Sad day for local family as trees come down for highway

Oct. 8 was a sad day for members of the Mitchler family and tree lovers everywhere as contractors for the Illinois Department of Transportation removed several trees that had stood in the front yard of the family’s home on Route 34 just west of Oswego. John Mitchler said his parents, Helen and the late State Sen. Robert Mitchler, purchased the home in 1954 and the family had always enjoyed the trees.

Over the decades the trees had shaded the Mitchler’s front yard and made for a picturesque setting for the family’s home.

“It was a sad day not only for the visual aspect of the property, but also for the wildlife that the trees supported,” Mitchler said. “Trees like the Burr Oak support a lot of wildlife.”

He said IDOT had previously acquired the property the trees stood on adjoining the highway through eminent domain. Contractors for the agency have also taken down numerous other trees in recent weeks in front of homes up and down the highway corridor between Oswego and Yorkville.

Mitchler said his mother had been aware the trees were going to be cut down as part of the widening of Route 34 to four lanes in front of the home. He said the contractors briefly halted their work as his mother talked to the foreman for the crew that was cutting down the trees.

“She (still) had to express her dislike for the whole thing,” he said.

Meanwhile, several passing motorists stopped to visit with the Mitchlers as they watched the workers take down the trees. As for himself, Mitchler said, “It’s a tough thing to see progress come through. There doesn’t seem any long-range planning for it. It just keeps happening and there doesn’t seem to be any end to it.”

Citing the daily traffic back-ups that occur daily on Route 47, Mitchler questioned why IDOT is widening Route 34 between Yorkville and Oswego before attempting to improve Route 47 from Yorkville north to Sugar Grove.

Contractors for IDOT have been cutting down trees on numerous other properties between O’Brien Way in Oswego and McHugh Road in Yorkville in recent weeks. The agency has awarded a $33.2 million contract to D Construction of Coal City to widen the highway. Over the past several months contractors have been moving utilities out of the highway’s right-of-way in preparation for construction.