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I-39/U.S 51 (FAP 412) History

Started by I-39, January 16, 2015, 10:07:49 PM

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ilpt4u

#50
https://www.rita.dot.gov/bts/sites/rita.dot.gov.bts/files/data_and_statistics/by_subject/freight/freight_facts_2015/chapter3/fig3_5

(Link borrowed from this thread: https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=20350.0)

According to that map, the Truck Traffic anyway already uses the I-57 to I-74 connection to reach I-39 for the 57/39/US 51 North/South route

That being said, down in Carbondale, if I'm driving up to Bloomington/Normal area, or Rockford, or Central WI, or maybe even Milwaukee, I'm driving right up US 51 to Blo-No and joining I-39. Its not a bad route at all, even with the drive thru Vandalia and Centralia and the north end of Decatur

I-57 is boring, comparatively

Long-haul traffic isn't likely to get off I-57 and follow US 51 from Dongola on North, or even cut over at Salem to join US 51 North, unless there is/are problems on I-57 that warrant seeking Alternate routes

For kicks and grins, Google Maps lists 3 Hours 52 Minutes/261 Miles from Bloomington to Dongola, using I-74 and I-57, 4 Hours Flat/245 Miles using US-51 and cutting over to I-57 near Patoka and Kinmundy, 4 Hours 10 Minutes/278 Miles using I-55 (IL-4 as the connector), I-64, and I-57, and 4 Hours 13 Minutes/235 Miles using US 51 entirely

Maybe better suited for "Fictional Highways" but I'm curious how the Fictional Corridor of I-55 to (non-existent) I-24 to I-57 would compare, Time and Mileage-wise, especially if you were to bring I-24 into the "Metro East"/IL side of STL (southeast to northwest) to meet I-64 at around the Scott AFB/Mid-America Airport, then further North along the IL-4 Corridor, meeting I-55 between Worden and Livingston...Another route, serves ATL/Nashville to STL and west traffic, serves deep Southern IL with better STL access, gives distance travelers/Truckers an Alternate to reach I-39, and forms at least a small leg of an "Outer Belt" for Metro East STL


2trailertrucker

Quote from: I-39 on May 27, 2017, 04:28:34 PM
Quote from: captkirk_4 on May 27, 2017, 12:11:12 PM
It's almost all four lane down to Pana now. If it reaches Vandalia and then down to I-57 around Alma and bring on a lot more thru-traffic they may have to finish those ghost ramps west of Forsyth to build a new highway around all those stoplights just north of I-72.

I doubt they will ever finish the four lane south of Pana, there isn't consensus on what exactly to do. Likewise, I highly doubt anything will ever be done to fix the mistakes they made on the section of US 51 between Bloomington and Decatur. There will never be a lot of thru-traffic along US 51 between Bloomington and Southern Illinois because it is not built to Interstate standards. Most traffic coming up from the south would probably rather do I-57 to I-74 and cut over to Bloomington-Normal to pick up I-39.

To quote a movie line, "Build it and they will come."
When an interstate is built, and the GPS/ software companies incorporate the route into the system, if it says it will save x amount of miles, the software will route them that way. Company's are so lazy, they actually force their drivers to follow the software blindly.

Revive 755

From some time in Northwestern University's EIS collection, it appears I-39 was going to have a rest area 'northwest of' Wenoa, but the rest area was dropped to reduce the amount of farmland impacts.  The attempt to reduce farmland impacts also lead to a narrow median being used on I-39.

I-39

Quote from: Revive 755 on July 08, 2017, 08:07:26 PM
From some time in Northwestern University's EIS collection, it appears I-39 was going to have a rest area 'northwest of' Wenoa, but the rest area was dropped to reduce the amount of farmland impacts.  The attempt to reduce farmland impacts also lead to a narrow median being used on I-39.

Yeah, I saw that too. It is in the Normal-Oglesby EIS that is available on Google and was in the original 1975 plans for FAP 412. A farmer complained about the necessity of it, so it was dropped. Smart move, since it really wasn't needed.

I wonder if they would have built a freeway between Bloomington and Decatur if they had waited and used the same design/ROW standards they used on the Normal-Oglesby segment. From what I read, the main reason the FAP 412 freeway was dropped between Bloomington and Decatur was because people were outraged about the amount of farmland it would have taken (per the original ROW standards from 1975). If they had used the ROW standards they used between Normal-Oglesby (narrower 54 foot median and tighter diamond interchanges), would they have cared as much?

I guess we'll never know.....



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