Politics & Government
Village Staff Discuss Impact of Proposed Tollway
Village staff are looking into how the proposed Route 53 extension would impact traffic patterns in Libertyville.
Village officials are looking to see if there are studies that show how the proposed Route 53 extension would affect traffic patterns along Route 21.
Economic Development Commission members are already looking ahead and wondered if Route 53 is extended how it would affect traffic patterns along Route 21.
What if the village loses traffic?
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“What if the interchange opens and 40 percent of the traffic is gone from Milwaukee Avenue?” John Cortesi, head of the Economic Development Commission, asked during the Sept. 21 meeting.
Community Development Director John Spoden said he would see if any studies of that kind have been completed.
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Other commission members were also concerned about losing traffic due to the proposed extension.
Commission member Jeff Mateer said he would be disappointed if 40 percent of the traffic along Milwaukee Avenue disappears. The traffic that is left, however, could be more useful traffic, Mateer said, meaning that truck and through-traffic would decline. Mateer is hopeful that people who continue to travel Milwaukee Avenue will be doing business in town.
Lack of business owners on advisory board
Heather Rowe, the Economic Development Coordinator for the village, expressed a concern that there are not many local business owners on
the , which is responsible for developing regional consensus on whether the proposed Route 53 extension should move forward and how to finance the proposed extension.
“If this committee thinks it’s important, we can reach out and see if we can get some support” from neighboring towns or an advocacy group, she said during the meeting.