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[hobsini2]

Will County has recently started officially signing the county highways, at least in my part of Will County. There are now signs along Naper-Plainfield Rd (Hwy 14), Weber Rd (Hwy 88), Hassert Blvd (Hwy 66) and Kings Rd/95th St (Hwy 89).

Is this something the state has told the counties to start doing? Kendall County did their highways last year.

Some of these should be extended to a more logical end even if the jurisdiction is a municipality. For instance, Hwy 89's designation ends after the bridge over the DuPage River instead of ending at Boughton Rd.
A number of these could also be consolidated into a single number.
For instance, Arsenal Rd (Hwy 17), Manhattan-Monee Rd (Hwy 6) and Crete-Monee Rd (Hwy 21) could be one number simply by cosigning with US 52 and Illinois 50. Wisconsin does this with their county highways.

Here is the Will County Highway Map for reference.
https://www.willcountyillinois.com/County-Offices/Economic-Development/Division-of-Transportation/Highway-System

[paulthemapguy]

Will County has recently started officially signing the county highways, at least in my part of Will County. There are now signs along Naper-Plainfield Rd (Hwy 14), Weber Rd (Hwy 88), Hassert Blvd (Hwy 66) and Kings Rd/95th St (Hwy 89).

Is this something the state has told the counties to start doing? Kendall County did their highways last year.

Some of these should be extended to a more logical end even if the jurisdiction is a municipality. For instance, Hwy 89's designation ends after the bridge over the DuPage River instead of ending at Boughton Rd.
A number of these could also be consolidated into a single number.
For instance, Arsenal Rd (Hwy 17), Manhattan-Monee Rd (Hwy 6) and Crete-Monee Rd (Hwy 21) could be one number simply by cosigning with US 52 and Illinois 50. Wisconsin does this with their county highways.

Here is the Will County Highway Map for reference.
https://www.willcountyillinois.com/County-Offices/Economic-Development/Division-of-Transportation/Highway-System

Will County decided it was finally time to catch up to the other counties in the area.  The sign crew completed the rollout of the pentagons around the second or third week of May.  I have lots of thoughts and stories about Will County highways.  Previous leadership had the tendency to pawn off any section of highway that a municipality wanted to exert their will upon, which I honestly kind of understand.  One recent and poignant example is how Bolingbrook wanted to do whatever they wanted with the intersection of 95th and Alan Deatherage (what a hardcore last name), so the County said "fine you can maintain the road yourself, too, then."  That's why the county highway designation ends at the southeast bridge abutment (over the DuPage River). The county highway system needs more consistent connectivity though, especially for the sake of establishing consistent truck routes. I have a whole proposal on how to revamp the county highway system to enhance connectivity and make things more intuitive, but I am sure the higher-ups will never take it seriously.

I wonder if there's any other county in Illinois with county highway numbers that go as high as 90.

[paulthemapguy]

Kendall County has gotten on the Flashing Yellow Arrow train! These two new signals have recently been built just north of I-80 on Ridge Road (Kendall County Highway 11) near Minooka.


IL-Y-CKE11SN by Paul Drives, on Flickr


IL-Y-CKE11NN by Paul Drives, on Flickr

The Kendall County Highway Department doesn't have a lot of signals to manage in general, with the overwhelming majority of their mileage in rural areas.  Ridge and Orchard are probably the only two roads with signals maintained by them.  Still, this is an impressive development!  Note that this is within IDOT District 3, whose approval is needed for plans like this.  I wonder if more FYAs are happening in other areas around District 3.

[Revive 755]

The Kendall County Highway Department doesn't have a lot of signals to manage in general, with the overwhelming majority of their mileage in rural areas.  Ridge and Orchard are probably the only two roads with signals maintained by them.  Still, this is an impressive development!  Note that this is within IDOT District 3, whose approval is needed for plans like this.  I wonder if more FYAs are happening in other areas around District 3.

If the signal improvements were done using purely local funds versus state and/or federal funds, IDOT doesn't have much say unless the County flagrantly violates the MUTCD.  Even then the most IDOT can do IIRC is threaten to withhold state and/or federal funding for future projects.

[Great Lakes Roads]

https://www.wrex.com/news/illinois-39-il-route-38-interchange-project/article_52f759a8-1086-11ee-8257-a79258af0000.html

A new Diverging Diamond Interchange (DDI) will be coming to the IL Route 38 interchange on Interstate 39 in Rochelle.

[hobsini2]

https://www.wrex.com/news/illinois-39-il-route-38-interchange-project/article_52f759a8-1086-11ee-8257-a79258af0000.html

A new Diverging Diamond Interchange (DDI) will be coming to the IL Route 38 interchange on Interstate 39 in Rochelle.

This surprises me. Route 38 at I-39 is not terribly busy to really warrant a DDI. But ok.

[CtrlAltDel]

https://www.wrex.com/news/illinois-39-il-route-38-interchange-project/article_52f759a8-1086-11ee-8257-a79258af0000.html

A new Diverging Diamond Interchange (DDI) will be coming to the IL Route 38 interchange on Interstate 39 in Rochelle.

This surprises me. Route 38 at I-39 is not terribly busy to really warrant a DDI. But ok.

Here's the AADT:


It seems that there's a lot of traffic coming from and heading to the west, which was probably a factor.

[skluth]

https://www.wrex.com/news/illinois-39-il-route-38-interchange-project/article_52f759a8-1086-11ee-8257-a79258af0000.html

A new Diverging Diamond Interchange (DDI) will be coming to the IL Route 38 interchange on Interstate 39 in Rochelle.

This surprises me. Route 38 at I-39 is not terribly busy to really warrant a DDI. But ok.

Here's the AADT:


It seems that there's a lot of traffic coming from and heading to the west, which was probably a factor.

It's also a lot of truck traffic exiting to use the truck stops near I-39. I've done it several times myself as the nearby rest stop was closed for years; it was a good place for me to fill up being about halfway between St Louis and Green Bay.

[ET21]

Interesting

[edwaleni]

https://www.wrex.com/news/illinois-39-il-route-38-interchange-project/article_52f759a8-1086-11ee-8257-a79258af0000.html

A new Diverging Diamond Interchange (DDI) will be coming to the IL Route 38 interchange on Interstate 39 in Rochelle.

This surprises me. Route 38 at I-39 is not terribly busy to really warrant a DDI. But ok.

Here's the AADT:


It seems that there's a lot of traffic coming from and heading to the west, which was probably a factor.

It's also a lot of truck traffic exiting to use the truck stops near I-39. I've done it several times myself as the nearby rest stop was closed for years; it was a good place for me to fill up being about halfway between St Louis and Green Bay.

Rochelle has a lot of truck traffic due to two things, UP Global 3 is west of town, even though it is reduced in activity right now, and on the SE side of town is a large set of logistics warehouses on the BNSF rail line. The only other exit for Rochelle is on the tollroad @ IL-251 (Old US-51)

[hobsini2]

https://www.wrex.com/news/illinois-39-il-route-38-interchange-project/article_52f759a8-1086-11ee-8257-a79258af0000.html

A new Diverging Diamond Interchange (DDI) will be coming to the IL Route 38 interchange on Interstate 39 in Rochelle.

This surprises me. Route 38 at I-39 is not terribly busy to really warrant a DDI. But ok.

Here's the AADT:


It seems that there's a lot of traffic coming from and heading to the west, which was probably a factor.

It's also a lot of truck traffic exiting to use the truck stops near I-39. I've done it several times myself as the nearby rest stop was closed for years; it was a good place for me to fill up being about halfway between St Louis and Green Bay.

Rochelle has a lot of truck traffic due to two things, UP Global 3 is west of town, even though it is reduced in activity right now, and on the SE side of town is a large set of logistics warehouses on the BNSF rail line. The only other exit for Rochelle is on the tollroad @ IL-251 (Old US-51)

But Route 251 & I-88 is a free interchange. You can get off 39 onto 88 west to 251 and not pay a toll.

[edwaleni]

https://www.wrex.com/news/illinois-39-il-route-38-interchange-project/article_52f759a8-1086-11ee-8257-a79258af0000.html

A new Diverging Diamond Interchange (DDI) will be coming to the IL Route 38 interchange on Interstate 39 in Rochelle.

This surprises me. Route 38 at I-39 is not terribly busy to really warrant a DDI. But ok.

Here's the AADT:


It seems that there's a lot of traffic coming from and heading to the west, which was probably a factor.

It's also a lot of truck traffic exiting to use the truck stops near I-39. I've done it several times myself as the nearby rest stop was closed for years; it was a good place for me to fill up being about halfway between St Louis and Green Bay.

Rochelle has a lot of truck traffic due to two things, UP Global 3 is west of town, even though it is reduced in activity right now, and on the SE side of town is a large set of logistics warehouses on the BNSF rail line. The only other exit for Rochelle is on the tollroad @ IL-251 (Old US-51)

But Route 251 & I-88 is a free interchange. You can get off 39 onto 88 west to 251 and not pay a toll.

I know, but if your company route manager in your rig is set up for "no tolls" it will skip the free exit thinking its a tollroad.

I once asked a ship captain why he routed his cruise ship a certain way and his response was, "the ship goes the way my company wants it to go".

[edwaleni]

The news reported today that now that Illinois gas taxes are tied to the US COLA calculation, they are going up 3 cents a gallon on July 1.

[Brandon]

The news reported today that now that Illinois gas taxes are tied to the US COLA calculation, they are going up 3 cents a gallon on July 1.

And in other news, truckers continue to fill up in Indiana and keep going till Wisconsin, Iowa, or Missouri.  When you have a narrow state that's easily crossed in under a tank of fuel...

[kphoger]

And in other news, truckers continue to fill up in Indiana and keep going till Wisconsin, Iowa, or Missouri.  When you have a narrow state that's easily crossed in under a tank of fuel...

I got a ride from a man in a pickup while hitchhiking from Mount Vernon to Chicago one time.  He had come up from Kentucky and was taking I-57 and then I-94 into Indiana—that is, the long way across Illinois.  He told me that his goal whenever he does that trip is to not fill up at all between Kentucky and Indiana.  That's a minimum of 356 miles between gas stations.

[NWI_Irish96]

The news reported today that now that Illinois gas taxes are tied to the US COLA calculation, they are going up 3 cents a gallon on July 1.

And in other news, truckers continue to fill up in Indiana and keep going till Wisconsin, Iowa, or Missouri.  When you have a narrow state that's easily crossed in under a tank of fuel...

Indiana's gas taxes have gone up quite a bit in recent years. Still cheaper than Illinois but not nearly as drastic a difference as it used to be.

[paulthemapguy]

You can either complain about the broken roads, or you can complain about the gas taxes used to pay for fixing them, but not both.

[ilpt4u]

Indiana's gas taxes have gone up quite a bit in recent years. Still cheaper than Illinois but not nearly as drastic a difference as it used to be.

Recent trips towards Evansville and beyond along I-64, gas is usually cheaper at the IL 1/Grayville exit than in Mt Vernon or Evansville IN. Once deeper into Indiana the fuel prices usually settle in lower than typical IL prices

Effingham, IL typically has competitive gas prices with Terre Haute, IN and beyond as well for I-70 travelers

That said, Missouri’s and Kentucky’s gas taxes are noticeably lower

[Plutonic Panda]

You can either complain about the broken roads, or you can complain about the gas taxes used to pay for fixing them, but not both.

Yep!

[Brandon]

You can either complain about the broken roads, or you can complain about the gas taxes used to pay for fixing them, but not both.

However, that said, if the taxes are too high, making the price too high, that's lost revenue when people either skip the state for fuel or cross the border to fuel.  Having been to gas stations in Davenport and St Louis, it's stunning to note the very high percentage of Illinois plates fueling up there.  There's a balance to taxation that this state has not ever seemed to understand.

[Rothman]

You can either complain about the broken roads, or you can complain about the gas taxes used to pay for fixing them, but not both.

However, that said, if the taxes are too high, making the price too high, that's lost revenue when people either skip the state for fuel or cross the border to fuel.  Having been to gas stations in Davenport and St Louis, it's stunning to note the very high percentage of Illinois plates fueling up there.  There's a balance to taxation that this state has not ever seemed to understand.

Yeah, I don't think people skipping Illinois just for gas prices is a major issue.  Borman slows everyone down, burning up more gas and causing people to stop.

It's a conspiracy.

[kphoger]

I don't think people skipping Illinois just for gas prices is a major issue.

I don't either.
Does it happen?  Yes.
Enough people that the state should worry about losing revenue?  No.

[ilpt4u]

I don't think people skipping Illinois just for gas prices is a major issue.

I don't either.
Does it happen?  Yes.
Enough people that the state should worry about losing revenue?  No.

The truck stops in Marion do OK, and a couple are pretty new, and not that far away from Indiana, Missouri, or Kentucky

[kphoger]

The truck stops in Marion do OK, and a couple are pretty new, and not that far away from Indiana, Missouri, or Kentucky

The Huck's truck stop (now Pilot) in Marion and the Huck's truck stop in Mount Vernon used to be regular customers of mine, and yes, they seem to do quite nicely.  Effingham also, from what I've seen.

[skluth]

The truck stops in Marion do OK, and a couple are pretty new, and not that far away from Indiana, Missouri, or Kentucky

The Huck's truck stop (now Pilot) in Marion and the Huck's truck stop in Mount Vernon used to be regular customers of mine, and yes, they seem to do quite nicely.  Effingham also, from what I've seen.

There are a couple truck stops in Troy IL at the I-55/IL 162 interchange just across the border from St Louis. They're always busy and most drivers are either coming from or going to Missouri which has significantly lower gas taxes. There's been at least one truck stop there since the mid-70s because I remember using one where the TA Travel Center now is as the first stop on my way from Madison WI to California in Dec 1975