Rockford airport says roadway can’t be redesigned to avoid Bell Bowl Prairie

By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — Airport officials said this week that a proposed roadway that would cut through Bell Bowl Prairie is critical to its expansion plans and can’t be redesigned to spare the land.

The proposed road has been a particular point of contention between the Chicago Rockford International Airport and a group of conservationists called Save Bell Bowl Prairie. The group wants the airport to revise its design so a $50 million cargo expansion can be built in a way that coexists with the rare natural land where an endangered bee was discovered this summer.

“There’s no way to move that road where it doesn’t affect the prairie,” Zack Oakley, deputy director of operations and planning at RFD, said in a phone interview with the Rock River Current. “The roadway we have on our plans is a very narrow corridor in which it can fit that doesn’t affect future ramp/runway/taxiway development to the south and doesn’t affect future activity and development as proposed to the north and the west.”

Construction of that roadway is halted until March 1 to allow the airport to work with the Federal Aviation Administration, Illinois Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to study how construction would affect the endangered rusty patched bumblebee.

“The airport will not take action on that roadway until that consultation is complete,” Oakley said. “If there is an impact or no impact we’ll respond accordingly following the consultation.”

Related: Rockford airport responds to lawsuit over Bell Bowl Prairie, limits access

Oakley spoke with the Current on Tuesday after the airport issued a news release on its response to a federal lawsuit the Natural Land Institute filed to try to protect the prairie from expansion. He said the airport doesn’t anticipate any changes to its design will be required, but it will abide by the FAA consultation.

The rest of construction will continue, he said. About 65% of the project has already been complete. Oakley said fencing will be placed around the prairie so that contractors know the area that needs to be protected during the consultation. The Natural Land Institute had pressed for access to the prairie so it could mark the boundaries that it says must remain untouched.

“We still want to have a meeting with the airport, (Illinois Department of Transportation) and (Illinois Department of Natural Resources) about redesigning,” said Kerry Leigh, executive director of Natural Land Institute, in a phone interview Tuesday. “We’re also wiling to help find additional funding” to pay for any increased costs of a new design.

Related: Prairie watchdogs: Group keeps eye on Bell Bowl Prairie from a distance

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Part of the need for the road is because Cessna Drive, the main access to the AAR Corp. jet repair facility, is not safe for the current truck traffic that’s been forced to use it, Oakley said. He said the road was not designed for the semitrailer traffic it now gets.

“Quite honestly, as vehicles start to make turns around the AAR facility, there’s no way for two semis to come side-by-side with each other going opposite directions,” Oakley said. “It’s entirely unsafe.”

He also says Cessna would be taken out of service during future airport expansion as new taxiways, ramps and runways are built to accommodate more growth.

The airport previously said it would redesign a portion of its expansion to remove a detention basin that was originally planned in the prairie. That land could still be developed in the future, Oakley said, but no work would happen without future environmental assessment.

“It’s still airport land,” he said. “It’s still there for development, but it is not happening in this cycle.”

This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on Twitter at @KevinMHaas.