Posted on Sun, Oct. 01, 2006, BND

Group works to stop road project

The Stop 158: Citizens for Smart Growth steering committee is a small band of people dedicated to stopping the Gateway Connector, a proposed four-lane highway from Troy to Columbia.

The committee, 10 to 12 members strong, meets once a month on the fourth Monday to carry on the fight. It was formed in 2003 to lobby against the highway.

They are steering, even if they can't be sure of the path to their destination, which is canceling the highway.

They have a populist message -- don't spend tax money on an unnecessary project. They don't want to lose their simple way of life to an endless string of retail boxes and heavy traffic. But they know the difficulty in halting the kind of development that local officials love.

So they try to get their message out by lobbying legislators and other influential officials and talking to the public, whose tax dollars will finance the highway.

The highway has a proposed route and the Illinois Department of Transportation has informed property owners in the way not to make improvements without getting permission. They don't want to have to pay extra later when they take their property.

But construction and the funding for that construction is still many years away, highway officials say.

Last Monday, four members of the steering committee met at founder Richard Ellerbrake's old restored farmhouse between Troy and O'Fallon on Troy-Scott Road, part of the proposed new highway's route.

Barb Hertenstein, Manny Arzavala and Dick Skillings also were there. Annette Haines, Bob Ramsey, Jack Norman and Marty Ganz were at the last meeting but couldn't make this one.

The members stressed that they aren't against the road just because it would take part of their properties.

"Our mission is not only stopping 158 but (also) smart growth in the metro-east," Ellerbrake said. "We're not against all roads and highways. It's just that certain perceived problems can be solved at a lot lower cost than a $500 million highway."

He said it makes more sense to develop the inner blighted areas of the metro-east, the middle of the doughnut so to speak, than just keep nibbling at the more prosperous edges.

The committee has about 10 to 12 large anti-highway signs out along the proposed route and sells bumper stickers at $1 a pop.

They just finished the first issue of a newsletter that they hope to publish once a quarter, perhaps.

"We're still trying to decide how to distribute it," Ellerbrake said.

It could be a handout like free newspapers or it could be sent out via e-mail to their mailing list of 500 or so people. There's not a lot of money for mailing.

Members go to different IDOT events concerning the highway and also to East-West Gateway Coordinating Council meetings.

They also offer petitions online at http://www.stop158.org/ that folks can sign if they agree with them.

They always could use more people.

"We do a lot of planning," Ellerbrake said. "Sometimes we're short of execution."

"We're definitely short of money," Skillings added.

At the last meeting, his treasurer's report showed an anonymous $50 contribution that led to a positive report of $5 in the treasury.

Even without enough people and limited finances, work gets done.

"We're constantly moving forward, if slowly," Ellerbrake said.

Members are encouraged that these days state money is tighter because it might at least slow the highway's progress.

"Time is on the side of those trying to do the right thing down here," Ellerbrake said.