With an expansion of Algonquin Road through the Barrington area all be certain in the next few years, Barrington Hills is urging a different approach, and we hope the Illinois Department of Transportation continues to give it serious consideration.
As Bob Susnjara reported Monday, Barrington Hills is pitching the idea of turning Algonquin Road into a so-called scenic parkway, a roadway that would fit into, rather than obliterate, the bucolic, natural setting of northwest Cook County. Algonquin Road cuts through Spring Lake Forest Preserve on its way to the northern Fox Valley.
“It should kind of honor the open space, natural setting that the Cook County Forest Preserve is trying to maintain and what we’re trying to maintain in our community,” Barrington Hills Village President Martin McLaughlin told Susnjara.
This is a new approach, and one that reflects the increasing interest in preserving the environment of much of the suburban area — hand in hand, of course, with finding better ways to move frustrating amounts of traffic on a daily basis.
Continue reading the full Daily Herald editorial here.
What I really, really want is for commuters going from West of Barrington Hills to East of Barrington Hills to find ways other than Lake/Cook or Algonquin Road.
I really do like, wish well, and want to be welcoming, to those who live North, South, West and East of us; but, I am also a little like Marlene Dietrich and many in VBH, we “want to be alone”: peaceful, quiet, not crowded. Alas, we are not going to be as alone as we want to be.
Many VBH folks fought valiantly to prevent the new Fox River bridge from emptying onto Algonquin Road. I truly wish IDOT had been more receptive to our pleas. It is now clearly inevitable that more traffic is going to be coming through our Village.
I’m familiar with the Merritt Parkway from many visits to my in-laws in backcountry Greenwich. That style of parkway moves traffic gracefully through a beautiful area.
I applaud our VBH Administration for promoting a scenic parkway as a means of mitigating the intrusion to our residents of increasing numbers of commuters passing through our Village. And, at the same time, making the drive for our neighboring commuters more pleasant, more welcoming and friendly.
It is possible that a scenic parkway may offset the disadvantages of increasing traffic to the extent that it actually increases our property values!