McHENRY – William Busse and Dr. James Mowery are troubled by a proposed plan for the ongoing Route 31 improvement project, which is more than halfway into its phase one stage.

Both men commute along Route 31, near Bull Valley Road, to get to work. Busse works at First National Bank, at the corner of Routes 120 and 31; Mowery, at Centegra Primary Care, near Bull Valley Road and Route 31.

“This is a draconian plan,” said Busse, who served as McHenry mayor from 1985 to 1993. “It’s way over-engineered. Local businesses and property owners need to say ‘Let’s wait a second and work out a solution to [accommodate] higher volume of traffic without knocking buildings down.’