PLAN NAL SITE HIGHWAY CLOSINGS

Several public roads running through the 6,800-acre NAL site are to be vacated soon, Kennedy C. Brooks, area manager for the 200 BeV Accelerator Facility office of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission has announced.

At the request of the AEI action is being taken by various township highway departments to vacate portions of the following public roads which are within the NAL site:

1. Giese Road (at the western boundary)

2. Kautz Road

3. Feldott Road

4. Holter Road

5. Hadley Road

6. McChesney Road (to the northern boundary)

7. Town Road (to the northern boundary).

Brooks explained that these roads will become private roads within the NAL site at such time as the legal steps for vacation are completed it is anticipated that these actions will take place during May, 1969.

At that time, Brooks said, access to the site from Feldott, Giese, Kautz and Hadley Roads will be subject to restrictions or will be prohibited.

In addition, Brooks said, Kane and DuPage county Highway departments are taking similar actions to vacate Eola and Batavia Roads and Wilson street at the points where they run through the NAL site.

Brooks said that it is planned that continued use of Wilson Street, which links the city of Batavia with Route 59, will be permitted for some additional period as a private road. Access to the NAL site on Batavia Road, from Wilson Road and on Batavia Road at the intersection of the E.J. & E Railroad tracks, will be controlled by gates which may be manned 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

NAL MAIN ENTRANCE FORMALLY OPENED

Mayor Robert Brown of Batavia (left) cut the ribbon opening the new Main Entrance Road to NAL Sunday afternoon, September 9. Mayor Brown was introduced by Dr. Edwin L. Goldwasser, Deputy Director of the Laboratory, who noted that NAL and Batavia officials have been meeting for six years on areas of common concern. "It seemed natural for us to have our main entrance at this location, opposite Batavia, and we hope Batavia residents will be visiting us often," he said.

Dr. Goldwasser promised Mayor Brown a souvenir pair of scissors (below) as a token of the event keynoting the formal opening of the new access to communities to the west of the Laboratory.

Mayor Brown expressed appreciation for the opportunity of Batavia officials to visit NAL. Aldermen, park and school board members joined the Accelerator Division’s picnic earlier in the afternoon and were given a tour of the Laboratory after the ceremony.

First to use the new road officially were about 50 bicyclists who had lined up opposite the ribbon. Many were employees and their families who live in Batavia and who will be able to take advantage of the new access road to bike to the Laboratory. At the right side of each lane, a bike path has been marked off by a double yellow line. More than 400 of NAL’s employees are now headquartered in the Cross Gallery and Central Laboratory buildings. Coming to work via Kirk Road will be a real time saver for many of these people, as well as for those still located in the Village.

About 50 bicyclists formally opened the new road as they road in a caravan from Kirk Road toward the Central Laboratory area earning the brass medallion at center.

The road was planned to take full advantage of the beauty of "Big Woods," a virgin forest on this part of the NAL site. By dividing the road into two lanes -- one for entrance, the other for exit -- a winding path through the trees was created ending with the reflecting fire pond and its attractive view of the Central Laboratory building just outside the forest.

Extending a mile east from Kirk Road, the new NAL Main Entrance Road brings employees and visitors quickly and easily to the Central Laboratory area.

In the next few months, as administration of the Laboratory becomes centered in the Central Laboratory building, visitors’ access to NAL will undoubtedly shift toward the Kirk Road entrance. Its location, about 3 miles north of the East-West Toliway, gives quick, easy access to O’Hare Airport as well as to the major cross-country freeways. This convenience is becoming more and more important to the several hundred experimenters who now visit NAL regularly.

Source: The Village Crier Vol. 5 No. 32, September, 1973

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