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County declares Brundige eligible
for Rustic Road status
By Susan O’Neill
Elburn Herald
March 6, 2003
Kane County officials declared that Brundige Road is eligible for Rustic Road status, Kane County Preservation
Planner Julia Evans said.
Property owners along Brundige Road began the nomination process last September to seek the designation for
the road that spans two townships in the county, Blackberry and Campton. The original road (not including the
new extension south into the Mill Creek Subdivision) extends from Keslinger Road north to Route 38.
The Rustic road Program will seek to preserve many features, both natural and man-made, of Brundige Road.
The program would help preserve Mill Creek (not the subdivision), which crosses Brundige at approximately
the center between Route 38 and Keslinger road. In addition, the status would protect the expansive scenic
views, a surviving prairie, productive farmland and a nesting ground for the Blandings Turtle, a threatened
species. Man-made features include original farmsteads, the Mill Creek Bridge and the Union Pacific Railroad
crossing.
The Rustic Road designation process for Brundige Road actually began in 1995, explained Brundige resident
Andrew Frasz, when ten-preservation planner mark Van Kirkoff came up with the concept of the Rustic Road
Program and inserted it in the first Kane County 2020 Land Use Plan.
With the encouragement of Campton Township and county Board Chairman Mike McCoy, and well over the minimum
number of signatures needed, Frasz said he is happy to see the designation finally come to fruition.
“The fact that the road has survived 20 years of high development without taking anything away from growth
says something,” Frasz said. “We’re glad that others see the value of the road and feel that it is worthy
of preserving.”
Both the county development and transportation staff have recommended proceeding with the nomination, and
last Thursday the Historic Preservation Commission determined the road to be eligible for the nomination.
The next step in the process is for the property owners to get together with the commission, township
supervisors and Kane County Department of Transportation to work out the details of a Corridor Management Plan,
said Evans.
While the exact nature of future development is not clear, it is likely that most of the area surrounding
the road will develop with a residential density of at least 600-700 units per square mile. One major development,
Grand Prairie, has already been proposed for the area.
Brundige Road is the only north-south connection to Route 38 and Keslinger Road between La fox and Peck Roads,
connecting to Mill Creek Subdivision south of Keslinger Road. Brundige currently carries an average daily
traffic of approximately 800 vehicles, with future projections of several thousand trips a day, depending on
the character of the surrounding development.
None of the transportation issues identified preclude the designation of the road as Rustic, according to
Evans. The road, currently two-thirds gravel (within Blackberry township) and one-third paved (Campton Township),
will eventually need to be hard-surfaced, Evans said. And while acknowledging that intersection improvements
will need to made to support the increased traffic, many of the features can still be preserved (or even
enhanced, such as the rehabilitation of the Mill Creek Bridge) through careful planning.
Should the incorporation of La Fox take place, it is still likely that the county would move forward with
the designation, entering into an intergovernmental agreement with La Fox.
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