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[skluth]

It's well out of your way but Cave-In-Rock has a free car ferry across the Ohio River. But if you're visiting Garden of the Gods or one of the other Shawnee National Forest attractions, it's worth the trip.

[hobsini2]

It's well out of your way but Cave-In-Rock has a free car ferry across the Ohio River. But if you're visiting Garden of the Gods or one of the other Shawnee National Forest attractions, it's worth the trip.

I once did IL Rt 1 all the way to Cave in the Rock and took the ferry over to Kentucky. The took Ky 91 into Marion and US 641 South to Eddyville to join up with I-24.It was worth it. Fredonia KY is "interesting" for a tiny town. Coppertop BBQ is really good.

[ilpt4u]

A more immediate piece of news along I-57 between Marion and I-24 late this coming weekend:

Drivers on Interstate 57 will be facing a detour next weekend as the Illinois Department of Transportation will close a portion of the highway to demolish a bridge south of Marion.

The interstate will be closed to all traffic between the 45 mile marker (Illinois Route 148 exit) and the 54 mile marker (Illinois Route 13 exit) beginning at 7 p.m., Sunday, Jan. 15. The highway will remain closed overnight and is anticipated to reopen at 7 a.m., Monday, Jan. 16.

https://thesouthern.com/news/local/interstate-57-will-be-closed-at-the-beginning-of-next-week/article_c96d8c34-81c1-5725-9d73-e0117b19a4bb.html

[Revive 755]

It's been awhile since I went the whole length, but there are stoplights in Bloomington, Clinton, Forsythe (a bunch of them just before you get to I-72), Pana, Vandalia and a 4-way stop in Sandoval, and even in the 4-lane sections there are a lot of reduced speed zones going through all the little towns, Vandalia by itself will probably slow you down 5 minutes or more from what you could do on an interstate at 70 mph. There is enough truck and agricultural traffic that it may slow you down in the 2-lane sections where you are unable to pass.

Pana certainly seems to eat a lot of time every time I go through there on US 51.  Some of the reduced speed zones also get annoying on 51 - there's the 45 mph section through Wapella, then there's a really annoying and long 45 mph section around Clinton.

[ilpt4u]

Pana certainly seems to eat a lot of time every time I go through there on US 51.  Some of the reduced speed zones also get annoying on 51 - there's the 45 mph section through Wapella, then there's a really annoying and long 45 mph section around Clinton.

Google Maps actually routes you on county roads that bypass Pana to the east and south. Heading SB, continue on N 2600 East instead of turning right/west and following 51 into Pana, then turn right/west on either E 100 North or E 000 North, to meet back up with 51 south of Pana

Not high quality county roads, but plenty serviceable

[edwaleni]

Pana certainly seems to eat a lot of time every time I go through there on US 51.  Some of the reduced speed zones also get annoying on 51 - there's the 45 mph section through Wapella, then there's a really annoying and long 45 mph section around Clinton.

Google Maps actually routes you on county roads that bypass Pana to the east and south. Heading SB, continue on N 2600 East instead of turning right/west and following 51 into Pana, then turn right/west on either E 100 North or E 000 North, to meet back up with 51 south of Pana

Not high quality county roads, but plenty serviceable

This is exactly what I did when I came down from Decatur. (Took the Pana Bypass using the country roads) Even though I still had to go west to Woburn, Illinois, I took Fayette CR-1 west at Ramsey to Fillmore then turned south. It was faster than going all the way down to Vandalia.

Fayette CR-1 is a fairly new road with updated geometry.

[SGwithADD]

Speaking of Champaign, is anyone familiar with how ridiculously narrow Prospect Avenue is between Bradley and Kirby? I have a Sentra and it seems to just barely fit in the lane, how can a Tractor Trailer safely use this road? If they are not going to widen it due to wrecking too much property they ought to just turn it into a 3 lane road with one wide lane in each direction and a middle lane for turning. It would be a lot less harrowing. When was this built? It just doesn't seem up to modern road dimensions.

There are plans to widen Prospect Ave (at least the portion designated as US 150). IDOT has $18.5 million set aside: https://idot.illinois.gov/Assets/uploads/files/Transportation-System/Fact-Sheets/Rebuild-Illinois/RBI_CU.pdf

That said, it's unclear whether the whole street will be widened, or only key intersections: https://www.news-gazette.com/news/idot-claims-proposal-to-widen-prospect-would-target-only-major-intersections/article_d15b1f6d-ae85-5b56-af60-599ff13637a2.html

[Crash_It]

Speaking of Champaign, is anyone familiar with how ridiculously narrow Prospect Avenue is between Bradley and Kirby? I have a Sentra and it seems to just barely fit in the lane, how can a Tractor Trailer safely use this road? If they are not going to widen it due to wrecking too much property they ought to just turn it into a 3 lane road with one wide lane in each direction and a middle lane for turning. It would be a lot less harrowing. When was this built? It just doesn't seem up to modern road dimensions.

There are plans to widen Prospect Ave (at least the portion designated as US 150). IDOT has $18.5 million set aside: https://idot.illinois.gov/Assets/uploads/files/Transportation-System/Fact-Sheets/Rebuild-Illinois/RBI_CU.pdf

That said, it's unclear whether the whole street will be widened, or only key intersections: https://www.news-gazette.com/news/idot-claims-proposal-to-widen-prospect-would-target-only-major-intersections/article_d15b1f6d-ae85-5b56-af60-599ff13637a2.html

Seems like a road diet might be a better solution for that stretch.

[JREwing78]

Speaking of Champaign, is anyone familiar with how ridiculously narrow Prospect Avenue is between Bradley and Kirby? I have a Sentra and it seems to just barely fit in the lane, how can a Tractor Trailer safely use this road? If they are not going to widen it due to wrecking too much property they ought to just turn it into a 3 lane road with one wide lane in each direction and a middle lane for turning. It would be a lot less harrowing. When was this built? It just doesn't seem up to modern road dimensions.

I concur just based on the Street View imagery. Those narrow portions are 40 feet wide, or 4 10-foot lanes. They could replace it with a 3-lane arrangement (2 11' lanes with a center 12' TWLTL, and 2 3' bicycle lanes in the same footprint, and it wouldn't probably end up LESS congested than it is now. Widening it to any degree that would do anything for traffic would eat up what little remaining front lawn the homes have.

[ET21]

This will make storm chasing a bit more challenging for myself. Lacon IL bridge is closing for repairs this year
https://www.centralillinoisproud.com/news/top-stories/route-17-bridge-in-lacon-closing-for-nearly-8-months-for-repairs/

[hobsini2]

This will make storm chasing a bit more challenging for myself. Lacon IL bridge is closing for repairs this year
https://www.centralillinoisproud.com/news/top-stories/route-17-bridge-in-lacon-closing-for-nearly-8-months-for-repairs/

At least Route 18 is not that far north to utilize. Come to think of it, in my storm chasing, I have always used Route 18 vs Route 17.

[paulthemapguy]

This will make storm chasing a bit more challenging for myself. Lacon IL bridge is closing for repairs this year
https://www.centralillinoisproud.com/news/top-stories/route-17-bridge-in-lacon-closing-for-nearly-8-months-for-repairs/

At least Route 18 is not that far north to utilize. Come to think of it, in my storm chasing, I have always used Route 18 vs Route 17.

That's a big gap in bridges, between Henry and Peoria.  Now I REALLY wish there was an Illinois River bridge at Chillicothe.

[edwaleni]

This will make storm chasing a bit more challenging for myself. Lacon IL bridge is closing for repairs this year
https://www.centralillinoisproud.com/news/top-stories/route-17-bridge-in-lacon-closing-for-nearly-8-months-for-repairs/

At least Route 18 is not that far north to utilize. Come to think of it, in my storm chasing, I have always used Route 18 vs Route 17.

That's a big gap in bridges, between Henry and Peoria.  Now I REALLY wish there was an Illinois River bridge at Chillicothe.

As noted elsewhere, IDOT cancelled the East Peoria Bypass which included a bridge about 2 years ago.



"Completion of the ring road with I-474 and IL 6 remained a regional priority as of 2015," with the city of Peoria having "passed a resolution supporting Corridor P2."

In 2021, the Federal Highway Administration issued a notice stating it would not prepare an EIS on the Eastern Bypass.

The notice added, "IDOT has no plans to continue the project study and no further activities will occur in its development."

That marked the end of the meandering, multiyear effort to construct the controversial ring road.

Kensil A. Garnett, Region 3 engineer with the Illinois Department of Transportation, said recently the Eastern Bypass is no longer on IDOT's radar and did not score well in an analysis of statewide expansion projects.

"This project would have to be driven politically and was not part of the capital bill discussions during the (fiscal year) 2020 programming cycle," he added.

[The Ghostbuster]

So much for the IL 6 freeway stub ever connecting with anything else.

[3467]

They are going to 4 lane and replace the RR bridge North of Chillicothe . He thinks that will pass muster.
The beltway was a district 4 obsession for a long time. Before they finally took the page down it seemed most of the public thought a 2 lane bridge connector would be a good idea. The volume estimates were really low for freeway. Only 10000 .I think less on the outer connections.
Ed where is the quote from ?
336 is dead too. 24 will be 4 lanes to 9 . Interesting that was the original corridor.9 last Canton is 1000 a day so I think that's it for Peoria Macomb.

[3467]

The Route 1 trip reminds me that was an original freeway corridor. I would argue that was built as an expressway in Indiana.

[hobsini2]

So much for the IL 6 freeway stub ever connecting with anything else.

Route 6 should have connected to I-180 even if it is just a 4 lane parkway.

[ET21]

So much for the IL 6 freeway stub ever connecting with anything else.

Route 6 should have connected to I-180 even if it is just a 4 lane parkway.

That would have been nice to have

[edwaleni]

Ed where is the quote from ?

From the Peoria newspaper when it was announced. Sorry, I forgot to post the link with it.

[Rick Powell]

So much for the IL 6 freeway stub ever connecting with anything else.

Route 6 should have connected to I-180 even if it is just a 4 lane parkway.

That would have been nice to have

Prior to the last activities on the Eastern Bypass study, IDOT also completed a "Peoria to Chicago" highway study that selected an IL 6- I-180 4-lane connector, but it looks to be dormant with no further work programmed.

[3467]

Kensil Garnett told me 29 is alive at least from Chillicothe to maybe the county line . It will be 4 lanes and a new RR bridge. They are going to run it through the program .
Not clear how far they intend to run it. Minor correction Peoria Chicago really concluded that 74 and 55 did the job. There was a later study on 29 that's pretty dormant. This is separate because there was originally a 6 extension North of Chillicothe.

Both 336 and 29 are still on featured projects. But Kensil also told be it's going to be 24 not 336 and Peoria County would like to use the corridor protection area. .
I think the bypass is still there but the link is dead. 51 and 50:are gone too.

[3467]

I do want to add the Pans Bypass I is not dead. They are running that through the tool
So are parts of the connector and 67.

[The Ghostbuster]

Where is Pans? Did you mean Pana?

[3467]

Pana. Yes. Autocorrect.

[edwaleni]

I do want to add the Pans Bypass I is not dead. They are running that through the tool
So are parts of the connector and 67.

I don't think the Pana Bypass will take. It had clear negative feedback from the community.

Perhaps a Super 2 from the county line south of Assumption to Coal Creek south of Pana. Otherwise I just don't think it has the needed truck traffic to justify it on safety grounds.

I am getting worried about the US-50 Lebanon Bypass. It was in the STIP and it was funded, but there is no project page, no status updates.

Probably have to email the Region 5 District 8 office and see whats up.

It is missing from the IDOT planned and project page.

https://idot.illinois.gov/transportation-system/transportation-management/featured-projects/index