Road Threat to Pratt's

DuPage County's road building plan threatens Pratt's Wayne Woods Forest Preserve.

The DuPage County's 'Comprehensive Road Improvement Plan for Impact Fees', unveiled at an October 13, 1999 public hearing, is an obvious threat to Pratt's. The plan shows 4-lanes (red line on Area Map) planned for construction from I-88 to North Avenue (Rt. 64), with an interchange at I-88. The highway would end at the southern edge of the forest preserve, aligned with Powis Road. There is also another 4-lane highway planned that starts at the northern end of the forest preserve and goes north from Powis Road.

If the two sections are built, there would be 4 lanes of traffic dead-ending at each end of Pratt's. When John Loper, the County's Principal Transportation Planner, was asked where the traffic would go in the middle, he said he didn't know.

There are several possible scenarios. First, traffic circles the forest preserve, using either Dunham Road or Rt. 59 to bypass the preserve. This will result in considerable additional traffic on Rt. 64 and Stearns Road, increasing their congestion. Second, the traffic will bottleneck through the middle of Pratt's using Powis Road. Considering that the highway will connect two industrial developments, a high proportion of the traffic will be trucks.

Either scenario bodes ill for the preserve. It is likely that there will be so much additional congestion around and through Pratt's that the only way to fix it will be to widen Powis Road to 4 lanes through the forest preserve. That would destroy the heart of the preserve.