http://co.macon.il.us/downloads/Highway/Macon_County_Beltway_EA-130419.pdf (http://co.macon.il.us/downloads/Highway/Macon_County_Beltway_EA-130419.pdf)
The proposed alignment is shown on Page 90/382. It is described as limited access in the report's text, but the map does not show enough interchanges for it to be a full freeway.
Seems ambitious. I would have given it a direct connection with Interstate 72, and not required traffic to use IL 48 to make the connection.
(https://s31.postimg.org/pijgwp27t/Screen_Shot_2016_06_25_at_7_23_03_PM.png)
For those who do not want to wait for a 382 page document to load just to scroll to page 90, here is the routing.
Does anybody know why they don't want it connecting to 72? That's just.. weird.
Somehow, I doubt this beltway will ever be constructed. I mean, does Decatur really need such a bypass?
Yeah this project lifting off seems like a huge reach. Decatur and Macon County have had a declining population for around 30 years now, so no new developments. Unless the city is doing massive revitalization, I don't see this happening.
Somehow this seems like overkill for Decatur. I could see a better connection from the southern end of the US-51 bypass to US-36 on the east side of town, but that's it.
Without a direct connection to I-72, this is an engineering fail.
isn't there also a proposed beltway for Springfield too?
Quote from: silverback1065 on July 02, 2016, 05:13:31 PM
isn't there also a proposed beltway for Springfield too?
What Springfield needs is 3 lanes in each direction for 55/72.
Wow, that's really odd that that stretch of I-55/72 isn't 3 lanes, considering all the other cities in Illinois have 3 lanes where the highways merge. (Effingham, Bloomington, Champaign and Peoria on I-74)
It's especially ironic since I-55 north and south of the overlap with 72 is 3 lanes in each direction.
Quote from: adt1982 on July 03, 2016, 05:40:28 PM
It's especially ironic since I-55 north and south of the overlap with 72 is 3 lanes in each direction.
Hey, we have to get our legislators to/from Springfield. Bypassing Springfield? Not so much.
Quote from: alecscradle on July 03, 2016, 03:00:37 PM
Wow, that's really odd that that stretch of I-55/72 isn't 3 lanes, considering all the other cities in Illinois have 3 lanes where the highways merge. (Effingham, Bloomington, Champaign and Peoria on I-74)
These were all add-ons after the original construction...and the C-U one is really not 3 continuous lanes, but just an auxiliary lane between the interchanges and a "captive" off-ramp at each one.
I think the original reasoning for having 3-NB and SB lanes north and south of Springfield but only 2-lanes on the east side of town was the thought that some of the traffic would divert off to the more westerly "Business 55" and IL 4 at the north and south ends of town. Those are now fairly busy roads, but I-55 didn't let up.
Quote from: silverback1065 on July 02, 2016, 05:13:31 PM
isn't there also a proposed beltway for Springfield too?
There is a partial one proposed for Bloomington-Normal on the east side from I-55 to I-74 that is getting the corridor protected, but I certainly cannot recall hearing of any being proposed for Springfield.
Maybe that was it, I remember talking to someone involved in the study about a beltway around one of those cities in Illinois.
Is there any city or town in Illinois that needs a beltway?
Quote from: The Ghostbuster on July 06, 2016, 08:15:11 PM
Is there any city or town in Illinois that needs a beltway?
Doesn't seem like it
Chicago could use one.
Quote from: Avalanchez71 on July 07, 2016, 11:02:19 AM
Chicago could use one.
Chicago has one (I-294), and a part of another (I-355/I-290/IL-53).
Yeah but you still get locked up in traffic.
Quote from: The Ghostbuster on July 06, 2016, 08:15:11 PM
Is there any city or town in Illinois that needs a beltway?
Maybe not full in the traditional sense, but in combination with the existing bypassing interstates:
* Bloomington - Normal: Could use the eastern half to complete the 3/4 loop made by I-55 and I-74
* Champaign - Urbana: Could use the southern and eastern halves added
* Springfield: Would be nice to have the northern and western halves to compliment I-55 and I-72, or at least have the IL 4 western bypass more directly tied into I-55
* Joliet: Something to bypass I-80 and perhaps provide another route to I-55 that does not requiring using the Des Plaines bridges on the latter
Quote from: Revive 755 on July 07, 2016, 09:44:13 PM
* Joliet: Something to bypass I-80 and perhaps provide another route to I-55 that does not requiring using the Des Plaines bridges on the latter
That's why I believe a southern Chicago bypass should have been built 30 years ago on the Laraway Road corridor.
Quote from: Revive 755 on July 07, 2016, 09:44:13 PM
That's why I believe a southern Chicago bypass should have been built 30 years ago on the Laraway Road corridor.
Not on the scale it could have been, but Will County is planning to 4-lane Laraway Road from IL 53 to the Cook County line over the next several years.
Quote from: Rick Powell on July 10, 2016, 09:25:33 PM
Quote from: Revive 755 on July 07, 2016, 09:44:13 PM
That's why I believe a southern Chicago bypass should have been built 30 years ago on the Laraway Road corridor.
Not on the scale it could have been, but Will County is planning to 4-lane Laraway Road from IL 53 to the Cook County line over the next several years.
At least the section from US52 east.
Quote from: aboges26 on June 25, 2016, 08:27:30 PM
(https://s31.postimg.org/pijgwp27t/Screen_Shot_2016_06_25_at_7_23_03_PM.png)
This looks like a two-lane surface road (with one interchange because there is a railroad to bridge); hardly what I would consider a "beltway".
There are so many eccentricities adding to the inefficiency of the route, that if you wanted to go from the south leg of US51 to the east leg of I-72, you'd be better off taking the existing US51 around the west side of town anyway!
Quote from: The Ghostbuster on June 30, 2016, 04:23:18 PM
Somehow, I doubt this beltway will ever be constructed. I mean, does Decatur really need such a bypass?
Good point though Peoria has one.
Quote from: dvferyance on July 12, 2016, 05:44:35 PM
Quote from: The Ghostbuster on June 30, 2016, 04:23:18 PM
Somehow, I doubt this beltway will ever be constructed. I mean, does Decatur really need such a bypass?
Good point though Peoria has one.
And its number SUCKS (well on the north side anyway) :biggrin: :pan: Get that 6 away from my US6!
I'm just going to say that this looks like a complete waste of money and resources. The state has so many other priorities it needs to address. A two lane bypass of Decatur is hardly among those. In looking at this, it doesn't even connect to I-72 or any other major routes.
According to WCIA-TV, the CBS affiliate in Champaign, Illinois, a "connector road" that is part of the Decatur beltway project is scheduled to be built starting in the spring of this year (http://www.illinoishomepage.net/news/local-news/shutdown-could-put-beltway-on-back-burner/926507732), although a federal grant for the beltway project hasn't been approved yet, and there are additional factors that could delay or cancel the project.
I'm not too big of a fan of the Decatur beltway project, largely because of a lack of a direct connection to I-72 (if built, one would have to drive for several hundred feet on IL-48 past the north end of the beltway to get to I-72, and that short stretch of IL-48 could become a congested nightmare, with potentially a high volume of traffic turning on and off of IL-48). However, unlike a similar "beltway" proposal in Danville, Illinois (https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=21627.0), the Decatur beltway would actually serve a purpose, namely, to serve as a bypass of the suburban communities of Mount Zion and Long Creek.