submitted<br />
County-wide transit plan nears approval<br />
Kirsten Onsgard, Editor<br />
Will County is months<br />
away from approving a plan<br />
that would serve as a road<br />
map for transit projects for<br />
the next 20 years.<br />
Following more than two<br />
years of assessments and<br />
gleaning public concerns,<br />
the Will County Board will<br />
determine if it will adopt the<br />
strategic plan, known as Will<br />
Connects 2040, in February<br />
2017 after public comment<br />
closes Dec. 15.<br />
The long-range plan accounts<br />
for $418.6 million in<br />
updates, expansions and preservations<br />
to major system arteries<br />
and public transit. Will<br />
Connects 2040 is a mandated<br />
update to the previous 2030<br />
plan, and serves as a blueprint<br />
for system-wide county<br />
needs and projects.<br />
It comes after the county’s<br />
largest interstate project in<br />
years — the Illiana, a controversial<br />
50-mile, Indiana-Illinois<br />
thoroughfare totalling<br />
more than $1 billion — was<br />
left in limbo following an<br />
environmental lawsuit and<br />
lack of support from Gov.<br />
Bruce Rauner during the<br />
State’s budget crisis.<br />
Given the interstate’s uncertainty,<br />
the plan offers projections<br />
for both what it calls<br />
“greatly enhanced” connectivity<br />
if it is eventually approved,<br />
and solutions to ease<br />
east-west traffic without it.<br />
“We don’t know if or<br />
when the Illiana is ever going<br />
to get built, but because<br />
it’s still on the shelf, we have<br />
to plan for it,” said Christina<br />
Kupkowski, Phase I Project<br />
Manager at the Will County<br />
Department of Highways.<br />
“There is a possibility someday<br />
in the future — it could<br />
be 10 years from now, it<br />
could be 15 years from now<br />
— somebody at the State<br />
might decide to pull that set<br />
of plans of the shelf, blow<br />
off the dust, and all the sudden,<br />
this is our little project<br />
and we have to deal with it.”<br />
But with or without the<br />
Illiana, the plan anticipates<br />
the transit strain on a county<br />
expected to add more than<br />
a half million residents and<br />
nearly as many workers by<br />
2040, according to the Chicago<br />
Metropolitan Agency<br />
for Planning. Roadways<br />
serve the bulk of commuters,<br />
83 percent of whom drive<br />
alone to work and 4 percent<br />
who use transit, according to<br />
the Will County Department<br />
of Transportation.<br />
Increased freight was a<br />
concern to many residents<br />
who spoke with the DOT<br />
during its 10 open houses<br />
and through online surveys,<br />
Kupkowski said.<br />
“We’ve got people who are<br />
afraid to go out on the roadway<br />
network now because<br />
there are so many trucks,”<br />
Kupkowski said. “We need to<br />
figure out what the next steps<br />
are in that regard.”<br />
Those improvements include<br />
a $254 million expansion<br />
of Laraway Road to<br />
four lanes from US 52 near<br />
Joliet to Harlem Avenue<br />
near Frankfort, which Kupkowski<br />
said is already in its<br />
preliminary phases.<br />
Other priority projects<br />
include extending lanes<br />
on I-55 from County Line<br />
Road in Burr Ridge to Airport<br />
Road in Lockport; reconstructing<br />
Division Street<br />
from Briggs Street to Cedar<br />
Road in Lockport; widening<br />
I-80 to six lanes from Ridge<br />
Road to US 30; and countywide<br />
transit and freight studies.<br />
Kupkowski also said alternative<br />
transit options were a<br />
primary concern among residents.<br />
“We heard over and over<br />
again that there is a population<br />
of folks who have little<br />
or no access to transit,” she<br />
said. “If they can’t drive or<br />
don’t have access to a car,<br />
they have little to no way of<br />
getting around unless they<br />
can find a family member or<br />
have a neighbor who is willing<br />
to take them places.”<br />
Metra and Pace system<br />
rehabilitations are also included,<br />
and last month the<br />
Will County Forest Preserve<br />
approved an expansion<br />
to the county bikeway<br />
network. Those bike paths<br />
are pending project approval<br />
from individual municipalities.<br />
While the county has more<br />
than $1.3 billion in unmet<br />
transit financing needs according<br />
to the DOT, the<br />
plan’s financially constrained<br />
model assumes there will be<br />
no growth in revenue over<br />
the next 20 years. Dozens<br />
of other projects will be financed<br />
if additional revenue<br />
becomes available.<br />
“We have a whole list of<br />
needs in the county,” Kupkowski<br />
said. “Every so often<br />
we get to check one off, but<br />
there’s so much more that<br />
needs to get done.”<br />
The Will County Board is<br />
scheduled to adopt the 2040<br />
Long Range Transportation<br />
Plan at its Feb. 12 meeting.
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