NIU study to explore development, control issues
surrounding `outer belt' highway project

by Melanie Magara

The Center for Governmental Studies at NIU will conduct a study to determine the best way to handle local growth and development issues along the proposed "Prairie Parkway" west suburban outer belt highway. NIU President John Peters said the study, to be funded by the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT), will look at ways to balance the need to manage divergent interests with the long-range transportation needs of the region.

John Peters

"It is clear to us that, apart from specific siting issues, the larger context is that some major, north-south highway will be built in the far west suburbs in the next 10-20 years, and that it will bring with it serious concerns about growth and development along that route," Peters said.

"NIU has historically been involved in a wide variety of regional planning studies, and I believe it is part of our public service mission to add our unique expertise to this important discussion," he added.

John Lewis, assistant director of the Center for Governmental Studies, will lead the project. Lewis said the study will involve formation of an advisory group made up of all affected parties—local municipalities, agricultural groups, environmental experts, the private business sector and IDOT. "The challenge is to get all these groups at the same table, discussing development issues from a regional perspective," Lewis said. "If we are successful, I think we'll emerge with a best-practice model for how to make transportation and development planning come together," he added.

John Lewis

Peters told a news conference audience on Jan. 24, that NIU will be strongly affected by a new north-south corridor, regardless of its final location.

"There is a burgeoning growth in the region to be most directly served by this new highway," Peters said. "We're already seeing exponential growth in the number of students coming to NIU from these areas. The addition of a new north-south route in the western suburbs will only serve to make NIU more attractive to those students, and to others who want to commute to our main campus," he said.