Stop158: Outerbelt project quality of life issue, not traffic issue.
Jack Norman of Columbia said he believes the real issue at stake in the Illinois Department of Transportation's efforts to reroute Illinois 158 between Troy and Columbia—also known as the 158 Outerbelt or Gateway Connector—is "not 'a traffic' problem, it is 'a how we live' problem."
The local Sierra Club representative and member of the Area-wide Management Coordinating Board moderated a meeting of STOP158 Oct. 29 at the Columbia Public Library.
STOP158 is a group of environmental activists and local citizens concerned about the impact the estimated $500 million transportation project may have on property values, greenspace and natural ecosystems.
More than 50 residents—about two-thirds of them from Columbia, the rest from Millstadt and other parts of St. Clair County and Monroe County—attended the meeting.
No IDOT representatives attended the meeting. An IDOT spokesman said he could not comment on the STOP158 group because he has not been present at any of its meetings.
IDOT is in the process of determining if, when and where the proposed highway will be located. The project is in response to anticipated growth in the Metro East region.
Critics, including several who spoke at last week's meeting, say the project will benefit St. Louis-area real estate developers at the expense of residents and their quality of life.
Norman suggested those "behind" the 158 project include "a large number of state and some local elected officials, St. Louis real estate concerns—as some have suggested—and, presumably, people who have gotten stuck in traffic jams on the interstate."
The residents who spoke were decidedly against the project.
Don Roush, who has lived on Hill Castle Lane in Columbia for 40 years, said he is ill disposed to the 158 project because of an experience he had with an IDOT project.
When IDOT built the Interstate 255 interchange in 1984, he said "they took three acres off my front yard. My house is next to the cloverleaf."
"My understanding is local officials support the idea of another cloverleaf with this project that will be expandable to four lanes," Roush said. "That is not only going to double the price, but they're going to have to take my house and several houses in the area."
Roush said he also is concerned the 158 project will come about sooner rather than later and the public process may be circumvented.
"When the (original) cloverleaf was discussed, it was discussed by a fellow from IDOT with a tripod in the woods behind my house," Roush said. "Two years later, they were building the highway."
Dean Pruitt, a rural Millstadt resident and Sierra Club member who assisted Norman in moderating the meeting, said IDOT "talks a good game, but on the higher levels, they do what they want."
"On one level, they want to be able to say they have been soliciting comments and jumping through all the hoops, but on another level, they're considering this a done deal," Pruitt said.
Dennis Swift, who lives on Carl Street in Columbia, said "the best way to have an impact is going to be personal letters to elected officials."
Norman agreed letters to officials would be effective "in addition to letters to newspapers and possibly going door-to-door."
Ken Aud of United Congregations of Metro-East—an inter-faith, inter-racial group advocating civil rights for immigrants, child advocacy, drug-free communities, minority contracts and other causes that has allied itself with Stop158—told the audience state agencies may not be responsive to individuals.
"They refer to you as 'the NIMBYS (Not In My Back Yard)' and dismiss you," Aud said. "If you join with community organizations like United Congregations, however, you have a better chance for your voice to be heard."
After the meeting, Norman said he was "pleased people left with a lot more information than they came with."
"Disappointed, maybe, they weren't more prepared to articulate the reasons why they were there," he said. "And then agree to volunteer to do something about it."
Additional meetings are planned, he said, but no dates have been set.
Joe Leicht, Of the Suburban Journals
11/05/2003