Iowa says US-20 is too dangerous in Illinois

[3467]

It would be the last one in the omnibus? My suggestion is apply for passing lanes.

[I-39]

It would be the last one in the omnibus? My suggestion is apply for passing lanes.

No, go for a four lane expressway, but do it from east to west (easiest to hardest). Freeport to Stockton, Stockton to Elizabeth and then Elizabeth to Galena. Should have done it like this from the get go.

[3467]

I said passing lanes these grants are like 10 or 20 million . That would. Just pay for more studies. A better 54 doesn't have it's old application up anymore . It was for 20 million and 20 miles of passing lane.They still didn't get it.

[skluth]

It would be the last one in the omnibus? My suggestion is apply for passing lanes.

No, go for a four lane expressway, but do it from east to west (easiest to hardest). Freeport to Stockton, Stockton to Elizabeth and then Elizabeth to Galena. Should have done it like this from the get go.

It wouldn't surprise me if traffic increased dramatically if US 20 was four lanes west to Elizabeth. There was a huge traffic jump on US 51 south of Oglesby once the Abe Lincoln Bridge opened on I-39. I used to drive I-39/US 51 frequently when I first moved from Green Bay to St Louis in the late 80's. I only encountered a few trucks when I had to drive through Peru, but once I-39 was extended south of the Illinois River it felt like traffic almost doubled between the river and Bloomington even though parts were still two lane US 51 until the early 90's.

[I-39]

It would be the last one in the omnibus? My suggestion is apply for passing lanes.

No, go for a four lane expressway, but do it from east to west (easiest to hardest). Freeport to Stockton, Stockton to Elizabeth and then Elizabeth to Galena. Should have done it like this from the get go.

It wouldn't surprise me if traffic increased dramatically if US 20 was four lanes west to Elizabeth. There was a huge traffic jump on US 51 south of Oglesby once the Abe Lincoln Bridge opened on I-39. I used to drive I-39/US 51 frequently when I first moved from Green Bay to St Louis in the late 80's. I only encountered a few trucks when I had to drive through Peru, but once I-39 was extended south of the Illinois River it felt like traffic almost doubled between the river and Bloomington even though parts were still two lane US 51 until the early 90's.

Absolutely. I don't care what people say, easily the traffic would get to 5 figure ADT if they completed the four lane. Long distance truckers would use it as an alternative to I-80. Just as I-39 was, there would be a lot of induced demand. I believe traffic counts on US 51 we're similar prior to the construction of I-39.

Shame IowaDOT put a nice Interstate/near interstate grade facility in from I-35 to near Dubuque and IDOT can't get their act together and finish it. Yet, they managed to waste a ton of money on IL-336......

US 20 between Rockford and I-35 should have become an eastern I-82 IMO.

[edwaleni]

It would be the last one in the omnibus? My suggestion is apply for passing lanes.

No, go for a four lane expressway, but do it from east to west (easiest to hardest). Freeport to Stockton, Stockton to Elizabeth and then Elizabeth to Galena. Should have done it like this from the get go.

It wouldn't surprise me if traffic increased dramatically if US 20 was four lanes west to Elizabeth. There was a huge traffic jump on US 51 south of Oglesby once the Abe Lincoln Bridge opened on I-39. I used to drive I-39/US 51 frequently when I first moved from Green Bay to St Louis in the late 80's. I only encountered a few trucks when I had to drive through Peru, but once I-39 was extended south of the Illinois River it felt like traffic almost doubled between the river and Bloomington even though parts were still two lane US 51 until the early 90's.

Absolutely. I don't care what people say, easily the traffic would get to 5 figure ADT if they completed the four lane. Long distance truckers would use it as an alternative to I-80. Just as I-39 was, there would be a lot of induced demand. I believe traffic counts on US 51 we're similar prior to the construction of I-39.

Shame IowaDOT put a nice Interstate/near interstate grade facility in from I-35 to near Dubuque and IDOT can't get their act together and finish it. Yet, they managed to waste a ton of money on IL-336......

US 20 between Rockford and I-35 should have become an eastern I-82 IMO.

Actually it is 4 lane all the way to Sioux City now. The last segment was finished at Correctionville in 2019. Not Interstate standards west of I-35, but 4 lane none the less. The only 2 lane segment from Sioux City to Rockford is you know where.

Nebraska DOT is currently expanding the 4 lane west of Sioux City and in 2020 are as far as Jackson. I don't think they are going any further west however. Jackson was a pinch point as trucks came through town. I think that was finished in 2020.

[I-39]

It would be the last one in the omnibus? My suggestion is apply for passing lanes.

No, go for a four lane expressway, but do it from east to west (easiest to hardest). Freeport to Stockton, Stockton to Elizabeth and then Elizabeth to Galena. Should have done it like this from the get go.

It wouldn't surprise me if traffic increased dramatically if US 20 was four lanes west to Elizabeth. There was a huge traffic jump on US 51 south of Oglesby once the Abe Lincoln Bridge opened on I-39. I used to drive I-39/US 51 frequently when I first moved from Green Bay to St Louis in the late 80's. I only encountered a few trucks when I had to drive through Peru, but once I-39 was extended south of the Illinois River it felt like traffic almost doubled between the river and Bloomington even though parts were still two lane US 51 until the early 90's.

Absolutely. I don't care what people say, easily the traffic would get to 5 figure ADT if they completed the four lane. Long distance truckers would use it as an alternative to I-80. Just as I-39 was, there would be a lot of induced demand. I believe traffic counts on US 51 we're similar prior to the construction of I-39.

Shame IowaDOT put a nice Interstate/near interstate grade facility in from I-35 to near Dubuque and IDOT can't get their act together and finish it. Yet, they managed to waste a ton of money on IL-336......

US 20 between Rockford and I-35 should have become an eastern I-82 IMO.

Actually it is 4 lane all the way to Sioux City now. The last segment was finished at Correctionville in 2019. Not Interstate standards west of I-35, but 4 lane none the less. The only 2 lane segment from Sioux City to Rockford is you know where.

Nebraska DOT is currently expanding the 4 lane west of Sioux City and in 2020 are as far as Jackson. I don't think they are going any further west however. Jackson was a pinch point as trucks came through town. I think that was finished in 2020.

It is freeway west from I-35 to IA 17, then expressway west of there (most of which could easily be converted to freeway).

I said to I-35 because I don't think a freeway is necessary west of there. In fact, some of the stretches of US 20 west of Fort Dodge were barely needed. It isn't as busy as the eastern section between Dubuque and I-35.

[edwaleni]

It would be the last one in the omnibus? My suggestion is apply for passing lanes.

No, go for a four lane expressway, but do it from east to west (easiest to hardest). Freeport to Stockton, Stockton to Elizabeth and then Elizabeth to Galena. Should have done it like this from the get go.

It wouldn't surprise me if traffic increased dramatically if US 20 was four lanes west to Elizabeth. There was a huge traffic jump on US 51 south of Oglesby once the Abe Lincoln Bridge opened on I-39. I used to drive I-39/US 51 frequently when I first moved from Green Bay to St Louis in the late 80's. I only encountered a few trucks when I had to drive through Peru, but once I-39 was extended south of the Illinois River it felt like traffic almost doubled between the river and Bloomington even though parts were still two lane US 51 until the early 90's.

Absolutely. I don't care what people say, easily the traffic would get to 5 figure ADT if they completed the four lane. Long distance truckers would use it as an alternative to I-80. Just as I-39 was, there would be a lot of induced demand. I believe traffic counts on US 51 we're similar prior to the construction of I-39.

Shame IowaDOT put a nice Interstate/near interstate grade facility in from I-35 to near Dubuque and IDOT can't get their act together and finish it. Yet, they managed to waste a ton of money on IL-336......

US 20 between Rockford and I-35 should have become an eastern I-82 IMO.

Actually it is 4 lane all the way to Sioux City now. The last segment was finished at Correctionville in 2019. Not Interstate standards west of I-35, but 4 lane none the less. The only 2 lane segment from Sioux City to Rockford is you know where.

Nebraska DOT is currently expanding the 4 lane west of Sioux City and in 2020 are as far as Jackson. I don't think they are going any further west however. Jackson was a pinch point as trucks came through town. I think that was finished in 2020.

It is freeway west from I-35 to IA 17, then expressway west of there (most of which could easily be converted to freeway).

I said to I-35 because I don't think a freeway is necessary west of there. In fact, some of the stretches of US 20 west of Fort Dodge were barely needed. It isn't as busy as the eastern section between Dubuque and I-35.

With US-218 and US-18 upgraded to freeway standards north out of Waterloo to Mason City to I-35, I checked some time distance from a common point (Rockford).

Rockford-Twin Cities via Eau Claire - 331 miles
Rockford-Twin Cities via Rochester -  357 miles
Rockford-Twin Cities via Dubuque/Waterloo - 424 miles

Average Speeds:

Rockford-Twin Cities via Eau Claire - 66mph
Rockford-Twin Cities via Rochester -  64mph
Rockford-Twin Cities via Dubuque/Waterloo - 60.5mph

The mileage is no good, and the speed got dragged down on the Freeport to Dubuque segment with an average of 48mph.

So the only town in the west that benefits is really Sioux City. The towns that benefit in the east are only Rockford & Chicago.

Eastbound traffic can divert at Dubuque on US-151 to get to Milwaukee faster
Any eastbound traffic going south of Rockford is better using I-80
Any westbound traffic coming or going northwest is better using 90-94 in any combination

[captkirk_4]

It would be the last one in the omnibus? My suggestion is apply for passing lanes.

No, go for a four lane expressway, but do it from east to west (easiest to hardest). Freeport to Stockton, Stockton to Elizabeth and then Elizabeth to Galena. Should have done it like this from the get go.

It wouldn't surprise me if traffic increased dramatically if US 20 was four lanes west to Elizabeth. There was a huge traffic jump on US 51 south of Oglesby once the Abe Lincoln Bridge opened on I-39. I used to drive I-39/US 51 frequently when I first moved from Green Bay to St Louis in the late 80's. I only encountered a few trucks when I had to drive through Peru, but once I-39 was extended south of the Illinois River it felt like traffic almost doubled between the river and Bloomington even though parts were still two lane US 51 until the early 90's.

Absolutely. I don't care what people say, easily the traffic would get to 5 figure ADT if they completed the four lane. Long distance truckers would use it as an alternative to I-80. Just as I-39 was, there would be a lot of induced demand. I believe traffic counts on US 51 we're similar prior to the construction of I-39.

Shame IowaDOT put a nice Interstate/near interstate grade facility in from I-35 to near Dubuque and IDOT can't get their act together and finish it. Yet, they managed to waste a ton of money on IL-336......

US 20 between Rockford and I-35 should have become an eastern I-82 IMO.

Actually it is 4 lane all the way to Sioux City now. The last segment was finished at Correctionville in 2019. Not Interstate standards west of I-35, but 4 lane none the less. The only 2 lane segment from Sioux City to Rockford is you know where.

Nebraska DOT is currently expanding the 4 lane west of Sioux City and in 2020 are as far as Jackson. I don't think they are going any further west however. Jackson was a pinch point as trucks came through town. I think that was finished in 2020.

Problem is if it's not controlled access with a 70mph speed limit truckers will avoid it unless it cuts significant time off the journey. This isn't Smokey and the Bandit anymore, these trucking companies have electronic snitch devices in the trucks monitoring their drivers speed vs the GPS listed limits to where they are, also regulators capping them out leading to the 5 minute passes that block the left lanes on so many Interstates. They will stick with I-80 where they can go 70.

[kphoger]

A lot of the big corporations, yes.  O/O drivers, though...

[I-39]

Does anyone have any inside info (not what we have on the website) about what the status is on any part of the Freeport to Galena four lane? Is IDOT even trying to pursue it anymore? Has there been any talk of maybe scaling it back to an expressway a la US 67?

[3467]

I have been trying to find out
Other unknown is Illinois 29
336 home replaced with 24
34 and 67 some construction
127 another study
50 Lebanon bypass the rest cancelled
51 cancelled in federal register
30 cancelled.
That's all
Also like to know 20 and if I am wrong in many others.

[Rick Powell]

Other unknown is Illinois 29

I think District 4 got a federal decision a few years ago on it, but no money to build, and the eastern Peoria ring road would be a higher priority if the money could be found.

[3467]

I know 336 because someone in Canton told me. The State Senator told them 336 costs were skyrocketing. I wonder if it had to do with floodplain....but IDOT could do 24 now. While they would like 336 too they realized it's over.
I asked about 29 and the reaction was what's 29?
It's really less a supplemental freeway route than part of the 180 story.

[edwaleni]

I know 336 because someone in Canton told me. The State Senator told them 336 costs were skyrocketing. I wonder if it had to do with floodplain....but IDOT could do 24 now. While they would like 336 too they realized it's over.
I asked about 29 and the reaction was what's 29?
It's really less a supplemental free

Actually when the US-24 decision was made as far as Banner IL, the question was asked if IL-336 was dead and the Spoon River Development District president said "No, it wasn't one or the other, we are still pushing for IL-336 for the future"

So I would put IL-336 in the same category as US-50 in southeastern Illinois. Everyone in the area wants it, but the state just can't justify it.

As for the Glacier Shadow Pass, all the studies and engineering is complete. It just can't get funding.

A plan for a 6.5 mile bypass around Galena has advanced to the second phase of IDOT's three-phase highway planning process, but there's little if any construction money available for new projects. As IDOT says about the bypass: "Additional funding is also needed before construction of the proposed bypass can begin. As such, a construction timeline is not available at this time."

An eight-county study by Blackhawk Hills Regional Council, headquartered in Rock Falls, is examining how freight moves through northwest Illinois and eastern Iowa. Illinois counties in the study are Jo Daviess, Stephenson, Carroll and Whiteside. Iowa counties are Clinton, Delaware, Dubuque and Jackson.

Preliminary figures show that from 2010 to 2015, there were 175 crashes involving trucks, costing $8.7 million on U.S. 20 between Freeport and Dubuque.

During the same period, there were 1,575 non-truck crashes on U.S. 20 from Freeport to Dubuque.

The analysis indicates that a 30 percent reduction in non-truck crashes would save $11.5 million a year.

Only the Galena Bypass was funded for land acquisition.

[I-39]

1. What's the point of IL-29? I would've thought any freeway/expressway through this area would have been put to bed when I-39 was built. After all, I-180 barely sees any traffic.

2. IL-336 is not needed, not even and especially the already built section from Quincy to Macomb. Why haven't they ended this yet?

3. The engineering has only been done for the Galena bypass portion of US 20 between Freeport and Galena. I'm actually genuinely shocked the bypass hasn't been built yet, between the two capital bills passed in the last 12 years.

[3467]

The bypass was 20 million a mile and Galena wanted through town improvements.
336 is basically done.
29 was part of FHWA CYA for giving IllInois the money for 180 to the steel plant.
It was not inn the original supplemental freeway system. There was a wavy 39 designed to get to the steel plant and followed the route of the Kerner curve. It was all about a deal with a steel plant.

[3467]

The Galena story was one by Chuck Sweeny. But after he died so did any media on 20 and so probably 20.

[edwaleni]

1. What's the point of IL-29? I would've thought any freeway/expressway through this area would have been put to bed when I-39 was built. After all, I-180 barely sees any traffic.

2. IL-336 is not needed, not even and especially the already built section from Quincy to Macomb. Why haven't they ended this yet?

3. The engineering has only been done for the Galena bypass portion of US 20 between Freeport and Galena. I'm actually genuinely shocked the bypass hasn't been built yet, between the two capital bills passed in the last 12 years.

IDOT said that I-180 was built to satisfy a political issue with a now shuttered steel works north of Hennepin. At one time there was an old narrow span supporting the former IL-26 that was demolished after 1-180 was built.  It doesn't pass any current measure of justification for a modern interstate highway today. In fact I-180 ends at an exit called "Steel Drive" which itself is now closed to keep people off the property. People would say, "why did they build a steel plant right there?". 2 major drivers were access to high quality power (Hennepin Power Plant) nearby and access to water (Illinois River) and rail capacity (NYC/Conrail now NS) to the east coast.

After I-180 was built many Peoria interests wanted it brought down all the way using IL-29. After Gov. Thompson got several reps to rally around the Mitsubishi (now Rivian) plant in Normal, they agreed at the time to drop any political blockade of US-51/I-39 and in effect stopped any purpose of I-180 extensions to Peoria. Periodically Chillicothe, Illinois politicos bring up the issue of extending IL-29 as a freeway north of town using a former sand pit/quarry for ROW and rejoin the current IL-29 around Henry Creek. Studies have been done, but it hasn't been prioritized. You will never hear anything about I-180 from the Peoria contingent anymore.

As for IL-336, the stub west of Peoria needs to have a more organized termination with a east west highway as today it ends at essentially a country road. In the current design, it was supposed to cross over IL-116 near Hanna City. I would say finish that part, so that traffic flows naturally into the current stub in I-474 and then leave it alone for the next 30 years until the traffic counts catch up. Most people don't know it, but IDOT owns a large degree of land east of the I-474 exit for the same stub. I never saw any plans to extend it further east, but as it stands it would cut through the north part of Rocky Glen Park. I assume it was supposed to divert eventual traffic off of IL-8 & Farmington Road somewhere near Swords Road. There are 2 subdivisions on each side with dead end streets with a fence that says property of IDOT.

A topic for another thread no doubt, I-474 has no other exits for east west traffic. You either go to the airport south, or you go up to I-74. One of the beefs of Farmington when they lost their last railroad (UP/CNW/MStL) was that they lost their access to global markets. So the rail was pulled but the ROW was railbanked. the IL-336 design report showed that they had to maintain a railroad overpass for the new highway in the event the rails were put back down.

One could write a book on all of the backstory to all of these highways Illinois has talked about over the years.

[I-39]

1. What's the point of IL-29? I would've thought any freeway/expressway through this area would have been put to bed when I-39 was built. After all, I-180 barely sees any traffic.

2. IL-336 is not needed, not even and especially the already built section from Quincy to Macomb. Why haven't they ended this yet?

3. The engineering has only been done for the Galena bypass portion of US 20 between Freeport and Galena. I'm actually genuinely shocked the bypass hasn't been built yet, between the two capital bills passed in the last 12 years.

IDOT said that I-180 was built to satisfy a political issue with a now shuttered steel works north of Hennepin. At one time there was an old narrow span supporting the former IL-26 that was demolished after 1-180 was built.  It doesn't pass any current measure of justification for a modern interstate highway today. In fact I-180 ends at an exit called "Steel Drive" which itself is now closed to keep people off the property. People would say, "why did they build a steel plant right there?". 2 major drivers were access to high quality power (Hennepin Power Plant) nearby and access to water (Illinois River) and rail capacity (NYC/Conrail now NS) to the east coast.

After I-180 was built many Peoria interests wanted it brought down all the way using IL-29. After Gov. Thompson got several reps to rally around the Mitsubishi (now Rivian) plant in Normal, they agreed at the time to drop any political blockade of US-51/I-39 and in effect stopped any purpose of I-180 extensions to Peoria. Periodically Chillicothe, Illinois politicos bring up the issue of extending IL-29 as a freeway north of town using a former sand pit/quarry for ROW and rejoin the current IL-29 around Henry Creek. Studies have been done, but it hasn't been prioritized. You will never hear anything about I-180 from the Peoria contingent anymore.

As for IL-336, the stub west of Peoria needs to have a more organized termination with a east west highway as today it ends at essentially a country road. In the current design, it was supposed to cross over IL-116 near Hanna City. I would say finish that part, so that traffic flows naturally into the current stub in I-474 and then leave it alone for the next 30 years until the traffic counts catch up. Most people don't know it, but IDOT owns a large degree of land east of the I-474 exit for the same stub. I never saw any plans to extend it further east, but as it stands it would cut through the north part of Rocky Glen Park. I assume it was supposed to divert eventual traffic off of IL-8 & Farmington Road somewhere near Swords Road. There are 2 subdivisions on each side with dead end streets with a fence that says property of IDOT.

A topic for another thread no doubt, I-474 has no other exits for east west traffic. You either go to the airport south, or you go up to I-74. One of the beefs of Farmington when they lost their last railroad (UP/CNW/MStL) was that they lost their access to global markets. So the rail was pulled but the ROW was railbanked. the IL-336 design report showed that they had to maintain a railroad overpass for the new highway in the event the rails were put back down.

One could write a book on all of the backstory to all of these highways Illinois has talked about over the years.

Amen to your last point. There is a lot of fascinating history of the Illinois Interstate/freeway system.

I knew about why I-180 was put in place, I just don't get why there is still a push to four lane IL-29. I would've thought I-39 would have permanently put that to bed. And IL-336 was never needed, It's so much better to take I-155 > I-55 to get to I-72 rather than IL-336 > I-172 > I-72.

[edwaleni]

1. What's the point of IL-29? I would've thought any freeway/expressway through this area would have been put to bed when I-39 was built. After all, I-180 barely sees any traffic.

2. IL-336 is not needed, not even and especially the already built section from Quincy to Macomb. Why haven't they ended this yet?

3. The engineering has only been done for the Galena bypass portion of US 20 between Freeport and Galena. I'm actually genuinely shocked the bypass hasn't been built yet, between the two capital bills passed in the last 12 years.

IDOT said that I-180 was built to satisfy a political issue with a now shuttered steel works north of Hennepin. At one time there was an old narrow span supporting the former IL-26 that was demolished after 1-180 was built.  It doesn't pass any current measure of justification for a modern interstate highway today. In fact I-180 ends at an exit called "Steel Drive" which itself is now closed to keep people off the property. People would say, "why did they build a steel plant right there?". 2 major drivers were access to high quality power (Hennepin Power Plant) nearby and access to water (Illinois River) and rail capacity (NYC/Conrail now NS) to the east coast.

After I-180 was built many Peoria interests wanted it brought down all the way using IL-29. After Gov. Thompson got several reps to rally around the Mitsubishi (now Rivian) plant in Normal, they agreed at the time to drop any political blockade of US-51/I-39 and in effect stopped any purpose of I-180 extensions to Peoria. Periodically Chillicothe, Illinois politicos bring up the issue of extending IL-29 as a freeway north of town using a former sand pit/quarry for ROW and rejoin the current IL-29 around Henry Creek. Studies have been done, but it hasn't been prioritized. You will never hear anything about I-180 from the Peoria contingent anymore.

As for IL-336, the stub west of Peoria needs to have a more organized termination with a east west highway as today it ends at essentially a country road. In the current design, it was supposed to cross over IL-116 near Hanna City. I would say finish that part, so that traffic flows naturally into the current stub in I-474 and then leave it alone for the next 30 years until the traffic counts catch up. Most people don't know it, but IDOT owns a large degree of land east of the I-474 exit for the same stub. I never saw any plans to extend it further east, but as it stands it would cut through the north part of Rocky Glen Park. I assume it was supposed to divert eventual traffic off of IL-8 & Farmington Road somewhere near Swords Road. There are 2 subdivisions on each side with dead end streets with a fence that says property of IDOT.

A topic for another thread no doubt, I-474 has no other exits for east west traffic. You either go to the airport south, or you go up to I-74. One of the beefs of Farmington when they lost their last railroad (UP/CNW/MStL) was that they lost their access to global markets. So the rail was pulled but the ROW was railbanked. the IL-336 design report showed that they had to maintain a railroad overpass for the new highway in the event the rails were put back down.

One could write a book on all of the backstory to all of these highways Illinois has talked about over the years.

Amen to your last point. There is a lot of fascinating history of the Illinois Interstate/freeway system.

I knew about why I-180 was put in place, I just don't get why there is still a push to four lane IL-29. I would've thought I-39 would have permanently put that to bed. And IL-336 was never needed, It's so much better to take I-155 > I-55 to get to I-72 rather than IL-336 > I-172 > I-72.

Peoria doesn't care anymore.

It's Chillicothe that cares. They are river locked, To reach I-39 (or anything east of the river) they have to either drive south (20 miles) to the US-150 War Memorial Bridge in Peoria or all the way up to Lacon (11 miles) or Henry (16 miles) to use bridges built in 1939 and 1934 respectively. By that point they might as well drive all the way up to I-80 depending where they are headed. What they should be crowing for is a basic 2 lane span over the Illinois River. Something like what IDOT is building at Meredosia. Connect it with IL-89 at Washburn and be done with it. Varna, Washburn, Minonk, Toluca, Magnolia, Low Point, Cazenovia....that is old strip mine territory now all agricultural. Toluca is essentially Little Italy. All the descendants of the strip mine workers stayed and run the town the same way.

[3467]

You was to read
Questionable Basis for Approving Certain Auxiliary Route Segments of the Interstate Highway System.  GAO  July 31 1970.
Side note the first Supplemental Freeway route of 39 followed the proposed 55 re route.
It was out in Dec of 65.  It also has a freeway along 24 not 29.
Instead the Washington bypass was built.
As far as the Peoria Chicago freeway. 6 of 11 corridors including 29 were longer than 74 55
The shortest was a 24 116 route that saved 8.7 miles The other 4 saved less.

[3467]

Also I think 29 goes through a lot of floodplain and that probably would raise costs out of control. See recent discussion of Interstate 57 approved in Mid South.
We saw in in Illinois with 34.

[Rick Powell]

What they should be crowing for is a basic 2 lane span over the Illinois River. Something like what IDOT is building at Meredosia.

The Peoria East Bypass would provide that northern crossing. There are still obstacles to funding, designing and constructing it, but it is still somewhat more an active pursuit than IL 29 at this time. After years of study, a Draft EIS has not been issued yet, but there has been some progress as stated at the IDOT project website.
http://www.easternbypass.com/

[edwaleni]

What they should be crowing for is a basic 2 lane span over the Illinois River. Something like what IDOT is building at Meredosia.

The Peoria East Bypass would provide that northern crossing. There are still obstacles to funding, designing and constructing it, but it is still somewhat more an active pursuit than IL 29 at this time. After years of study, a Draft EIS has not been issued yet, but there has been some progress as stated at the IDOT project website.
http://www.easternbypass.com/

Thanks for sharing this. I thought this never got off the ground. Kind of like the Eastern St Louis beltway (IL-4) when the entire corridor got dumped.