Illinois notes

[edwaleni]

So does IL 336 Peoria-Macomb...its overbuilt stub exit off 474 that was to be the Peoria end is just silly now that the corridor is dead

I thought that interchange predated the 336 plan and was built for a previous project that died?  Google Earth imagery has it already present in 1985.

EDIT:  Nevermind.  One of the more recent EIS's online for that portion of 336 does mention something active in the 1970's (https://idot.illinois.gov/content/dam/soi/en/web/idot/documents/idot-projects/district-4/il-336-fap-315/il336feis-1.pdf

One of a ironies of transportation planning was the fact that when IDOT did the preliminary highway plan for IL-336, the Union Pacific was in the process of abandoning their ROW from Peoria to Farmington. Farmington and a grain elevator in Trivoli, IL had been petitioning the STB to keep rail service active. (it's a former CNW/Omaha Road line that went to a bridge over the Mississippi at Keithsburg) Because the abandonment kept getting delayed, UP was compelled to inform IDOT to maintain a bridge clearance for any new highway.

IDOT's engineering even showed it as "UPRR-Future Trail". The STB finally ruled in UP's favor even though the line was choked with weeds by then and the switch at Kickapoo Creek Road was finally taken out. Last I looked the UP switch box is still there.

So if IL-336 is extended to IL-116 (if ever) I would see if IDOT puts an incomplete trumpet exit or simply merges it at ground level. Anything beyond that would go into the fictional realm.

[The Ghostbuster]

What is the holdup for not extending IL 336 further east? Money? Opposition? Low priority? Insufficient traffic counts between Macomb and Peoria?

[Revive 755]

Speed cameras may come to Lake Shore Drive in Chicago - see https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/fulltext.asp?DocName=&SessionId=114&GA=104&DocTypeId=SB&DocNum=1507&GAID=18&LegID=160135&SpecSess=&Session=

[edwaleni]

What is the holdup for not extending IL 336 further east? Money? Opposition? Low priority? Insufficient traffic counts between Macomb and Peoria?

Money, low priority.

There are traffic counts, but they are using US-24 to reach Canton via IL-9 at Banner.  Many Canton residents work at the Caterpillar Mapleton Works or cross over to Pekin for employment.  But going farther west from Canton to Macomb, it wasnt a great deal of traffic. IDOT had planned this some what circuitous route, going to Farmington, then south to Canton, then west to Bushnell and finally Macomb and the planned US-67 half of the "ring" on the east side.

On the east end, the route was going to cross Kickapoo Creek, up the Dry Run Creek ravine to Farmington Road.

This route would catch the most amount of traffic from downtown Peoria, pass by several small towns before reaching Macomb.

The problem is no one travels to Macomb from downtown Peoria and vice versa.

But progress moves on. IDOT was pitching a look at upgrading the US-136/IL-9 route from Canton and Macomb. IDOT says there *is* evidence that there is traffic to support between Canton and Macomb using the "southern" route and avoiding Farmington and Bushnell completely.

But I have yet to see this go any farther than a study. IDOT recently approved several million to improve US-24 from Pekin to Banner, but that is about it.

[edwaleni]

What is the holdup for not extending IL 336 further east? Money? Opposition? Low priority? Insufficient traffic counts between Macomb and Peoria?

For your (or anyones ) edification, here is the 2011 IL-336 report.

https://tricountyrpc.org/wp-content/uploads/Route-336-Corridor-Plan-July-11-2011_reduced-size.pdf

https://idot.illinois.gov/content/dam/soi/en/web/idot/documents/idot-projects/district-4/il-336-fap-315/il336feis-2.pdf

The only city that had net population growth in the past 50 years contained in the highway plan was Canton.  The other towns were declining and the demographic had shifted way up in age. (It's probably worse now, 15 years later))

After reading the report, it seems to me that this wasn't really about A to B transportation improvements as originally envisioned in the 1960's, it was an economic lifeline between Peoria and the "Forgottonia" corridor represented by US-67.

The circuitous route was about touching as many population centers as possible to generate the viability.

This lends credence on why IDOT is still studying a route portal between Macomb and Peoria, but using Canton as the wedge to justify the route.

[ilpt4u]

https://www.facebook.com/100081442992095/posts/665556666169094/?

Murphysboro Mayor Will Stephens had a video call with White House Staff to lobby for the Southwest Connector earlier today

[edwaleni]

https://www.facebook.com/100081442992095/posts/665556666169094/?

Murphysboro Mayor Will Stephens had a video call with White House Staff to lobby for the Southwest Connector earlier today

He is talking to the right people in DC, but he really needs Duckworth/Durbin (D) along with Mike Bost (R) Murphysboro to get it into committee. Bost is on the House Transportation Committee and should be able to get the project on the study for funding list.

[Revive 755]

There's a bill working its way through the Illinois Senate to allow speed cameras in a home rule municipality with a population greater than or equal to 35,000 in a county with a population over 3,000,000.  https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/billstatus.asp?DocNum=1497&GAID=18&GA=104&DocTypeID=SB&LegID=160103&SessionID=114

[ilpt4u]

https://www.facebook.com/100081442992095/posts/665556666169094/?

Murphysboro Mayor Will Stephens had a video call with White House Staff to lobby for the Southwest Connector earlier today

He is talking to the right people in DC, but he really needs Duckworth/Durbin (D) along with Mike Bost (R) Murphysboro to get it into committee. Bost is on the House Transportation Committee and should be able to get the project on the study for funding list.

Bost is from Murphysboro. Pretty sure he is for the SWC as well (not 100% sure on that but I have a feeling)

[Mav94]

Bost is from Murphysboro. Pretty sure he is for the SWC as well (not 100% sure on that but I have a feeling)

Yes, he's very pro-infrastructure and has roots in the trucking industry. It would be shocking if he opposed it.

[edwaleni]

Bost is from Murphysboro. Pretty sure he is for the SWC as well (not 100% sure on that but I have a feeling)

He (Bost) is listed on the website as a signed supporter of the project (so is Duckworth/Durbin). He spoke in the US House supporting it.

Being that he is a Republican and on the Transportation committee, the odds of it making it to Ways and Means is high.

Also being that Duckworth is on the Senate Committee on Commerce & Transportation and Durbin is on the Senate Appropriations committee (pushing Illinois Amtrak funding) Durbin has also spoken on the Senate floor in support of the route ($3 million for planning came out of that)

[CtrlAltDel]

There's a bill working its way through the Illinois Senate to allow speed cameras in a home rule municipality with a population greater than or equal to 35,000 in a county with a population over 3,000,000.  https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/billstatus.asp?DocNum=1497&GAID=18&GA=104&DocTypeID=SB&LegID=160103&SessionID=114

So, Cook County.

[edwaleni]

There's a bill working its way through the Illinois Senate to allow speed cameras in a home rule municipality with a population greater than or equal to 35,000 in a county with a population over 3,000,000.  https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/billstatus.asp?DocNum=1497&GAID=18&GA=104&DocTypeID=SB&LegID=160103&SessionID=114

So, Cook County.

You might as well put up a big fence around Cook County and toll every car coming and going. That is what it is coming to.

[Revive 755]

There's a bill working its way through the Illinois Senate to allow speed cameras in a home rule municipality with a population greater than or equal to 35,000 in a county with a population over 3,000,000.  https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/billstatus.asp?DocNum=1497&GAID=18&GA=104&DocTypeID=SB&LegID=160103&SessionID=114

So, Cook County.

Going off of the 2020 census data on Wikipedia, the following would be eligible:

• Elgin
• Cicero
• Schaumburg
• Evanston
• Arlington Heights
• Palatine
• Skokie
• Des Plaines
• Orland Park
• Oak Lawn
• Berwyn
• Mount Prospect
• Tinley Park
• Oak Park
• Hoffman Estates
• Glenview
• Buffalo Grove
• Bartlett
• Park Ridge
• Streamwood
• Wheeling
• Hanover Park
• Calumet City
• Northbrook

[ET21]

Please there's already speed cameras all over those locations, including my hometown. Just gotta know how to avoid them 

[I-55]

Please there's already speed cameras all over those locations, including my hometown. Just gotta know how to avoid them 

I have college friends in 3 of the places listed and one of them got dinged by a camera within 5 minutes of driving me through their hometown. Only a matter of time until they figure out that they have timestamps on toll plazas and can run some quick calcs to nail people going 40 over on the tollway.

[edwaleni]

Please there's already speed cameras all over those locations, including my hometown. Just gotta know how to avoid them 

I have college friends in 3 of the places listed and one of them got dinged by a camera within 5 minutes of driving me through their hometown. Only a matter of time until they figure out that they have timestamps on toll plazas and can run some quick calcs to nail people going 40 over on the tollway.

Back in the day I used to ask my relatives in Oklahoma when they used punch cards when you came and left their turnpike, why they didn't enforce speed limits, since the entry and exit times are printed on the card. They said that the turnpike didn't have the authority to enforce speed limits, only law enforcement could. They added that it was impossible at the time to track a punch card to a plate.

When Illinois went electronic, the first thing people asked is if they were going to use the toll validation data for speed enforcement, and the answer was always "no".

But with the recent rash of non-paying out of state plates, you do wonder how soon it will be before ISTHA plate detection technology will be linked with law enforcement. Not just speeders and non-payers, but Amber and Silver alerts.

The temptation is going to get so great because it will involve revenue.

[Plutonic Panda]

Ffs let people speed and catch them with actual police officers. We don't need nanny governments tracking our movements on roads to determine if we were speeding or not and if this did in fact become an issue where I lived I'd risk it and put fictitious plates on my car I could swap instead of paying tolls. Fuck that shit.