Will County seeks quick-take powers to acquire land for 143rd Street expansion

Will County is seeking quick-take authority to move ahead with the controversial 143rd Street project in Homer Township, while some county board members are trying to slow down the process.

The Illinois House of Representatives this week approved House Bill 250, which would allow the county to expedite eminent domain acquisition of private land for the road improvement opposed by many residents who live along 143rd Street.

A spokesman for Will County Executive Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant said the county needs to start work on the expansion in 2026 or risk losing $7 million in federal funding for the project.

A faction of county board members opposed to the project, however, are trying to slow down a vote in on the quick-take bill in the state Senate with local efforts still underway to try to change the scope of the project.

“We are asking them to hold the bill for us,” board Member Judy Ogalla, R-Monee, said Friday. “It moved fast in the House. It’s moving slower in the Senate.”

Ogalla said Homer Glen Mayor Christina Neitzke-Troike and county board leaders will meet with Bertino-Tarrant to try to “work out a compromise” on the 143rd Street plan.

“We just want to take a break and wait,” Ogalla said.

Neitzke-Troike did not return a call for comment.

The county plan would expand the two-lane stretch of 143rd Street between Bell and Lemont roads to five lanes with a center lane for turns.

Ogalla said a potential compromise could be reducing the scope of the plan to left-turn lanes in spots and intersection improvements.

The 143rd Street plan has been in the works for years but faced an uprising of local opposition in 2024 from Homer Township residents who said more lanes would bring more traffic and spoil the rural character of the area.

Proponents, including Bertino-Tarrant, argue that the expansion is needed to accommodate traffic that already is increasing and will continue to grow in coming years.

The entire project is estimated to cost $72.6 million. The county already has spent $6.2 million on engineering and other pre-construction planning, said Michael Theodore, communications director for the executive’s office.

Theodore said the 143rd Street project “is over a decade in the making.”

The county board has approved the project multiple times, he said, with the latest approval coming in June 2024 with a five-year transportation plan that includes the 143rd Street project.

Federal funding for the project is tied to construction starting in 2026, Theodore said.

Quick-take authority, which must be granted by the state, would allow construction to begin while courts settle the final price for land the county must acquire to widen the road.

“It’s essentially to keep a project on schedule so federal funds can be used before the sunset date,” Theodore said.

Will County must acquire 116 parcels along the three-mile route slated for expansion, Theodore said. So far, 12 agreements have been made.