Help Lake County's Economy

Building Route 53 is vital to the economic future of Lake County. Without Route 53, extreme traffic congestion will continue, existing commerce will stagnate and new or relocating businesses will continue to bypass Lake County.

Lake County's population has grown dramatically over the past 50 years. As an area's population increases, its infrastructure needs to grow, too. Many new homes, schools, libraries and public safety buildings have been built.

Major roadways? Not so much.

You might ask why this matters. It's simple - every day, the traffic problem gets worse because more and more people move into Lake County. If we do nothing about this problem, it won't go away. It'll get worse for all of us, because companies will move away from the county or, if they were thinking of moving here, they'll change their minds.

How bad is it? Try traveling from Round Lake to Schaumburg at rush hour. It isn't that far on the map, but it's a harrowing journey on today's patchwork of inadequate roads.

Engineers in the 1920s designed the current road system. Ninety years ago, they didn't anticipate all this growth in Lake County. The system hasn't changed even though:

• The population of Lake County has grown by more than 40 percent over the past two decades;
• Employment increased 61 percent from 1980 to 1995; and
• The amount of travel on Lake County roads has climbed by 56 percent since 1990.

As a result, we are now in the midst of a transportation crisis. Congested road mileage in Lake County has increased an astonishing 237 percent since 1990. One-third of Lake County's major roadways are seriously congested. County-wide gridlock is not looming on the horizon. It's already here.

The traffic flow on our roads - whether it involves commuting to work, traveling to school or shipping materials to or from a business - is literally the lifeblood of Lake County. If Lake County continues to have "clogged arteries," it will cost more for factories and stores to operate and they will move to nearby areas with better infrastructure - taking jobs, residents and taxpayers with them. To keep Lake County healthy, we must care for its "circulatory system," just as we've cared for its safety through fire protection, and its education through new schools.