Is the U.S 20 freeway between Freeport and Galena necessary?

[I-39]

IDOT did list 2 engineering studies for Rockford Freeport and Galena -East Dubuque. I don't think they were ever completed
Dist 2 now has a study to improve IL 2 from Byron to Rockford. It looks like reconstruct with some passing lanes. Perhaps the model to wrap up US 20?

It may have to end up being that way. Of course, the Galena bypass should be constructed as originally planned regardless of what is done with the rest of the corridor.

I favor the freeway hands down, but if it cannot be connected to the U.S 20 freeway in Iowa, it is not worth building it. They should figure out what to do with the Mississippi River crossing before continuing any further on the Freeport to Galena segment.

[NE2]

I don't really understand how you would fit a freeway in there, it would be VERY tight.

An elevated freeway over the railroad in East Dubuque would be much easier than a whole new bypass alignment.

Plus, there is not enough ROW on some of the intersections on the Iowa side for interchanges and a frontage road.

There's not enough ROW for a bypass either, because there's no ROW at all. So nerr. But all that would need to be taken to add frontage roads would be a few pieces of parking lots.

[I-39]

I don't really understand how you would fit a freeway in there, it would be VERY tight.

An elevated freeway over the railroad in East Dubuque would be much easier than a whole new bypass alignment.

Plus, there is not enough ROW on some of the intersections on the Iowa side for interchanges and a frontage road.

There's not enough ROW for a bypass either, because there's no ROW at all. So nerr. But all that would need to be taken to add frontage roads would be a few pieces of parking lots.

I'm talking about a far southern bypass, it would intersect with the existing U.S 20 east of Peosta and run straight east, crossing just north of the U.S 61/151 interchange near the Dubuque Regional Airport and cross the Mississippi, rejoining U.S 20 just west of Menominee Road. Yes, it would be much more costly, but it is the only way you could build a proper freeway through the Dubuque area.

[NE2]

I just explained how you could build a "proper" freeway with minimal takings. Is your ISP censoring me? Or is it a PEBCAK?

[3467]

http://www.idot.illinois.gov/projects/il-2-byron-to-beltline-road

Based on the CAG meetings this is all about curves passing and turn lanes-the very things that solve US 20.
I will also link the other district 2 Study Do we need this one?
http://www.idot.illinois.gov/projects/us-30-fulton-to-rock-falls

Plus this Bridge needs to be replaced
http://www.idot.illinois.gov/projects/us-52-il-64-over-the-mississippi-river

Iowa is going to 4 lane some more sections. It is also going to finish 4 laning 20 in Western Iowa and 61 in Eastern if it ever gets the money . Any other projects are really fictional at this point
Illinois complained for years about Mo on US 36 and Indiana on the Illiana yet is constantly trashes Iowa who builds some roads 20-30 and 34 . You can read the cryptic comments in the review of public comments . It mentions most support comes from another state

[I-39]

I just explained how you could build a "proper" freeway with minimal takings. Is your ISP censoring me? Or is it a PEBCAK?

I understand what you said, but as I said, I looked at the corridor and there is simply not enough ROW for frontage roads, elevated freeway, interchanges, grade separations, etc. And I am talking about the entire corridor between Camillus Dr and Wall St. There would be too much opposition, so they'd have to bypass the town, however, that will likely not happen either because it is too expensive.

As such, I doubt the freeway will continue west of IL-84.

[3467]

http://www.idot.illinois.gov/Assets/uploads/IDOT-Projects/District-2/US-30-Fulton-to-Rock-Falls/files/US30-CAGMeetingMinutes-Jan2015(Hudson-Volkert-Final).pdf
Really interesting read from just last month A community debates a bypass

[I-39]

http://www.idot.illinois.gov/Assets/uploads/IDOT-Projects/District-2/US-30-Fulton-to-Rock-Falls/files/US30-CAGMeetingMinutes-Jan2015(Hudson-Volkert-Final).pdf
Really interesting read from just last month A community debates a bypass

This is not a necessary highway. They need to focus on other corridors first.

[NE2]

I understand what you said, but as I said, I looked at the corridor and there is simply not enough ROW for frontage roads, elevated freeway, interchanges, grade separations, etc. And I am talking about the entire corridor between Camillus Dr and Wall St. There would be too much opposition, so they'd have to bypass the town, however, that will likely not happen either because it is too expensive.

The US 20 freeway out by Manchester, IA is 120 feet wide from shoulder edge to shoulder edge, and that includes a 50 foot median that's not necessary in an urban setting. The combined right-of-way of the parallel railroad and surface US 20 in East Dubuque is 160 feet. That's more than enough room for an elevated structure. It wouldn't be the prettiest thing, but neither would the scar caused by a bypass through the hills south of Dubuque.

Another potential solution would be to buy out the auto repair place across the tracks near Timmerman Drive, then shift the railroad a bit to the southwest and put the freeway at ground level in the space currently occupied by the eastbound lanes and the new space created by moving the railroad.

[I-39]

I understand what you said, but as I said, I looked at the corridor and there is simply not enough ROW for frontage roads, elevated freeway, interchanges, grade separations, etc. And I am talking about the entire corridor between Camillus Dr and Wall St. There would be too much opposition, so they'd have to bypass the town, however, that will likely not happen either because it is too expensive.

The US 20 freeway out by Manchester, IA is 120 feet wide from shoulder edge to shoulder edge, and that includes a 50 foot median that's not necessary in an urban setting. The combined right-of-way of the parallel railroad and surface US 20 in East Dubuque is 160 feet. That's more than enough room for an elevated structure. It wouldn't be the prettiest thing, but neither would the scar caused by a bypass through the hills south of Dubuque.

Another potential solution would be to buy out the auto repair place across the tracks near Timmerman Drive, then shift the railroad a bit to the southwest and put the freeway at ground level in the space currently occupied by the eastbound lanes and the new space created by moving the railroad.

I guess, I don't know, there is no easy answer here. Like I said, I'm not sure if the state will go for either of the options. I'd say it is fairly likely they just make it a non-freeway four lane arterial and leave it at that.

[Lyon Wonder]

This is getting into fictional territory, but I-180 should be decommissioned and reuse its number by renumbering I-88 into a new I-180 which, IMO, makes much better use of that number.  This frees up the "I-88" number for a potential future freeway upgrade of US 20 west of Rockford to the currant US 20 freeway in Iowa. Of course I-82 is another alternative number for this corridor too.

[I-39]

This is getting into fictional territory, but I-180 should be decommissioned and reuse its number by renumbering I-88 into a new I-180 which, IMO, makes much better use of that number.  This frees up the "I-88" number for a potential future freeway upgrade of US 20 west of Rockford to the currant US 20 freeway in Iowa. Of course I-82 is another alternative number for this corridor too.

There will be no Interstate designation for U.S 20 unless it is properly connected to the freeway in Iowa. I don't think when I-88 was designated, they were anticipating the U.S 20 corridor to be upgraded to freeway.

[ET21]

A bypass would mean a faster route from Rockford to Dubuque, but you'd be harming the local economies of Stockton, Eleroy, Woodbine, Elizabeth, and Galena. Granted some of these towns are very small or have popularity like Galena, but these towns live off of the travelers that goes through them.

As NE stated earlier, where are you going to put a bypass??? There is no good ROW unless you want to start cutting into farmland or begin blasting hillsides to expand the current US-20.

What sucks with our current governor is that a proposal to reopen the Chicago-Rockford Amtrak service is on hold due to his "crackdown" on state spending. There were plans to eventually reopen the old route that goes into Galena and eventually add in Dubuque down the line.

[I-39]

A bypass would mean a faster route from Rockford to Dubuque, but you'd be harming the local economies of Stockton, Eleroy, Woodbine, Elizabeth, and Galena. Granted some of these towns are very small or have popularity like Galena, but these towns live off of the travelers that goes through them.

As NE stated earlier, where are you going to put a bypass??? There is no good ROW unless you want to start cutting into farmland or begin blasting hillsides to expand the current US-20.

What sucks with our current governor is that a proposal to reopen the Chicago-Rockford Amtrak service is on hold due to his "crackdown" on state spending. There were plans to eventually reopen the old route that goes into Galena and eventually add in Dubuque down the line.

I am talking about putting a bypass starting west of Galena straight west into Iowa, connecting into the freeway in Delaware, instead of routing the highway through Dubuque, where there is limited ROW for a freeway. They have already decided they want to build the freeway between Freeport and Galena, funding is the only obstacle to construction.

My point is, is it worth it to build the U.S 20 freeway between Freeport and Galena if it won't be connected into the freeway in Iowa? I say no. I support the construction of the freeway, but only if the entire corridor is upgraded (i.e building the freeway into Iowa AND upgrading the expressway section between Rockford and Freeport to freeway, which I have heard at least the latter may happen if/when the Freeport to Galena section is built, but I cannot verify that).

[mgk920]

I know the in the 1990s and into at least the early '00s', IDOT was considering a tunnel through one of those ridges for part of that new highway.  Is that still part of the plan?

I never saw a map of that route option, BTW.

Mike

[3467]

http://www.idot.illinois.gov/projects/US20-Freeport

IDOT missed October for the Funding study......
You can see the alignments in the Details section.
The EIS have a lot of the history of the alternates you might see if the tunnel is in them

[adt1982]

I will give some 20 background. IDOT has a lot of power in district engineers and Dist 2s made the 20 freeway his personal project. When he retired it was no longer the states big project 336 was because the head of Quincy newspapers made it his. Here is the Good news Tom Oakley has just taken over Corridor 67 so 755 and Adam work will continue on 67 when there is money again (whenever that will be)
There is a study on how to finance 20 because its cost is so high up to 20 million a mile. It is not worth that . Illinois needs to get real. I think expanding the 3 lanes for the length plus a Galena Bypass would do the job, The extra costs to make the rest of 20 a freeway with no hope of a freeway in Dubuque makes a freeway segment pointless in my opinion.. The 3 lane could be built for 80 million  plus 100 million for the bypass as opposed to nearly a billion for the 47 mile freeway

Thanks for the update.  It will be interesting to see how much time passes before anything else happens.

[3467]

I wonder what was in the funding study -Tolls?  Most downstate expressway projects are running 6 million a mile. This one is coming in near 20 because of the landscape

I exclude projects like the 67 Beardstown Br because it has to be replaced anyway but all of the other 270 miles under study come in about 1.7 billion if built today (maybe a little less asphalt should be down) . 20 would be nearly a billion for 47 miles

[I-39]

I wonder what was in the funding study -Tolls?  Most downstate expressway projects are running 6 million a mile. This one is coming in near 20 because of the landscape

I exclude projects like the 67 Beardstown Br because it has to be replaced anyway but all of the other 270 miles under study come in about 1.7 billion if built today (maybe a little less asphalt should be down) . 20 would be nearly a billion for 47 miles

It is also coming in at 20 Million a mile because of the type of road: freeway. An expressway would cost a little less, but still expensive.

They have gone on the record saying most of the existing alignment cannot be improved to 4 lanes and passing lanes would not be adequate. Perhaps it's time to downgrade it to a less costly expressway, although they have stated they don't want the congestion that will come without full access control.

Regardless of what happens, the Galena bypass should be constructed as planned.

[I-39]

By the way, here is a map I made regarding a hypothetical bypass for Dubuque. I feel this would be the only viable route for a U.S 20 freeway connecting Illinois and Iowa, but I doubt something like this would be considered due to the high cost/environmental impact

[JREwing78]

They have gone on the record saying most of the existing alignment cannot be improved to 4 lanes and passing lanes would not be adequate. Perhaps it's time to downgrade it to a less costly expressway, although they have stated they don't want the congestion that will come without full access control.

I suspect it will be at least 30-50 years before having side road access would be a liability on a Galena-Freeport expressway. Also, aside from the stoplight at Winnebago (which should be replaced with an overpass), the existing expressway stretch between Freeport and Rockford is adequate, and will be for at least a couple decades to come.

I wouldn't get excited about a southern Dubuque bypass or another Mississippi connection until Illinois can at least 4-lane US-20 to Galena. Without that, the traffic to justify Dubuque widening/expansion simply won't be there.

[3467]

The District Engineer at the time had to say that to get a positive ROD from the FHWA if they told the truth even FHWA might have noticed and said why not and expressway or some passing lanes? They should have anyway because half of the route is under 5000 vpd Most of the sections that warrant widening are in Galena. Once again we get back to passing lane expansion and a Galena bypass.........I don't see another billion dollar bridge coming. Illinois has to fix 74 and 52 with Iowa as well as Beardstown and Meridosia and now Quincy

[I-39]

They have gone on the record saying most of the existing alignment cannot be improved to 4 lanes and passing lanes would not be adequate. Perhaps it's time to downgrade it to a less costly expressway, although they have stated they don't want the congestion that will come without full access control.

I suspect it will be at least 30-50 years before having side road access would be a liability on a Galena-Freeport expressway. Also, aside from the stoplight at Winnebago (which should be replaced with an overpass), the existing expressway stretch between Freeport and Rockford is adequate, and will be for at least a couple decades to come.

I wouldn't get excited about a southern Dubuque bypass or another Mississippi connection until Illinois can at least 4-lane US-20 to Galena. Without that, the traffic to justify Dubuque widening/expansion simply won't be there.

I agree, they have to put in the four lanes between Freeport and Galena before building a new four lane bridge on either a bypass or upgrading the existing route. I was just demonstrating with the map an alignment they'd probably have to do if they decided to build a freeway into Iowa.

IDOT insists building it as a freeway is necessary here, they've done the studies. I agree this should be built as a freeway. Because of the vast amount of truck traffic that would result from building this (remember, this could be a viable alternative route for I-80), it is probably better to build full access control (freeway) so higher speed limits could be posted. Plus, with commercial development along major corridors, it is better to have full access control so as no signalized intersections pop up (like in Winnebago).

The real issues here are cost and connectivity, building a freeway is a lot more expensive, and this has been sitting on the shelve for 20 or so years (even longer if you count the original supplemental freeway proposal). How much longer will we have to wait? Probably a while. Building an expressway would bring the cost down a bit, but since it would still have to be on a new alignment, it would still be expensive. Also, if the freeway will not connect to Iowa, what good will building a freeway do if you have to slow down in Dubuque because of stoplights, lower speed limits, at-grade crossings, etc?

The expressway section between Freeport and Rockford would only be converted to freeway AFTER the Freeport to Galena freeway is built. Even the Freeport to Rockford section may be tricky though, because a lot of development exists on the existing alignment, some re-routing or business relocations would have to take place to put in the interchanges, overpasses, frontage roads, etc. 

[I-39]

The District Engineer at the time had to say that to get a positive ROD from the FHWA if they told the truth even FHWA might have noticed and said why not and expressway or some passing lanes? They should have anyway because half of the route is under 5000 vpd Most of the sections that warrant widening are in Galena. Once again we get back to passing lane expansion and a Galena bypass.........I don't see another billion dollar bridge coming. Illinois has to fix 74 and 52 with Iowa as well as Beardstown and Meridosia and now Quincy

The 4 lanes will happen one way or another, the leaders in the area want it, and whether or not they decide to downgrade it to expressway remains to be seen. I do believe when it is built, it will open up the floodgates and traffic will increase significantly (it will be an alternative to I-80).

I believe construction on the 74 bridge will start in 4-5 years? And I think the Beardstown bridge ought to be scaled back, are the interchanges on either side necessary?

[3467]

Everything you just said is right. ex the trucks I have been on 20 in Iowa and there are no trucks there . #4 carries more trucks . When flood closed the 80 bridge  over the Cedar river Iowa made 20 the official detour . No one took it They too 163 /34 from Des Moines or 218/27 from Iowa city . 34 became inaccessible between Monmouth and Burlington and I suspect even on the Iowa 4 lane segments. it was true freeway level traffic. none of which exists in and of the reaming supplemental corridors. Even 30 has more trucks . I think 3 lanes would easily handle the trucks using the corridor.
That said Adam every other point is spot on
BTW there is an interesting post about the Northwest and Southwest Arterials in Dubuque in the IDOT district thread Maybe they meant to post here?