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Downstate Illinois Notes

Started by 3467, September 26, 2022, 08:17:53 PM

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3467

A more logical title with the merger. I have news the four lane era is not over in Illinois.
I went to a Corridor 67 meeting today. There is new blood . There is an attitude I have never seen before.
There is a new program and ranking system . It doesn't mean a project won't make it. As other projects are completed others move up. This is supposedly on the website. They apologized for the website. Also the delay in 67 in North Warren County. I accepted that we waited long enough the road was a mess.
There is a lot of info. I will update some projects and give more detail later

First 67  Reconstruction funded Warren County and Macomb to Industry . I don't know those details
Beardstown Bridge will start next year. South  of Beardstown is funded for resurface but the District Engineer wants to enhanced safety Paved shoulders.
Never heard them want more before.
Kirk Brown region 5  said some of Jerseyville bypass is in MYP. I can't find it . But full funding hopefully come when they run it through the program again. It's ready to go.
BTW New Chair of 67 is Mayor of Jerseyville.
Kirk Brown mentioned another project he was working I too. I suspect Southwest Connector not 50.
Other I discussed Preemption area on 67  and need for its repair and a passing lane District Engineer  Kenai Garnett was receptive
He gave me updates on two others
Illinois 29 is alive they are looking at the engineering
336 however has been superseded by 24 which is funded Peoria County wants corridor protection dropped.
US 34 is funded most of the 4 lane will be completed in the current MYP.


3467


edwaleni

Quote from: 3467 on September 26, 2022, 08:17:53 PM
A more logical title with the merger. I have news the four lane era is not over in Illinois.
I went to a Corridor 67 meeting today. There is new blood . There is an attitude I have never seen before.
There is a new program and ranking system . It doesn't mean a project won't make it. As other projects are completed others move up. This is supposedly on the website. They apologized for the website. Also the delay in 67 in North Warren County. I accepted that we waited long enough the road was a mess.
There is a lot of info. I will update some projects and give more detail later

First 67  Reconstruction funded Warren County and Macomb to Industry . I don't know those details
Beardstown Bridge will start next year. South  of Beardstown is funded for resurface but the District Engineer wants to enhanced safety Paved shoulders.
Never heard them want more before.
Kirk Brown region 5  said some of Jerseyville bypass is in MYP. I can't find it . But full funding hopefully come when they run it through the program again. It's ready to go.
BTW New Chair of 67 is Mayor of Jerseyville.
Kirk Brown mentioned another project he was working I too. I suspect Southwest Connector not 50.
Other I discussed Preemption area on 67  and need for its repair and a passing lane District Engineer  Kenai Garnett was receptive
He gave me updates on two others
Illinois 29 is alive they are looking at the engineering
336 however has been superseded by 24 which is funded Peoria County wants corridor protection dropped.
US 34 is funded most of the 4 lane will be completed in the current MYP.

This is very positive and has to be the result of not only the constitutional amendment separating road funds from general funds, but also adequate capital from the recent doubling of the road fuels tax.

Not only does this allow for better long term planning, but keeps some politicians out of IDOT's hair when trying to get needs met with roads instead of back pocket favors.

3467

It was information packed meeting. They tweaked the program when only Chicago projects came out. It's highly likely most of these projects will get funded.
Southwest is very interesting. If Pickneyville Nashville is funded that would be the Southwest Connector.
A future project might be to finish the 50 four lane to Carlyle. It has traffic and a high truck volume. The rest except near 57 is very low volume.

ilpt4u

The last section of 4-lane IL 13 between Carbondale and Marion at Crab Orchard Lake, basically at Cambria and Carterville, is also listed to be expanded to 6 lanes

3467

I got the impression these will all get done. Money is expected to be OK . Also as they catch up on maintenance and bridges they can do more.
Beardstown Bridge is still listed @74 but structural steel is way up. So it will be more they can cover without it being a big deal.
Big problem the labor shortage from covid in the department and construction.

Rick Powell

Quote from: 3467 on September 26, 2022, 09:56:35 PM
Idot.illinois.gov/data-driven-decisions.html

According to the DDD scoring, these are the top IDOT capacity improvement projects by region/district:

Region 1 (Schaumburg): US 30 from IL 47 to ILL 31
Region 2 (Dixon/Ottawa): I-74/ILL 5 Interchange; I-80 Seneca Intchg to Morris Intchg
Region 3 (Peoria/Paris): US 34 from E of Gulfport to W of Biggsville; I-74 Prospect Ave to University Ave
Region 4 (Springfield/Effingham): I-55 Clear Lake Ave to Sangamon Ave; no candidate in D7
Region 5 (Collinsville/Carbondale): I-270 Six Laning Madison County; ILL 13 Crab Orchard

3467

Region 4 is going to shift the stretch of 67 to Safety. He can add shoulders intersection improvements with out the DVD scoring which it scores very low due to very low volumes. Shoulders of whatever size exempt and not a flood plain issue. I got the impression same with passing lane. It was a strong hint what we should do for 104 to Macomb ....
Region 5 looks like he is going to run 67 and 127 through till he gets them.

edwaleni

#8
Quote from: 3467 on September 27, 2022, 03:33:19 PM
Region 4 is going to shift the stretch of 67 to Safety. He can add shoulders intersection improvements with out the DVD scoring which it scores very low due to very low volumes. Shoulders of whatever size exempt and not a flood plain issue. I got the impression same with passing lane. It was a strong hint what we should do for 104 to Macomb ....
Region 5 looks like he is going to run 67 and 127 through till he gets them.

"Region 4 is going to shift the stretch of 67 to Safety."

Does this mean Beardstown to the Macomb Bypass?

"Region 5 looks like he is going to run 67 and 127 through till he gets them."

I assume Dehli to the Jerseyville Bypass or all the way to Manchester?

And IL-127 from Carbondale to Pickneyville makes sense as Pickneyville is where the updates connecting the Metro-East with the Carbondale-Marion-Harrisburg MSA will take place. Just which route IDOT will use is still debatable.

Waterloo to Sparta or the Freeburg to Sparta route?

Edit: Never mind, the SE Connector is the Waterloo Route to Sparta.

edwaleni

336 however has been superseded by 24 which is funded Peoria County wants corridor protection dropped.

The proposed route of 336 from Macomb east to the west side of Canton makes sense relative to US-24.

The problem is IDOT spent all their dough to get 336 to spin by Farmington and so it takes this big jog between Farmington and Canton to please both.

The jobs are in South Peoria off US-24 and that is where the people of Canton are coming and going.

If they can redirect corridor protection from west of Canton, through all the spent strip mines to Banner, then it would probably be more functional.

The City of Peoria didn't protect connection of I-74 and IL-336 going east to Farmington Road and recently allowed a Hindu Temple to build right along the IDOT owned ROW.

So who knows where this will end up.




3467

336 is gone . Looks like IDOT is dropping corridor protection
It's the segment of 67 that was fun through the DDD . They are going to reclassify and just widen shoulder.
There is going to be room for another span at Beardstown but realistically the collapse in traffic on the whole segment is an issue.

I get the impression  that they will run each segment of 67 through on the southern segment. You can see there are 2alternatives on Pickneyville to St. Louis. I see one of the other. Just like 336 or 24

3467

With corridor 67 getting active again I expect more updates on all the project.

ilpt4u

I need to get a picture sometime, but the former weird at-grade, stop signed Y north of Royalton of IL 149 and IL 184 has been remade into a Traffic Circle/Round-about/whatever. It is an improvement, honestly.

But the picture needed: the WB 149 Approach Round-about Green Sign uses Bordered IL 184 and IL 149 shields! On a Green Sign (I hesitate to use "BGS"  because it's not really a "big"  sign" )! Straight out of Indiana!

Makes me wonder if an InDOT Sign Shop made the sign!

edwaleni

Quote from: ilpt4u on October 13, 2022, 08:08:05 PM
I need to get a picture sometime, but the former weird at-grade, stop signed Y north of Royalton of IL 149 and IL 184 has been remade into a Traffic Circle/Round-about/whatever. It is an improvement, honestly.

But the picture needed: the WB 149 Approach Round-about Green Sign uses Bordered IL 184 and IL 149 shields! On a Green Sign (I hesitate to use "BGS"  because it's not really a "big"  sign" )! Straight out of Indiana!

Makes me wonder if an InDOT Sign Shop made the sign!

Yes, I would like to see that sign. Post when you can.

kphoger

Is it a real roundabout with yield approaches?  It's outside of a downtown area, so hopefully it won't be like that dumb Jonesboro circle.
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

ilpt4u

It is a real yield-controlled to enter round-about

Comparable to the one at IL 154 and IL 13 just west of downtown Pinckneyville

kphoger

Quote from: ilpt4u on October 14, 2022, 05:10:43 PM
It is a real yield-controlled to enter round-about

Comparable to the one at IL 154 and IL 13 just west of downtown Pinckneyville

Thanks.  The Pinckneyville roundabout was still that god-awful wye back when I lived there, but I see from GSV that it is indeed a nice yield-on-entry roundabout.

(That old wye was especially frustrating because I drove a box truck and couldn't exactly look sharply back over my right shoulder.  My usual route through the intersection was northwest-to-east, which meant a stop sign and no way to see traffic coming from my right.  Fortunately, I came to start using this little wide spot next to the stop sign to get as close to 90° as possible.  Even if it wasn't quite legal, at least it was safer.  I'm not even sure it was paved back then (GSV goes back to August 2009, but that was back in 2007.)
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

ilpt4u

#17
Grabbed a couple of pics. One from the WB 149 approach (thru a dirty windshield, sorry) and one from the SB 184 approach. The EB(really NB here) 149 approach does not have the Round-about Green Sign with the shields, yet anyway. Yes, the IL shields are bordered. Not typical in IL. Also of note, Google Maps now shows the Round-about, but the "traffic conditions"  colors still follows the old "Y"  design, not thru the Round-about. I'm sure that will catch up eventually also



edwaleni

Thanks for posting those. I was curious how Illinois was going to sign a roundabout of 2 state highways.

European style or with the fish hook on green.

ilpt4u

#19
The Pinckneyville one between IL 154 and IL 13 is up on GSV, fyi. It has been open for a few years now

Signing is pretty similar to this, but the Pinckneyville one uses "normal"  non-bordered shields on the GS

IDOT paid for the one at Cambria Rd and Herrin Rd (and soon to the Walker's Bluff Casino) at Blairsville, but those aren't signed state highways. Herrin Rd is a "hidden"  state route. Cambria Rd might be also, and certainly is between Herrin Rd and IL 149

kphoger

Quote from: ilpt4u on October 20, 2022, 11:10:02 PM
Herrin Rd is a "hidden"  state route. Cambria Rd might be also, and certainly is between Herrin Rd and IL 149

Wow, I see what you mean about "might be"!   :confused:

On Cambria Road south of Herrin-Colp blacktop, there is an "end state maintenance" sign, and there's a similar sign heading north from Route 13.  Furthermore, the road is labeled as Williamson CR-9 between the two on the official IDOT map.  However, on the same map, the whole stretch is co-labeled as FAS-907–the same number as north of Herrin-Colp blacktop.  The only bids I can find online that mention "FAS 907" are for the Big Muddy River bridge, which portion you've already stated is definitely a state route.  So the only actual evidence I see of Cambria Road being a state route south of Herrin-Colp blacktop is that it's co-labeled as FAS-907 on the IDOT map.



IDOT's 'Getting Around Illinois' map lists the stretch between Herrin-Colp blacktop and Route 13 with 'Major Collector' as its functional class, but I'm not 100% sure that means it's not a state route.  I thi-i-i-i-ink it does:  I cannot identify any state route that's labeled that way (I thought I found a few, but I see no evidence of their being FAS routes now, so maybe they were turned back to counties at some point).
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

ilpt4u

#21
Quote from: kphoger on October 21, 2022, 12:09:40 PM
Quote from: ilpt4u on October 20, 2022, 11:10:02 PM
Herrin Rd is a "hidden"  state route. Cambria Rd might be also, and certainly is between Herrin Rd and IL 149

Wow, I see what you mean about "might be"!   :confused:

On Cambria Road south of Herrin-Colp blacktop, there is an "end state maintenance" sign, and there's a similar sign heading north from Route 13.  Furthermore, the road is labeled as Williamson CR-9 between the two on the official IDOT map.  However, on the same map, the whole stretch is co-labeled as FAS-907–the same number as north of Herrin-Colp blacktop.  The only bids I can find online that mention "FAS 907" are for the Big Muddy River bridge, which portion you've already stated is definitely a state route.  So the only actual evidence I see of Cambria Road being a state route south of Herrin-Colp blacktop is that it's co-labeled as FAS-907 on the IDOT map.



IDOT's 'Getting Around Illinois' map lists the stretch between Herrin-Colp blacktop and Route 13 with 'Major Collector' as its functional class, but I'm not 100% sure that means it's not a state route.  I thi-i-i-i-ink it does:  I cannot identify any state route that's labeled that way (I thought I found a few, but I see no evidence of their being FAS routes now, so maybe they were turned back to counties at some point).
IDOT will also be extending Herrin Rd to the new Walker's Bluff casino. They are either in Engineering or Study phase now. Casino is supposed to open late this year or early next, so it won't be done before the casino opens

AFA the "might be"  my comment wasn't so much from looking on the map, but moreso the idea that there is (almost) no way Cambria Rd, at least between (hidden) State Route Herrin Rd and IL SR 149 is not also a State Route, as that is a decently traveled corridor between Herrin, JC, etc over to DeSoto and Murphysboro. Have a coworker who uses that as his commuter route! And he isn't the only one that traverses that corridor

That said, the IDOT shields for "Herrin Rd"  and "Cambria Rd"  are pretty plain looking, just the words "Herrin Rd"  and "Cambria Rd"  in a blank white Shield box. They were displayed mostly during the closure when the intersection was closed a few years ago while IDOT installed the Round-about there

paulthemapguy

Functional class has no relationship to whether or not the route is state-maintained.  Functional class just aims to describe the role of a roadway in the overall roadway network.

Herrin Road has these mile markers that give away that it's an unmarked state highway, because these mile markers only appear on state-maintained roads in certain counties. Not all unmarked IDOT roads will have these mile markers, but all roads with these mile markers will be state-maintained roads (unless they are remnants from a past jurisdictional transfer).

https://goo.gl/maps/3Pf6abiKHw7wK2tm6
Avatar is the last interesting highway I clinched.
My website! http://www.paulacrossamerica.com Now featuring all of Ohio!
My USA Shield Gallery https://flic.kr/s/aHsmHwJRZk
TM Clinches https://bit.ly/2UwRs4O

National collection status: 361/425. Only 64 route markers remain

edwaleni

Illinois commits another $3.4 million to the Alexander - Cairo Port project.

https://www.kfvs12.com/2022/10/18/cairo-port-development-receives-34m/

The prospectus of this project says that several road upgrades are in the planning stage, but I am aware of only one and that is the replacement of the Cairo Bridge by KDOT.

Has anyone else seen the highway upgrade plan for this new port?



https://www.alexandercairo.org/


ilpt4u

What else is there to improve, road wise, in Cairo? Rt 51 is a 4 lane road thru town. The Mississippi River bridge wouldn't hurt, but that would require MoDOT cooperation, and the I-57 bridge also crosses the river not far upstream



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