Subject: Two Coalition Groups file Prairie Parkway Lawsuit
Friends of the Fox River and Citizens Against the Sprawlway filed a lawsuit on March 25, 2009 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago against the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) for violating Federal law in how it approved the Prairie Parkway project. The lawsuit was filed by the Environmental Law and Policy Center as attorney for the two groups.
Note: We haven't issued a news release on this but the information below will be used to respond to any media inquiries.
FHWA’s action in September 2008, known as a Record of Decision, officially endorsed the Illinois Department of Transportation’s (IDOT) plan to construct the new Prairie Parkway, a four-lane freeway project between Interstate 80 and Interstate 88 in Grundy, Kane and Kendall counties.
Federal law required Prairie Parkway opponents to challenge FHWA’s decision by March 25, 2009.
A copy of the lawsuit is available on the Citizens Against the Sprawlway web site: http://www.sprawlway.org
The 47+ Coalition, of which Friends of the Fox River and Citizens Against the Sprawlway are key members, are concerned about committing nearly a billion dollars of taxpayer money largely to a new highway instead of repairing and upgrading the roads in the area and investing in local and regional transit solutions. IDOT’s environmental review process concluded that the new Prairie Parkway would have “quite small benefits” on area traffic conditions.
The Prairie Parkway will pave or convert almost 7,900 acres of farmland. It will destroy 54 acres of forests, directly impact about three acres of wetlands, and likely harm state threatened and endangered species. The highway will also cross waterways, such as the pristine Big Rock Creek and the nationally recognized Fox River, 81 times, degrading water quality in these streams.
The federal law at issue, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), provides an opportunity for Prairie Parkway opponents to champion fiscally and environmentally responsible alternatives to the unnecessary Prairie Parkway by holding the FHWA legally accountable for its actions.
For example, among the legal flaws in FHWA’s Record of Decision for the highway are the following:
• Contrary to the NEPA, IDOT first chose to build the new Prairie Parkway and then created a process to endorse that decision.
• IDOT and FHWA also violated NEPA by failing to consider reasonable alternatives to constructing the Prairie Parkway, including significant Metra commuter rail enhancements in combination with improvements to the existing highway network.
Friends of the Fox River and Citizens Against the Sprawlway, along with other members of the 47+ Coalition, are encouraged by the changing political climate and strengthening popular opposition to the Prairie Parkway. Nevertheless, since the political dynamic continues to evolve, the lawsuit was necessary, especially because the March 25, 2009 deadline meant that Prairie Parkway opponents would lose their legal rights to challenge the flawed planning process for the Prairie Parkway if they did not file a complaint by the deadline.
pass on...