US 60-62 Mississippi River Bridge Closed for up to 1 Year

[CtrlAltDel]

A new I-57 exit on the west side of the river could be looked at that would cut back on the out of direction travel. Recognizing that whatever new connection is made will need to accommodate the flood plain.

Where Route J crosses 57 just SW of the weigh station and truck parking ... it may be my imagination, but it looks like it was designed and built to accommodate an interchange.

It does, doesn't it? It could be though to accommodate the overpass.

[edwaleni]

A new I-57 exit on the west side of the river could be looked at that would cut back on the out of direction travel. Recognizing that whatever new connection is made will need to accommodate the flood plain.

Where Route J crosses 57 just SW of the weigh station and truck parking ... it may be my imagination, but it looks like it was designed and built to accommodate an interchange.

It does, doesn't it? It could be though to accommodate the overpass.

I looked up this parcel of land prior to I-57 being built.

CR-212 used to run straight west and end where the frontage road is on the north side of I-57. The intersection with SR-J was a standard 4 way intersection.

The frontage road on the north side ends there because pre-interstate there was a farmhouse there.  When the interstate was built it cutoff the house from its longtime road, so they built the frontage to SR-J.

It appears that the weave with CR-212 and the south frontage was just safety related since going east it goes almost all the way to the river.

[Rothman]

Google Maps is now not allowing entrance to Fort Defiance.  I think the chances of Google Maps screwing up where the closure is are much higher than the closure actually moving from the bridge approach to the intersection for the Ohio River bridge...

[edwaleni]

Google Maps is now not allowing entrance to Fort Defiance.  I think the chances of Google Maps screwing up where the closure is are much higher than the closure actually moving from the bridge approach to the intersection for the Ohio River bridge...

It may have been updating when you checked. I can get Google Maps at Fort Defiance with October 2023 imagery all the way to the parking lot at the point.

[Rothman]

Google Maps is now not allowing entrance to Fort Defiance.  I think the chances of Google Maps screwing up where the closure is are much higher than the closure actually moving from the bridge approach to the intersection for the Ohio River bridge...

It may have been updating when you checked. I can get Google Maps at Fort Defiance with October 2023 imagery all the way to the parking lot at the point.

Nope.  Closest a routing gets for me right now is still where Fort Defiance Road meets US 60/62.  Can't get driving directions beyond that.

[jnewkirk77]

Not sure if anyone else noticed, but the Cairo Mississippi River bridge reopened Sept. 25 - about a week ahead of schedule.

Story from WSIL-TV.

[edwaleni]

Not sure if anyone else noticed, but the Cairo Mississippi River bridge reopened Sept. 25 - about a week ahead of schedule.

Story from WSIL-TV.

A big plug for the Build Illinois Capital Program at the end. Illinois Policy (a website) was stating that since Illinois changed the fuel tax structure, they have collected over $4 billion dollars in revenue for transportation. Illinois (as far as they can tell) is the only state in the Union that has an automatic inflation adjustment annually on that same tax AND its the only state that places a total sales tax based on a percentage of the total sale. Which means in short, you get taxed on the taxes, and with the automatic escalator, if fuel taxes go up, so does the sales tax paid. See how that works?

Fuel taxes go to the transportation side of the constitution, Sales taxes go to the General Fund side.

Illinois is now 3rd highest in fuel related taxes in the nation now.

[JREwing78]

Not sure if anyone else noticed, but the Cairo Mississippi River bridge reopened Sept. 25 - about a week ahead of schedule.

Story from WSIL-TV.

A big plug for the Build Illinois Capital Program at the end. Illinois Policy (a website) was stating that since Illinois changed the fuel tax structure, they have collected over $4 billion dollars in revenue for transportation. Illinois (as far as they can tell) is the only state in the Union that has an automatic inflation adjustment annually on that same tax AND its the only state that places a total sales tax based on a percentage of the total sale. Which means in short, you get taxed on the taxes, and with the automatic escalator, if fuel taxes go up, so does the sales tax paid. See how that works?

Fuel taxes go to the transportation side of the constitution, Sales taxes go to the General Fund side.

Illinois is now 3rd highest in fuel related taxes in the nation now.

Michigan has the sales tax on top of the fuel tax thing going on, but they were never smart enough to implement the automatic inflation adjustment. I don't know if Illinois is using the sales tax revenue on the roads; Michigan isn't. There's a reason they have a lot of crap roads there.

Wisconsin removed their automatic inflation adjustment in 2008 or 2009 for political points. All it actually did was shortchange WisDOT when it came time to fix or expand the roads (after a 30 year period of highway expansion).

[jnewkirk77]

Not sure if anyone else noticed, but the Cairo Mississippi River bridge reopened Sept. 25 - about a week ahead of schedule.

Story from WSIL-TV.

A big plug for the Build Illinois Capital Program at the end. Illinois Policy (a website) was stating that since Illinois changed the fuel tax structure, they have collected over $4 billion dollars in revenue for transportation. Illinois (as far as they can tell) is the only state in the Union that has an automatic inflation adjustment annually on that same tax AND its the only state that places a total sales tax based on a percentage of the total sale. Which means in short, you get taxed on the taxes, and with the automatic escalator, if fuel taxes go up, so does the sales tax paid. See how that works?

Fuel taxes go to the transportation side of the constitution, Sales taxes go to the General Fund side.

Illinois is now 3rd highest in fuel related taxes in the nation now.

Michigan has the sales tax on top of the fuel tax thing going on, but they were never smart enough to implement the automatic inflation adjustment. I don't know if Illinois is using the sales tax revenue on the roads; Michigan isn't. There's a reason they have a lot of crap roads there.

Wisconsin removed their automatic inflation adjustment in 2008 or 2009 for political points. All it actually did was shortchange WisDOT when it came time to fix or expand the roads (after a 30 year period of highway expansion).

Kentucky's adjustable gas tax is keyed to the average wholesale price of gasoline, which declined this year, so the tax dropped on July 1. As in Wisconsin, that leaves less money for more projects. 

https://kaco.org/articles/kentucky-gas-tax-to-drop-effective-july-1-2024/#:~:text=The%20automatic%20decrease%20is%20due,to%2021.4%20cents%20per%20gallon.