Readers who are relative newcomers to McHenry County won’t remember the gigantic fight to build a bridge across the Fox River north of Algonquin along Haegers Bend Road through Camp Algonquin to the land owned by folks next to the Northwest Herald.
It was the crusade of the 1990’s, complete with a low-turnout Algonquin Township referendum where the majority agreed that such a bridge should be built…with state money, of course.
Meanwhile, residents of both sides of the Fox River–including future Algonquin Mayor John Schmitt who then lived near the proposed right-of-way on the east side of the river–plus marvelous organizer/strategist Gene Brown and former County Board member Lou Anne Majewski opposed the County Establishment’s crusade.
The fight carried over into my 1996 State Rep. campaign in which I defeated County Board member John Brehmer, who carried the Establishment’s lance.
Next came a study group in which Gary Overbay’s engineering firm found–surprise, surprise–that most of the traffic using the Route 62 bridge went straight west into Lake in the Hills, rather than turned right going up the hill on Route 31.
It worked so well that it only took me eleven minutes to get from Route 25 to Crystal Lake by way of Randall Road right after it opened.
Now we also have the Longmeadow Parkway bridge relieving more of the pressure on the Route 62 bridge.
So, why is this bridge zombie arising from the dead?
The land next to the Northwest Herald is now built out.
Growth is still to the west more than to the north to Route 14.
Here’s the support for the zombie bridge in the 2050 Comprehensive Plan:
