Illinois notes

[3467]

He has connections both parties.....IDOT  plus local governments. This could get really interesting.
Went through IDOTs featured projects. US 34 is vanished so is 50. 34 is because of Army corps demand to prevent flooding. 50 near Olney I have no idea. But it's typical of IDOTs passive aggressive cancellation methods. 30 was really unique for them.

[edwaleni]

There is a thread on Illinois Freeway history. The 1966 version was different and the current 88 route was the official. It would be official from 1972 to 79. When it became principal arterial under Thompson's Build Illinois.
NEPA process pretty much killed off Illinois 1 and 67 north of Monmouth. Either the EPA or FHWA questioned IDOTs sanity in the environmental documents. They never advanced beyond corridor studies. Rick Powell replied to a question I had about 1. He said it never moved beyond that map in D 3.
The other projects have lingered in some form until now.You can see them in Featured projects at IDOT.
US 30 was officially cancelled after public opposition. One of the few to get an outright cancel downstate. Even 67 and 1 were just quietly out aside rather than an outright cancel. But they were never advanced because of NEPA concerns.

Interesting. FAP 408 (Springfield to Quincy) today is considered the poorest decision made in IDOT. Use per mile is the lowest along with I-180 over to Hennepin.  That is why I was looking at the EIS to see how it was justified.

Basically the Quincy political delegation wanted it and they got it, it seems.

I was also trying to see why IDOT moved US-67 back west.

[3467]

It has to do with the owner of Quincy Newspapers . He owns TV stations too and he wanted the roads to Quincy. It's why we have a Macomb bypass. Corridor 67 was happy with the thru town. In general most of these roads have similar volume ranges of 3 to 5000.
Also Missouri had kept telling Illinois it really wanted those connections and of course it couldn't pay.

The fight with Missouri and Iowa over Avenue of Saints really ticked some people in the IDOT. Deep state. I was told that some felt Iowa wants 30 and 34 so bad it can pay for them. All of 30s supporters at the meetings were from Iowa. 34 has support in Monmouth and Galesburg. But no way is Illinois ever going to spend  150 million for 6 miles in Henderson County.

[3467]

20 was different. It was originally planned as an expressway then upgraded to freeway because it became a pet project for the district engineer. When he left it got downgraded to a Galena bypass then it just withered. That corridor needs improvement and would be ideal for a continuous passing lane.
IDOT  was the innovator in that idea as it was of the supplementary freeway . Illinois 29 and 67 north of Monmouth were both supposed to be in Build Illinois but I think 39 as freeway pretty much became the focus and IDOT  being IDOT . The idea just faded.

Though with the current funding the could easily afford to complete the whole remaining system that way for about a billion dollars. It's about 600 miles. I would finish 67 as expressway though. The rest as 3 .

[Great Lakes Roads]

On Thursday night, I took the Kennedy towards Indiana, and I noticed that the reversible express lanes were closed. Why is it shut down and what are they doing?

[edwaleni]

It has to do with the owner of Quincy Newspapers . He owns TV stations too and he wanted the roads to Quincy. It's why we have a Macomb bypass. Corridor 67 was happy with the thru town. In general most of these roads have similar volume ranges of 3 to 5000.
Also Missouri had kept telling Illinois it really wanted those connections and of course it couldn't pay.

The fight with Missouri and Iowa over Avenue of Saints really ticked some people in the IDOT. Deep state. I was told that some felt Iowa wants 30 and 34 so bad it can pay for them. All of 30s supporters at the meetings were from Iowa. 34 has support in Monmouth and Galesburg. But no way is Illinois ever going to spend  150 million for 6 miles in Henderson County.

I know some people who live on the Iowa side of the Mississppi north of Keokuk,

I asked them straight up, if you had to go to Florida, which way would you go? Would you cross over at Quincy and work your way SE?

No, they said they would not go into Illinois, but take US-61 on the Missouri side all the way to I-64 and then take that to get to I-24.

The only hangup they said is that there is no west bypass of Hannibal, which is still a work in progress with US-24. So I always wonder who IDOT thinks is going to actually use any upgrades in western Illinois?

There was this battle in the 1980's to get fed funding to build a Twin Cities-St Louis route and the Wisconsin delegation was holding it up because they said any route should pass through them. (which of course is total bunk)

Illinois said they should get the funding for the route to take truck traffic off I-74 and I-155. But who would route to St Louis by crossing over at Quincy? To US-67? You would have to go as far as Jacksonville to get the US-67 south route.

That would only be good if your destination is on the Illinois side of the river and don't want to drive through metro St Louis.

As it stands today, you can drive all freeway from St Paul to St Louis with just one interruption at Hannibal. No one will consider traversing Illinois.

[3467]

Missouri has no money for the Hannibal bypass or any new construction and may never.
The 336 project was part of Chicago KC  concept. 67 was to be the avenue of Saints matched to 61 in Wisconsin. Minnesota swung to Iowa Missouri plan not the Illinois Wisconsin finalist. I have a copy of the study that narrowed the finalists.
And then the final decision political and designated in the ISTEA act that created the dud National Highway System

[3467]

https://capitolfax.com/2019/09/30/here-we-go-again-with-more-idot-excuses/
More on IDOT and more on road corruption

https://capitolfax.com/2019/09/30/sandovals-the-one-under-the-gun-now/

[Rick Powell]

Rick Powell replied to a question I had about 1. He said it never moved beyond that map in D 3.

True...D 3 never carried any freeway or expressway planning forward for Route 1 in Kankakee or Iroquois counties. In D 1 there is a long range concept to convert IL 394 from expressway to limited access freeway from IL 1 south of Crete to US 30 in Ford Heights/Lansing, and an IL 1 Beecher bypass has been considered in local planning using Ashland Avenue. The main catalyst for both projects would likely be the long-planned South Suburban Airport, if/when it is built. The state is concentrating its SSA roadway efforts with a connection to I-57 for now. The planned CSX intermodal yard south of Crete could also create more need, but haven't heard much progress on it lately.

[3467]

The planning document I was thinking of was D7 and it was for a corridor. EPA response was to say the least negative and cited proximity to 41 in Indiana similar to what FHWA did in the planning document on 67  north of Monmouth.
D 5 also did a planning document for a Danville bypass. There was a thread here on Danville doing a local bypass. They did an O and D  study that found no thru traffic on 1.

Of course D 9 actually completed its section under much later studies that only briefly mention the old 1 corridor.
I will try to find these documents.

There was also a Route1  Association but it seems long gone.
I don't know why this corridor fascinated me so much.

[Brandon]

From the Chicago Sun-Times, this morning:

Feds focus on politically connected red-light camera company in suburban investigation

Federal agents who blitzed several southwest suburban towns last week were asking questions about a politically connected red-light camera company, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.

The Chicago-based company, SafeSpeed, LLC, says on its website that it's a "proud partner of over 30 Illinois municipalities."

SafeSpeed has been generous to Illinois politicians over the years.

Illinois politicians have reported receiving $144,200 in campaign contributions from SafeSpeed since 2011. The company's largest single donation of $10,000 was given to state Sen. Martin Sandoval in 2016, according to the Illinois State Board of Elections.

Agents last week raided Sandoval's political offices in Springfield and Cicero and hit his home on the Southwest Side. A heavily redacted warrant released Tuesday for the Springfield search indicated the feds were seeking evidence of kickbacks for official actions as well as information about five unnamed IDOT employees, among other matters.

Sandoval was part of a 2017 Chicago Tribune investigation that found he and state Sen. Tom Cullerton, a Villa Park Democrat, wrote to the Illinois Department of Transportation, encouraging the agency to allow red-light cameras in Oakbrook Terrace where SafeSpeed was hoping to operate.

Both men had accepted campaign donations from SafeSpeed.

[3467]

The Senate Dems released a partially redacted search warrant under Illinois FOIA.
At the end of mentions IDOT  official A B and D but not a C .....

[Brandon]

This goes back a bit, but is some very interesting reading for current fed-related events with IDOT.

$26.5 million in red-light camera tickets issued along Harlem Avenue since 2014
Easy money: Area red-light camera tickets boon for clouted company

[ET21]

Red light cameras are a joke. Pretty sure if I dig deep enough in this thread there's the one article where it showed it actually increased accidents at certain intersections

[Brandon]

And the article from the Trib.

Recent federal raids connected to probe of red light camera company, source says

Interesting tidbit:

A heavily blacked-out copy of the search warrant served on Sandoval's Capitol office showed the FBI was looking for a wide range of evidence, including "items related to any official action taken in exchange for a benefit."

The search warrant referred to 19 individuals, including five IDOT officials.

[edwaleni]

Red light cameras are a joke. Pretty sure if I dig deep enough in this thread there's the one article where it showed it actually increased accidents at certain intersections

Schaumburg ripped them out when it was found that at the intersection of Meacham and Higgins, rear end accidents doubled (due to panic braking), waits to turn right caused backups and after months of complaints found out the company was ticketing drivers for rolling right on red, ignoring the "yield" sign that actually allowed it.

Also a local citizen started auditing the lights with the cameras and found in his community, the municipality tampered with the timing of the yellow lights in order for the cameras to trigger sooner.

When the municipality finally relented and had the yellow lights retimed back to spec, ticket revenue plunged and eventually were removed as not useful.

So its not just the state representatives who get the campaign cash, its the mayoral and city council members too. In one case they bribed the local highway commissioner to get him to retime the yellow down to trigger more tickets.

In basic terms, red light cameras are not a revenue source and never will be, They should only be used where the accident rate is already high with normal light timing.

[MNHighwayMan]

In basic terms, red light cameras are not a revenue source and never will be, They should only be used where the accident rate is already high with normal light timing never be used.

Fixed that for you.

[inkyatari]

Also a local citizen started auditing the lights with the cameras and found in his community, the municipality tampered with the timing of the yellow lights in order for the cameras to trigger sooner.

Years ago, the Tribune audited Chicago's red light cameras, and found that 70% of them had less time on the yellow lights, than non-camera locations.

[Brandon]

Also a local citizen started auditing the lights with the cameras and found in his community, the municipality tampered with the timing of the yellow lights in order for the cameras to trigger sooner.

Years ago, the Tribune audited Chicago's red light cameras, and found that 70% of them had less time on the yellow lights, than non-camera locations.

Previous threads on cameras:
https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=21155.0
https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=19118.0
https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=19267.0
https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=15035.0
https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=14616.0
https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=14534.0
https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=14543.0
https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=14270.0
https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=12949.0

And on IDOT hiring:
https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=13279.0

[Revive 755]

Schaumburg ripped them out when it was found that at the intersection of Meacham and Higgins, rear end accidents doubled (due to panic braking), waits to turn right caused backups and after months of complaints found out the company was ticketing drivers for rolling right on red, ignoring the "yield" sign that actually allowed it.

"Yield sign"?  The green arrow for right turns currently at this intersection is much greater than a yield sign.

Also a local citizen started auditing the lights with the cameras and found in his community, the municipality tampered with the timing of the yellow lights in order for the cameras to trigger sooner.

When the municipality finally relented and had the yellow lights retimed back to spec, ticket revenue plunged and eventually were removed as not useful.

Are you referring to another municipality besides Schaumburg here, or is this for a different Schaumburg intersection?  Higgins is an IDOT roadway (IL 72), and at least these days IDOT D-1 rarely lets the locals handle signal times (Kane County's Randall Road being, possible was a partial exception).

I had heard Schaumburg dumped the red light cameras to avoid negative publicity dampening revenue at Woodfield.

[edwaleni]

Schaumburg ripped them out when it was found that at the intersection of Meacham and Higgins, rear end accidents doubled (due to panic braking), waits to turn right caused backups and after months of complaints found out the company was ticketing drivers for rolling right on red, ignoring the "yield" sign that actually allowed it.

"Yield sign"?  The green arrow for right turns currently at this intersection is much greater than a yield sign.

Also a local citizen started auditing the lights with the cameras and found in his community, the municipality tampered with the timing of the yellow lights in order for the cameras to trigger sooner.

When the municipality finally relented and had the yellow lights retimed back to spec, ticket revenue plunged and eventually were removed as not useful.

Are you referring to another municipality besides Schaumburg here, or is this for a different Schaumburg intersection?  Higgins is an IDOT roadway (IL 72), and at least these days IDOT D-1 rarely lets the locals handle signal times (Kane County's Randall Road being, possible was a partial exception).

I had heard Schaumburg dumped the red light cameras to avoid negative publicity dampening revenue at Woodfield.

Municipality is not Schaumburg, but I couldn't remember the specific town, but wanted to make sure it was noted as different.

I was under the impression that it was one of those right turn bays with a yield sign. This allowed red light turns to be safer.  I don't remember reading that they were ticketing right turns on green.

Seems cameras are a well worn topic.

[edwaleni]

I found this blurb from Lebanon, Illinois where the mayor was pushing for the US 50 Bypass to get finished.

March 2016. As expected nothing happened.

https://www.ibjonline.com/2016/03/05/lebanon-mayor-pushing-u-s-50-bypass-around-community/

LEBANON – Mayor Richard Wilken is stepping up efforts on a project that he believes will cement his town's spot on the map.
    Wilken is wanting to build the economic base of his city by taking a lot of the traffic out of it. He's pushing hard for the completion of a state-supported bypass of U.S. Route 50. That effort may take convincing some locals, since the road cuts through the heart of their community.
    Lebanon is a quaint, historic town of 4,400 people in the northeast corner of St. Clair County. Its main business streets are Illinois Route 4 and U.S. Route 50. For the most part, it's a pass-through town, with commuters needing to get from one point to another – but not to Lebanon itself.
    Route 4 is important from a traffic standpoint. It is the north-south connection between three interstates – 55, 70 and 64. And Lebanon is the only city located on Route 4 in that 27-mile stretch.
    But U.S. 50 is the bugaboo. It's an east-west highway that doesn't run east-west in Lebanon. Coming from O'Fallon on the west, the highway stops at Route 4 and turns to the north (running concurrent with Route 4) for a few blocks. It  then comes to a traffic-light intersection before turning again, heading east toward Breese and Clinton County.
    All that turning creates a bottleneck that has long been a bane for commuters and truckers.
    Wilken wants to take the north-south leg of 50 out of the equation and build a bypass that would make Route 50 run entirely through the city's southern flank, continuing east until it hooks up to the current Illinois 50 about a mile east of Lebanon, near Summerfield Road.
p01 lebanon    The change would solve two basic concerns. It would alleviate much of the traffic that now maneuvers the intersection of Route 4 and U.S. 50. And it would satisfy a larger effort of the U.S. Route 50 Coalition Group, a group of mayors who are dedicated to making Route 50 a four-lane highway across Southern Illinois.
    U.S. 50 runs "ocean to ocean,"  Wilken said, and one of its biggest bottlenecks is his city.
    "For years, (others) have tried to get Lebanon to be a part of the bypass idea, but the former administration didn't want anything to do with a bypass,"  he said. "Many businesses also didn't want a bypass implemented because it would take traffic away from existing businesses."
    But Wilken, who owns an insurance agency office located within feet of the Route 4 and U.S. 50 intersection, said it would be better for business to get the big trucks away from the heart of town.

    "I've been on that intersection the entire 35 years I've been in town, and (drivers) simply want to get through town,"  he said. "They could care less about shopping uptown. We're a destination point, and you have to sell it like that. You can't just hope that drivers commuting back and forth will just stop."
    The traffic is not necessary for business, he said. If that theory was true, there would not presently be the seven empty business buildings located on Route 50, east of where it connects at Route 4.
    The mayor said he took it upon himself to contact the U.S. 50 Coalition and begin working with them.
    The mayor of Breese, Charles Hilmes, and state Rep. Charlie Meier, R-Okawville, have been working hard on the coalition's efforts, Wilken said, as has the city of Salem, Ill.
    "They want a four-lane highway from Lebanon all the way to the Indiana border,"  he said. "The idea is it's another economic corridor that you've created in Illinois to access Indiana."
    Despite years of conversations on the subject, the relocation of Route 50 is likely years more away, but getting Lebanon more involved is the important thing now, the mayor says.
    "It isn't going to get done in three or four years. It may be 10, 15, who knows, 20. Maybe not in my lifetime,"  the 71-year-old mayor said. "But (coalition members) have got a good solid plan, and the reasoning, for what they want to accomplish,"  he said.
    The state owns the land needed for the project and most of it is vacant.
    From Route 4, the eastbound entranceway onto the bypass would begin south of where Route 4 crosses the CSX railroad tracks. The state owns some ground on the west side of 4 that would allow for a realignment of 50 so that it runs into 4 further south than it presently does.
    As the bypass heads east, then tails to the north it will have to cross over the railroad tracks as well as some wetlands, meaning an overpass will be needed. IDOT is in the process of studying it all, Wilken said. The state has set aside around $3 million for preliminary engineering, he said.
    The bypass would run parallel to and south of East McAllister Street, which is just south of a large industrial park dominated by Christ Brothers Asphalt.
    As Wilken sees it, McAllister Street, which is a depressed area, could be redone with curb and gutter and be made more attractive to various commercial enterprises that could be drawn to the new corridor.
    He also would like to see an enterprise zone in that area to help attract similar businesses to those in the business park.
    Along the bypass he envisions future businesses having to do with transportation, RVs parks among them, he said.
    The U.S. 50 project is not the only bypass that Wilken has pitched. In 2013, right after he was elected to his first term, Wilken met with U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and then-Congressman William Enyart to talk about the potential of a bypass for Illinois Route 4, coming in somewhere north of its present connection to 50. Everyone he spoke with in an official capacity liked the idea, but it's gone nowhere in light of Illinois' fiscal woes.
    "In my presentation to the feds I said we could alleviate some of the trucks coming through Lebanon. There are ton of trucks that come through Lebanon. Nobody nixed the idea other than for the fact that we don't have any money,"  he said.
    Wilken was a political novice when he took office in 2013 after decades in the insurance business. He ran on a progressive campaign that aims to build through a series of improvements. The town has benefitted recently from a new widened intersection and stoplight placed at Route 4 and 50. It now has a new Lebanon Elementary School and is putting the wraps on a new volunteer fire department station run by the local fire district.
    A couple of main roads, Alton and Monroe streets, have been improved as well. Alton Street passes through McKendree University, and the university helped fund that project.
    "This spring we will start on the Schuetz Street project,"  he said. "It is important as it passes in front of Lebanon  High School and also accesses the new grade school."
    And the city is preparing to build a new sewer plant on the east end of town. As part of that it acquired 26 neighboring acres for the expansion of the plant as well as future site for public works and for a potential business development area coming off McAllister Street.
    The plant is estimated at $8 million to 10 million and would be paid in part by an Environmental Protection Agency loan.
    The sewer plant is operating at full capacity. Final engineering is being done on the project and construction could start as early as late 2016.

[3467]

The fiscal problems as far as Capital are over for now. IDOT  was doing a study of it and was doing a study from Olney to Illinois 1 but it vanished from featured projects. I started a thread dealing with these projects in limbo.I was going to start one for the southern part of the state too. US 50 and 51 and Illinois 13 127.
Any information rumors would be welcome.
I suspect we have delays now because of the corruption crisis. Pritzger needs to get people from outside the state and fast.

[edwaleni]

The fiscal problems as far as Capital are over for now. IDOT  was doing a study of it and was doing a study from Olney to Illinois 1 but it vanished from featured projects. I started a thread dealing with these projects in limbo.I was going to start one for the southern part of the state too. US 50 and 51 and Illinois 13 127.
Any information rumors would be welcome.
I suspect we have delays now because of the corruption crisis. Pritzger needs to get people from outside the state and fast.

I think what many people find suspect is that there no effort to do anything incrementally.

It took Iowa DOT over 40 years to get US-20 to freeway status across the state. Just the section between I-35 and Waterloo took many years and many detours back in the late 80's and early 90's (I know.....I used to take that circuitous route through Aplington and Parkersburg once upon a time) but every 5 years they would build more in small sections. They didn't try to build it all at once.

Then I look at the Macomb Bypass and think, geez, they don't even have the money to do one section, just half of it. There is no way in this earth they could build anything, even something small.

[3467]

Yep yep Edwaleni. Look at that Texas plan with 77 billion and based on population and size of state our 45 billion is about the same and look how much reconstruction and new construction they are doing. It's in the mid south.
Of course we know a lot is being stolen.