Cook officials look at alternatives to expanding Quentin Road

An alternative to expanding the section of Quentin Road between Lake-Cook Road and Dundee Road near Palatine -- and paving over forest preserve land in the process -- could be expanding Ela Road or Hicks Road instead, but it could be much more expensive, according to Cook County officials.

The county unveiled the proposed alternatives Tuesday evening at the second public meeting for its ongoing Quentin Road study. The project's goals are to improve the more than 80-year-old pavement, replace the more than 100-year-old bridge, and increase the traffic volume that the two-lane section of road can handle.

John Yonan, the superintendent of transportation and highways, said the county looked into what benefits expanding Ela and Hicks roads would have and found working on those roads instead of Quentin might be more expensive because it would likely have to purchase people's homes.

Yonan said that while expanding Quentin Road doesn't carry those financial costs, the environmental cost would likely include chopping down trees, filling in wetlands and paving over forest preserve land. He said they haven't done the environmental study yet.

"You can't put a dollar value on that," Yonan said.

A team of consultants and Cook County officials was on hand at the Holiday Inn Express on Dundee Road in Palatine to answer residents' questions about the project. Among them was Andrew Andersen, who lives just off Quentin Road south of Dundee Road.

He said he wants them to go ahead with the project because of concerns over traffic.

"After 4 p.m. I can't make a left turn off the street I live on. The traffic just goes on and on," Andersen said.

Amar Rajpurkar, who lives in the Dunhaven Woods subdivision adjacent to Quentin Road, said he also wanted Quentin to be expanded for traffic concerns but also because of the demographics in his neighborhood.

"When our subdivision opened in 2001 or 2002 all of the neighborhood kids had just been born," Rajpurkar said. "Now those kids are all new drivers."

The county will review the public comment forms filled out at the meeting.

To add your input, you can submit your feedback online by sending an email to Quentin.Road@cookcountyil.gov before the comment period closes Dec. 2.

Yonan said the next meeting will be in 2017.