A Will County committee voted 4-2 Tuesday to advance the five-year transportation improvement plan for full County Board approval after some board members tried unsuccessfully to remove a controversial road project in Homer Glen for the second time in a month.

The County Board last month voted against removing the 143rd Street road widening project from the transportation plan, which offers a snapshot of the county’s future projects in its 258-mile road system. The board then opted to send the plan back to its Public Works and Transportation Committee for a closer look.

Each June, the County Board votes on the five-year transportation plan, which outlines various projects, their estimated costs, which fiscal year money will be spent and the status each project is in, such as preliminary engineering, right-of-way acquisition or construction.

While the committee was tasked with looking at the plan as a whole, a majority of the dialogue Tuesday concentrated on the 143rd Street project which would widen the road from two to five lanes from State Street/Lemont Road to Bell Road.

The widening has been debated for more than 1 1/2 years, and residents and Homer Glen and Homer Township officials have frequently attended meetings to voice their opposition.

County Board members Steve Balich, of Homer Glen, and David Oxley, of Lockport, voted against moving the transportation plan forward due to local opposition to the 143rd Street widening, which is one portion of the plan.

“A lot of people are disgusted,” Balich said. “How do you protect those people’s rights?”

Balich tried to remove 143rd Street from the plan or place the project on hold for six months, but was advised he was not legally allowed to do so after a similar vote last month failed.

Homer Glen residents have continued to protest the widening, stating they believe it will generate more noise, traffic and pollution, affect safety, damage wildlife habitats, destroy trees and farms, seize property and disrupt the village’s agricultural and rural atmosphere.

“We have this rural character that people like,” resident Scott Perry said. “When we widen the roads, we spoil that character.”

Resident Christy Nasher, owner of Chrislin Farm that abuts 143rd Street, said residents are still fighting the project and offering other solutions than widening, such as lowering the speed limit.

“We are trying to preserve something that is unique in Will County,” she said.

Homer Township Supervisor Sue Steilen said both the village and township continue to opposed the plan, and said Homer Glen will initiate its own traffic studies.

Homer Glen Village Manager Joe Baber said the village will get its own traffic counts this summer to ensure the county’s are accurate and up to date.

Preliminary engineering for the segment of 143rd Street began in 2009. A $7 million federal grant for the project must be obligated next year, county officials said.

Jeff Ronaldson, the county’s transportation director, said the County Board has taken 10 separate votes on different contracts on the 143rd Street project over the years.

When the county designed the 143rd Street project, it was aware of plans by the Illinois Department of Transportation to widen 159th Street, which was completed in 2019. Even with a wider 159th Street, studies show 143rd Street needs to be widened, Ronaldson said.

While some residents have been open to a three-lane option, that will take a similar amount of land, Ronaldson said.

The county has communicated the plans with residents and municipal officials during its studies, he said.

Some County Board members mentioned they feel communication between the county and local officials and residents should improve.

Jim Richmond, the County Board’s Republican leader from Mokena, questioned what could be streamlined to improve a road project’s timeline since they often take several years, and how the county can help make residents more engaged.

The five-year transportation improvement plan will move to the full County Board for a vote on July 17.

Michelle Mullins is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.