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This chapter describes the long-range
transportation concepts for Will County, which are based on the
analysis of existing conditions; growth trends and forecasts for
long-range conditions; and the transportation goals, objectives,
policies, and assumptions. The concepts are multimodal in character,
and significant consideration has been given to the
"boundary" issues at adjoining county lines (DuPage,
Kendall, Kane, Cook, and Kankakee) and at the Indiana state line.
Concepts are defined for both the "with airport" and
"without airport" scenarios. The development of these
concepts has considered planning activities at the regional and
subregional levels, including:
2020 Regional Transportation Plan
Future Agenda for Suburban Transportation
Regional Transit Strategy
Illinois State Toll Highway Authority System
Expansion
Strategic Regional Arterials Program
WIKADUKE Corridor Study
LUTSFOX Corridor Study
Regional Highway Corridor Council Plans
(I-355, I-80, and I-57)
Regional Growth Implications
Will County is currently experiencing rapid
suburban-level growth in several sections: the northwest, Joliet/west
central, and the Homer Township and Frankfort-Mokena-New Lenox areas.
The potential construction of a third airport will stimulate
significant growth in the eastern sectors. Will County has become
increasingly attractive as a residential area, with a broad range of
housing.
Employment growth is also occurring, especially
in the freeway corridors. Residential growth is supporting economic
development in retail, consumer, and related land uses. The high
degree of accessibility created by freeways, tollways, and other major
highways has stimulated development in distribution and warehouse land
uses.
From a travel demand perspective, trip
generation and trip attraction are increasing at a significant pace.
The orientation of these trips continues to show significant linkages
to Cook County and central Chicago, but also a growing
county-to-county movement, which tends to be north-south travel to
DuPage County. As more employment occurs in the county, there will be
a relative increase in intracounty travel. This will be especially
true if the third airport is developed in the Peotone area.
From a broad regional perspective, major travel
corridors will continue to exist or develop, including:
Second-ring circumferential via IL 53/I-355.
I-88 technology corridor.
East-west interstate corridor via I-80.
Chicago-St. Louis corridor.
At a more subregional level, future growth will
enforce other corridors, as follows:
North-south via Weber Road/Larkin Avenue.
North-south via Bell Road and Wolf Road.
North-south via U.S. Route 45 (LaGrange
Road).
East-west connections with Indiana (Borman
Expressway alternate).
East-west via 159th Street/Renwick Road/Caton
Farm Road.
East-west via Laraway Road/central county.
As a result of these overall travel patterns,
various transportation improvement concepts have been proposed. These
include both highway and public transportation projects. Each of these
concepts has the potential to define a framework for Will County
transportation improvements, which would have a more local service
focus.
Major Transportation Concepts
The following section describes the three major
transportation network concepts. Each transportation network focuses
on one method for meeting the future needs of the county, such as
enhancing the existing transportation network, providing new
expressway facilities, and upgrading the arterial street system with
and without the addition of a third regional airport. The focus has
been on identifying changes to the roadway network in terms of
physical facilities and function. Although three concepts were
developed for testing and evaluation, the recommended plan is a
combination of these concepts.
Within each concept, roadways are classified as
regional roads or arterial roads. Roadway improvements and/or new
alignments were selected so that each thoroughfare will function
according to its classification along its entire length. In general,
all of the state and U.S. routes are designated as regional roads in
the concepts. The county roadways and a number of township or
municipal roads constitute the arterial street system.
It is assumed that intersection designs at new
or widened streets will almost always include left- and right-turn
lanes, and that most new or widened roads would be constructed with a
center median (except in the most rural areas of the county). With
this in mind, new or widened roads are identified as having three- or
five-lane cross sections.
Each of the following concepts is built on the
2020 base network, which consists of the existing roadway network plus
projects that have committed funding through the year 2000. (See
Chapter 2 for a description of the committed improvements.)
Concept 1: Trends System
(without airport)
This concept focuses on enhancing the existing
transportation network.
1. Key attributes of this concept include:
Completion of the major arterial network in
both the east-west and north-south directions, with spacing at an
average of two-mile intervals.
Improved arterial street connections to Cook,
Kankakee, and Lake (Indiana) counties, as well as within Will
County, by realigning offset intersections.
Increased freeway access via more
interchanges on the existing system.
New bridges over the Des Plaines River at
Houboldt Road and the Kankakee River at Grey Road/Wesley Road.
Emphasis on the Strategic Regional Arterial
(SRA) program. Most of the routes identified in the system within
Will County already exist. In concept, the routes would be widened
and improved to achieve a high level of traffic performance,
albeit these routes would remain as at-grade roads (not full
access-controlled, grade-separated expressways).
The SRAs located in Will County form a grid,
with spacing between north-south routes of two to four miles and
six to eight miles between east-west routes. This difference
denotes the characteristic of travel demand, i.e., more
north-south travel than east-west travel at the subregional level.
The specific routes that would form the grid
of SRAs would be:
East-West: 95th Street/Boughton Road
119th Street
Caton Farm Road/Bruce Road/IL 7
U.S. Route 30
Manhattan-Monee Road
Wilmington-Peotone Road
North-South: IL 59
Naperville Road/Weber Road/Larkin Road
Bell Road
U.S. Route 45
Harlem Avenue
IL 394/IL 1
IL 53
WIKADUKE Trail
Extension of existing transit lines. The
impact of these commuter line extensions will be to expand the
public transportation access zone to the areas with growth and
increasing travel demand. Along with the extension of service,
Metra is also examining its operations to add more capacity to
various lines and improve speed. The latter is important because
as the lines are extended, travel times could increase. To offer
the most attractive and competitive service, operational
enhancements are needed to improve speed to compensate for longer
travel distances.
2. The specific roadway system improvements
considered in Concept 1 are listed below:
Regional Road Improvements
New full interchange on I-80 between New
Lenox and Mokena.
New full interchange on I-57 at Stuenkel
Road.
New full interchange on I-55 at 143rd Street.
New full interchange on I-55 at Caton Farm
Road.
Arterial Road Improvements
Wheatland Township
Extend Kings Road through Boughton Road to
95th Street (WIKADUKE SRA connection).
Extend 87th Street from IL 59 to Book Road.
Extend 95th Street from U.S. Route 30 to
248th Street (WIKADUKE SRA connection).
Realign 104th Street with Boughton Road at
Plainfield-Naperville Road.
Realign 103rd Street with 104th Street at
Book Road.
Improve IL 59 SRA route to a five-lane
section between I-55 and DuPage County line.
DuPage Township
Extend 87th Street from Wehrli Road to IL 53.
Upgrade Boughton Road/Naperville Road/Weber
Road/Larkin Avenue SRA route between I-80 and I-355 by adding a
third through lane in each direction.
Connect Janes Avenue from Boughton Road to
Falcon Ridge Way.
Extend Schmidt Road from Boughton Road to the
proposed 87th Street Extension.
Extend Old Wehrli Road from Royce Road to
Lily Cache Lane.
Plainfield Township
Extend Drauden Road from Renwick Road to IL
126 at U.S. Route 30.
Extend Taylor Road (143rd Street) from IL 59
to IL 126.
Realign 135th Street with IL 126 just south
of the I-55 interchange.
Homer Township
Improve 159th Street (Renwick Road), a former
SRA route, to a five-lane section between IL 59 and Cook County
line.
Improve Bell Road SRA route to a four-lane
section between IL 7 and Cook County line.
Realign Bell Road at 159th Street (IL 7) and
extend Bell Road to Hass Road.
Extend Gougar Road from 147th Street to 143rd
Street.
Realign Cedar Road at Bruce Road.
Extend Will-Cook Road to Town Line Road.
Extend King Road to Cedar Road from 143rd
Street to 151st Street.
Realign Gougar Road with State Street at
147th Street.
Troy Township
Extend Drauden Road from Theodore Street to
Mound Road at Ingolsby Road.
Complete Theodore Street from IL 59 to
Essington Road.
Joliet Township
Extend Farrell Road from U.S. Route 6 to U.S.
Route 30 at Cherry Hill Road.
Extend Ridge Road from Sweitzer Road through
U.S. Route 52 to Briggs Road.
Extend Houboldt Road to Laraway Road with new
bridge over the Des Plaines River.
Extend McDonough Street from Stryker Avenue
to O'Neill Street.
New Lenox Township
Extend Francis Road from Regan Road to Town
Line Road.
Extend Clinton Street from Bruce Road to U.S.
Route 6.
Upgrade U.S. Route 30 SRA route to a
five-lane arterial between I-80 and Cook County line.
Frankfort Township
Extend Pfeiffer Road from U.S. Route 30 along
Hickory Creek to 96th Avenue.
Extend North Avenue to Pfeiffer Road
extension.
Realign St. Francis Road with Vollmer Road at
68th Street.
Extend 104th Avenue from Cleveland Avenue to
Regan Road.
Realign Regan Road/St. Francis Road at U.S.
Route 45.
Realign 104th Avenue at Steger Road.
Improve Harlem Avenue SRA route to a six-lane
section from U.S. Route 30 to the Cook County line.
Channahon Township
Extend River Road from Shepley to U.S. Route
6 at Bluff Road.
Realign Bell Road with McKinley Road at U.S.
Route 6.
Jackson Township
Upgrade and improve IL 53 SRA route to a
widened two-lane section with turn lanes from I-80 to Peotone
Road.
Extend Sharp Road from IL 53 to Rowell Road.
Extend Brandon Road from Craig Road to Noel
Road at Bush Road.
Manhattan Township
Extend Eastern Avenue from Hoff Road at Welsh
Avenue to U.S. Route 52.
Realign Watkins Road/Zeismer Road at U.S.
Route 52.
Extend Gougar Road from Laraway Road to Baker
Road.
Realign Kankakee Street at Manhattan-Monee
Road.
Realign Gallagher Road at Cedar Road.
Realign the Smith Road/Koehler Road/Schmuhl
Road intersection.
Realign Koehler Road and Barton Road at
Watkins Road.
Realign Baker Road/Stuenkel Road/Green
Garden-Manhattan Road/Town Line Road intersection.
Improve Manhattan-Monee Road to a four-lane
section between I-55 and IL 50.
Green Garden Township
Realign Harlem Avenue at Steger Road.
Realign 80th Avenue at Steger Road.
Realign 88th Avenue at Steger Road.
Widen U.S. Route 45 SRA route to five lanes
between U.S. Route 30 and Kankakee County line.
Monee Township
Realign Crawford Avenue at Steger Road.
Extend Manhattan-Monee Road from Central
Avenue to Highland Avenue at Old Monee Road.
Realign Cicero Avenue with Dralle Road.
Realign Ridgeland Avenue at Steger Road.
Extend Olendorf Road from Central Avenue to
Koersten Road.
Extend Western Avenue from Manhattan-Wilton
Road to Crete-Monee Road.
Extend Crawford Avenue from Goodenow Road to
Crete-Monee Road opposite Steger-Monee Road.
Crete Township
Realign Exchange Road between Crete Road and
Cottage Grove Avenue.
Realign Stony Island Avenue at Bemes Road.
Extend Cottage Grove Road from Exchange Road
to Richton Road.
Extend Old Monee Road to Faithorn Road at IL
1.
Realign Bemes Road at State Line Road.
Realign Torrence Avenue at Steger Road.
Realign Steger Road at State Line Road.
Extend Goodenow Road from Stony Island Avenue
to Bemis Road.
Extend Manhattan-Wilton Road from Ashland
Avenue to Cottage Grove Road.
Extend Manhattan-Wilton Road from Klemme Road
to State Line Road.
Upgrade IL 394 SRA route to a six-lane
facility between I-80 and IL 1.
Improve IL 1 SRA route to five lanes from
Steger Road to Kankakee County line.
Florence Township
Realign Coldwater Road with Old Chicago Road.
Realign Doyle Road between Coldwater Road and
Warner Bridge Road.
Extend Riley Road to Barr Road.
Extend Barr Road to IL 102.
Extend New River Road from IL 53 to Butcher
Lane at West Kahler Road.
Wilton Township
Extend Joliet Road from U.S. Route 52 to
County Line Road.
Extend Warner Bridge Road to Cherry Hill
Road.
Realign Joliet Road with Kankakee Street at
Offner Road.
Peotone Township
Improve Wilmington-Peotone Road SRA route to
four lanes between I-55 and IL 1.
Extend 104th Avenue from Joliet Road to
Wilmington-Peotone Road.
Realign 104th Avenue at County Line Road.
Realign Center Road at County Line Road.
Realign 80th Avenue at County Line Road.
Will Township
Realign Wilmington-Peotone Road (Tucker Road)
at Harlem Avenue.
Realign Harlem Avenue at County Line Road.
Realign Ridgeland Avenue at County Line Road.
Realign Central Avenue at County Line Road.
Realign Cicero Avenue at County Line Road.
Realign Crawford Avenue at County Line Road.
Realign Kedzie Avenue at County Line Road.
Washington Township
Realign Western Avenue at County Line Road.
Realign Ashland Avenue at County Line Road.
Extend Cottage Grove Road to County Line Road
opposite Kankakee County road.
Realign Stony Island Avenue at County Line
Road.
Realign Klemme Road at County Line Road.
Realign 303rd Street at State Line Road.
Extend Eagle Lake Road to Brunswick Road at
Yates Avenue.
Extend 295th Street from Southpark Avenue to
Cottage Grove Road.
Extend Cottage Grove Road from 287th to 295th
Street.
Extend 295th Street from Stony Island Avenue
to State Line Road.
Realign Klemme Road at Brunswick Road.
Custer Township
New Kankakee River bridge at Grey Road/Wesley
Road.
Extend Weikum Road from Coal City Road to
County Line Road.
Extend McGuire Road from Zilm Road to Grey
Road.
Connect Cooper Road to Curtis Road.
Extend Curtis Road from Grey Road to IL 113.
Extend Yeates Road to IL 113.
Extend Mack's Road to IL 113.
Wesley Township
Realign Mary Byron Road and Danielson Road at
Manteno Road.
Realign Goodwin Road and Donahue Road at Old
Chicago Road.
Realign Symerton Road at Wesley Road.
Realign Martin Long Road at Wesley Road.
Realign Warner Bridge Road at Wesley Road.
Extend Butcher Lane to Ballou Road.
Extend Barr Road to Goodwin Road.
3. The transit improvements of Concept 1
include:
Extend Metra Heritage Corridor line from
Joliet to Wilmington with new stations at Elwood and Wilmington.
New station on Metra Heritage Corridor line
at 135th Street in Romeoville.
Extend Metra Electric District line from
University Park to Peotone with new stations at Monee and Peotone.
Extend SouthWest Service line from Orland
Park to Manhattan with new station in Manhattan.
Extend Metra Rock Island District line from
downtown Joliet along the U.S. Route 6 corridor to Houbolt Road.
Concept 2: High-Capacity System
(without airport)
This concept includes all improvements cited
under Concept 1 as well as major proposed highway improvements in the
county, additional river crossings, increased arterial capacity, and
new transit lines.
1. Key highway, SRA, and river crossing
attributes of this concept include:
Extend I-355 from I-80 to I-57 as a six-lane
facility known as the South Suburban Tollway. New interchange
created at I-57.
Widen I-55 between Naperville Road (west of
IL 53) and I-80 from two lanes to three lanes in each direction.
Widen I-80 between U.S. Route 45 and I-55
from two lanes to three lanes in each direction.
Additional bridges over the Des Plaines River
at 127th Street and Caton Farm Road.
Expand the original SRA system to fill
certain gaps in the network, including:
Eola/Heggs/Stewart/Ridge (WIKADUKE) SRA. This
recent addition to the SRA network would be a new major arterial
providing more traffic capacity in a corridor from I-80 north into
the Aurora/Naperville area. It would serve to supplement IL 59 in
this area. In the past, a freeway (or tollway) in the Fox Valley
corridor had been proposed. Subsequent studies and public debate
resulted in the elimination of this concept from the regional plan.
The new facility would be a full-access arterial, not a
limited-access highway, and would be a partial substitute to serve
the growing travel demands in this western corridor.
An additional east-west arterial--119th/127th
Street--would be added to the SRA system. The route would extend
from the WIKADUKE route across 119th to Weber, where it would
transition to 127th Street (Normantown Road), extending east to IL
53 and then across the Des Plaines River to State Road, with further
linkages to Archer Avenue and McCarthy Road in Cook County.
Caton Farm Road/Bruce Road/Cedar Road SRA. The
original SRA network included 159th Street as the primary east-west
connection between the IL 59 and IL 7 (at Cedar Road) SRA routes.
However, because of the constraints to improving 159th Street
through Lockport, the east-west SRA designation was shifted to Caton
Farm Road, Bruce Road, and Cedar Road. This new route would bypass
the urban centers in Lockport and Plainfield. It would also include
a new Des Plaines River bridge, increasing the traffic capacity of
river crossings in this area of Will County.
Extend Bell Road SRA. This concept involves
extending Bell Road south of its current junction with 159th Street.
This could extend to I-80, U.S. Route 30 and farther into central Will
County (possibly to a future interchange along the extended south
suburban tollway (I-355) via Schoolhouse Road. The Bell Road extension
is prompted by the potential levels of growth in southeast Homer
Township, southwest Cook County, and the Frankfort/Mokena/New Lenox
area. The I-80 corridor council has identified the possibility of a
new I-80 interchange in a location where the Bell Road corridor
crosses.
2. Arterial road improvements include the
following widening projects:
191st Street to five lanes from Wolf Road to
U.S. Route 45.
Caton Farm Road to four lanes between I-59
and County Line Road (WIKADUKE study).
IL 53 to six lanes between Ruby Street and
the DuPage County line.
Plainfield-Naperville Road to four lanes
between 135th Street and 103rd Street.
U.S. Route 30 to four lanes from Kane County
line to I-80.
Boughton Road to six lanes between
Plainfield-Naperville Road and Lemont Road.
IL 171 to four lanes between Thornton Street
in Lockport and IL 83.
Lemont Road to four lanes from IL 171 to
State Street in Lemont.
IL 126 to four lanes between the Village of
Plainfield and I-55.
135th Street to four lanes from Weber Road to
IL 53.
Channahon Road to four lanes from Larkin Road
to the Village of Channahon.
Laraway Road to four lanes from IL 53 to IL
43.
St. Francis/LaPorte Road to four lanes
between I-80 and IL 43.
U.S. Route 6 to four lanes between Briggs
Street and Wolf Road.
Cedar Road to four lanes from U.S. Route 6 to
Manhattan-Monee Road.
Gougar Road to four lanes between U.S. Route
6 and Laraway Road.
Wolf Road to four lanes between Laraway Road
and 183rd Street.
Harlem Avenue to four lanes from Sauk Trail
to U.S. Route 30, and six lanes from U.S. Route 30 to I-80.
Richton Road to four lanes from Steger Road
to Burrville Road.
Exchange Street to four lanes from
Steger-Monee Road to Burrville Road.
IL 53 bridge in Wilmington to four lanes.
3. Transit improvements consist of the following
new commuter rail service:
Initiate the South Suburban commuter rail
line to provide service to the easternmost area of the county.
This line would use the UP/CSX rail corridor to connect Crete and
possibly Beecher to downtown Chicago.
Initiate the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern (EJ&E)
commuter rail line. This would be a line using the EJ&E
Railroad corridor through the suburban counties from Waukegan
through Joliet to the Indiana state line. In concept, this line
would serve the growing suburb-to-suburb travel market. An
interchange/transfer station on the EJ&E line at the existing
Metra-Burlington Northern/Santa Fe (BNSF) line (Aurora/Naperville)
would provide commuter rail service to downtown Chicago for
residents in the rapidly growing northwest section of Will County,
including Plainfield.
Concept 3: Trends System
(with new airport)
This concept includes all projects cited under
Concept 1 as well as most of the highway and arterial roadway
improvements, transit connections, and roadnet modifications necessary
to support the proposed South Suburban Airport.
1. Key highway and major arterial features of
this concept are:
Extend I-355 from I-57 to the Indiana state
line to eventually connect with I-65. This would create a new
interchange with the north airport access road. The east-west
airport connector freeway described in Concept 3 would become a
section of the I-355 extension. Traffic destined to the airport
would have the option of using either the I-355 extension or I-57
to reach the airport access road system.
A new interchange on I-57 at Offner Road
would connect with the west airport access road.
A new interchange on I-394 just south of
Burrville Road would provide access to the east-west airport
connector. This connector would be an eight-lane, limited-access
freeway and would connect I-394 with the north airport access
road. Interchanges would be built at IL 1 and Crete-Monee Road.
Extend Manhattan-Monee Road from IL 50 to
Crete-Monee Road to provide a bypass of the Village of Monee.
Improve IL 394 to a limited-access highway
south of U.S. Route 30.
Realign Central Avenue north of
Peotone-Beecher Road to connect with the west airport access road.
Construct a new arterial south from Goodenow
Road to serve as an IL 1 bypass around the Village of Beecher. The
bypass would reconnect with IL 1 south of Beecher at County Line
Road. The arterial would be six lanes wide from the east airport
service entrance south to Wilmington-Peotone Road and then four
lanes wide south to IL 1.
Widen Wilmington-Peotone Road SRA route to
four lanes from U.S. Route 52 east to I-57; six lanes from I-57
east to the IL 1 bypass; and four lanes from the IL 1 bypass east
to IL 1.
Widen IL 50 to six lanes from
Wilmington-Peotone Road north to Crete-Monee Road. It is
improbable that this roadway can be so widened within the villages
of Monee and Peotone.
Widen Crete-Monee Road to six lanes from IL
50 at Manhattan-Monee Road east to IL 1.
Widen IL 1 to four lanes from the east-west
airport connector to the east airport service entrance just north
of Eagle Lake Road.
Widen IL 394 to eight lanes from I-80/I-94
south to the east-west airport connector and to six lanes from the
east-west airport connector south to the IL 1 bypass.
Widen I-57 to eight lanes from I-80 south to
Wilmington-Peotone Road and to six lanes from Wilmington-Peotone
Road south to the City of Kankakee.
2. Other capacity improvements include widening
of the following arterials to four lanes:
Eagle Lake Road from IL 1 to Indiana state
line.
Exchange Street/Stuenkel Road from the
Indiana state line west to U.S. Route 52.
Steger Road from IL 394 east to the Indiana
state line.
Harlem Avenue from Kankakee County line north
to U.S. Route 30.
U.S. Route 52 from Wilmington-Peotone Road to
U.S. Route 30.
Green Garden-Manhattan Road from
Wilmington-Peotone Road to Manhattan-Monee Road.
Manhattan-Monee Road from Green
Garden-Manhattan Road east to IL 50.
Joliet Road from U.S. Route 52 east to IL 50.
Central Avenue from Wilmington-Peotone Road
south to Kankakee County line.
3. Roadway segments to be abandoned include the
following:
Eagle Lake Road from Central Avenue to
one-half mile west of Ashland Avenue.
Offner Road from I-57 to Ashland Avenue.
North Peotone Road from Will Center Road to
Kedzie Avenue.
Kuersten Road will dead-end one-half mile
south of Pauling Road. It will also be severed by the north
airport access road.
Will Center Road from one-half mile north of
North Peotone Road to one-half mile south of Pauling Road. Also,
it will be severed at the north airport access road.
Crawford Avenue from one-half mile north of
Peotone-Beecher Road to one-half mile south of Pauling Road.
Kedzie Avenue will dead-end one-half mile
north of North Peotone Road.
Western Avenue will dead-end one-half mile
north of North Peotone Road.
Central Avenue from Eagle Lake Road to Offner
Road.
4. Transit improvements include:
Construct new airport transit station on the
proposed Metra Electric District line extension to Peotone.
The following improvements are included in
Concept 1, but would not be considered in Concept 3:
Extension of Western Avenue from
Manhattan-Wilton Road to Crete-Monee Road.
Extension of Crawford Avenue from Goodenow
Road to Crete-Monee Road.
Multimodal Elements
The preceding alternatives respond to future
travel demand estimates that reflect sustained use of the automobile
at very high levels. Future traffic conditions will produce the need
for making roadway capacity improvements; although regional transit
improvements are identified, these tend to serve longer, intercounty
trips. The opportunity may exist, however, to offset the need for some
of these roadway improvements by introducing multimodal transportation
concepts. These could entail a mixture of improvements, services, and
relationships such as:
- Commuter rail (Metra) improvements (route
extensions, new stations, park-n-ride lots, better service). Some
of these improvements were included in the alternative concepts.
- Regularly scheduled, fixed-route bus and
demand-responsive bus (Pace) (new routes, better service).
- Integration of transit services, including
transportation centers and transfer facilities.
- Bikeways and pedways.
- Transportation management techniques:
-
Ridesharing
(carpool, vanpool).
-
Flextime.
-
Preferential
facilities (e.g., HOV lanes, traffic signal priority phases).
-
Financial
incentives to use transit.
The effectiveness of these multimodal concepts
can be significantly enhanced if their application is coordinated with
special land-use and development policies. These would include
consideration of physical arrangements, land-use mixture, density, and
connectivity.
In Will County, the achievement of a multimodal
transportation system would be a long-term goal. While all of the
non-auto modes mentioned above are present in the county, they have
only a marginal ability to meet peak-hour weekday travel demand. By
virtue of the lines extending to Joliet and University Park, commuter
rail enjoys the greatest use in terms of public transportation trips.
Generally, Metra serves trips oriented to the Chicago central area,
but these trips represent less than five percent of the daily travel
market. Thus, with such a low level of transit use at the present
time, major transit service improvements would be required to
sufficiently reduce commuter travel by private automobile.
Nevertheless, any significant change that would offset the need to
increase roadway capacity would be a worthwhile consideration, but
would require a long-term commitment.
The recommended plan in Chapter 6 identifies and
provides greater detail on a series of multimodal opportunities that
may exist for Will County.
