Category Archives: Traffic

City of Peoria, Streets, Traffic

Main and University traffic study forum next Monday

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From a press release:

CITY OF PEORIA HOSTS MAIN AND UNIVERSITY TRAFFIC STUDY FORUM
September 22, 2008
7 pm – 9 pm

The Public Works Department and Hanson Professional Services will be hosting a public meeting on Monday, September 22, 2008; 7pm – 9pm at City Hall-Council Chambers, 419 Fulton Street, Suite 400, Peoria. This forum is a follow-up to the meeting that took place in early July. The City will be presenting a series of computer-generated illustrations showing how a variety of traffic-calming options will affect Main Street and the surrounding area using traffic counts and data collected in June.

This is a critical meeting for those of us concerned about our West Bluff community. This may be our final opportunity to provide input and influence the future of Main Street. Show your support of a walkable west bluff by attending this forum and wearing a green shirt to visually show our city leaders what our community wants.

If you are unable to attend this important meeting, please respond to this email to show your support of a vibrant, creative, pedestrian-friendly, and commercially-viable Main Street.

City of Peoria, Streets, Traffic

I-74 capacity estimates severely overestimated

22 Comments

I’ve been thinking about this article from the Journal Star — specifically, this information:

Numbers released last week to the Journal Star indicate that in several cases, there is less traffic on I-74 since the Upgrade 74 project was completed in 2006.

East of Adams Street, just off the Murray Baker Bridge, the Illinois Department of Transportation counted an average 56,600 vehicles each day in 2008. Comparably, there were 62,100 vehicles daily crossing the Murray Baker Bridge in 2003, around the time the upgrade project began.

West of Adams Street’s exit, the state counted 51,000 vehicles each day in 2008, compared to 59,100 on average each day in 2003.

In East Peoria, west of the Main Street exit, the 2008 count shows 56,800 vehicles daily, down 3,000 vehicles on average each day from 2003, when the count was 59,800.

My criticism of the Upgrade 74 plan has always been that it was too much. In fact, one of the first posts I wrote (because, like all bloggers, there’s an obligatory post early in our careers complaining about something traffic-related) — on April 18, 2005 — was about the I-74 overhaul:

I’m not denying that the expressway needed some improvements. Some of those exit ramps were very dangerous and needed to be reconstructed.

But isn’t this overhaul a bit excessive? I mean, do we really need six to eight lanes of traffic through Peoria?

It’s almost like they said, “hey, what needs to be done to improve I-74 through Peoria?”

And someone answered, “well, we need to fix those short ramps — especially that dangerous one by the bridge.”

“Yeah, yeah, good! Anything else?”

“Well, it would really help traffic flow to put in a new interchange at Sterling by the mall.”

“Excellent, yes, that would be a good idea. Anything else?”

“Hmmm…. no, not really….”

“Okay, well, what do we estimate that will cost?”

“We figure about $200 million.”

[Furrowed brow] “Well, we’ve got $460 million appropriated… we’re going to have to come up with some more upgrades. What else can we do?”

“Well… uh…. we could add more lanes — and a tunnel — and, and, let’s see how many roads and ramps we can get to intersect at Knoxville — that would be fun!”

And away it went!

Indeed. The Journal Star reported on May 18, 1999, that “The new road will be able to carry up to 100,000 cars a day. Right now, from 30,000 to 65,000 cars use the road daily.” In other words, they doubled the capacity of I-74 through Peoria. Why? There’s no evidence that we needed additional capacity. And now we find out there are fewer cars on the interstate than before the upgrade! More capacity means more maintenance of more infrastructure in a state that can’t pay its bills or maintain its existing infrastructure as it is.

But I guess that’s water under the bridge now. Except I’d like to point out this: As we’re trying to decide what needs to be done with Main Street, let’s remember that traffic engineers are not always accurate in gauging capacity needs. This I-74 overhaul is a very expensive case in point.

City of East Peoria, City of Pekin, State of Illinois, Traffic

Eastern Bypass public meeting planned for July 29

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In the city’s “Issues Update” this week, there was information regarding the upcoming Eastern Bypass study. This is the plan to connect Route 6 and I-474 on the east side of the river, making a ring road — a complete bypass for the greater Peoria area. Here’s the letter IDOT Deputy Director of Highways Joe Crowe wrote to Pekin Mayor Dave Tebben (emphasis mine):

The Illinois Department of Transportation has scheduled a Public Kickoff Meeting for the Eastern Bypass Study. This project would connect Illinois Route 6, near Mossville, to Interstate 74, near Morton, a distance of approximately 20 to 25 miles. The meeting is being held to introduce the project to the public, to describe the study elements, and to answer questions and receive comments.

This meeting is scheduled for Tuesday July 29, 2008, from 3:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. at the Countryside Banquet Facility in Washington, Illinois. Enclosed is a copy of the newsletter we have prepared for this meeting, which gives more information concerning the project and public participation. Advertisements announcing the meeting will be published in local newspapers beginning this week.

If you have any questions regarding the project or the scheduled kickoff meeting, please do not hesitate to contact Mr. Mike Lewis at (309) 671·3474.

The letter from Crowe and the newsletter to which he refers are available here (PDF file). I hear that many people in affected areas have already received invitations to the meeting.

City of Peoria, Heart of Peoria Plan, Traffic

Sheridan Triangle progress encouraging

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This past Wednesday, July 16, I attended the public meeting/open house on the Sheridan Triangle Roadway Enhancement project. All the project team members were in attendance:

  • Scott Reeise, City of Peoria representative
  • Eric Bachman, Farnsworth Group project manager
  • Keith Covington, Third Coast Design urban designer
  • Lee Jones, Third Coast Design urban designer
  • George Ghareeb, Terra Engineering public coordinator
  • Phil Allyn, Farnsworth Group traffic engineer
  • Bruce Brown, Farnsworth Group landscape/streetscape architect

Second district councilmember Barbara Van Auken was also there to kick things off and introduce everyone. Unfortunately, not a lot of residents or business owners were in attendance — maybe ten at the most. I’m not sure when the immediate neighbors were notified of the meeting, but I heard about it on Wednesday in the early afternoon. If others were notified that late, it’s no wonder it wasn’t better attended.

Nevertheless, the material presented was very encouraging. The plan that’s coming together is almost exactly what the neighbors and business owners who attended the Farrell/Madden charrette in 2006 said they wanted. Here are the materials that were distributed:

Sheridan Triangle Flyer
Sheridan Triangle PowerPoint Slides
Sheridan Triangle Alternatives B and C

In past, non-public meetings, there were other options put forth, including one for a roundabout at the intersection of Loucks, Gift, and Sheridan. Now, everything has been narrowed down to two alternatives, which were presented in detail at the meeting. After the meeting, participants filled out questionnaires asking which alternative they preferred, as well as other questions about what they liked and didn’t like about each alternative.

I tried out the video function of my new digital camera that night and was able to capture five minutes of the presentation. (I decided to do this just on a whim, so I didn’t have a tripod with me. Thus, if you’re prone to seasickness, you may not want to watch this video — not the steadiest shot. I could only get five minutes because I only have a 1GB memory card, and I had other pictures on it already. Also, I added a plugin to my site so that I can play videos directly from the Chronicle without having to go through YouTube!) The speaker is Keith Covington. He’s just finished explaining that the only difference between alternatives B and C is the treatment of the Sheridan/Loucks/Gift intersection:

[flashvideo filename=http://peoriachronicle.com/wp-content/uploads/Video/Keith_Covington.flv /]

I prefer alternative C. It will do the best job of calming traffic, and is the least disruptive to existing businesses. It provides a beautiful terminus for Loucks when traveling from either direction. And it’s more pedestrian friendly, since two streets will be at right angles at the intersection, providing shorter crosswalks. From talking to other attendees after the event, it sounds like that’s what they preferred as well.

In all cases, the plans took into account a balanced use of the corridor. Sidewalks are wider. Street trees, pedestrian-scale lighting, and on-street parking provide a buffer between motor vehicle and pedestrian/bicycle traffic. Bus pull-offs and shelters are provided. It’s consistent with the Heart of Peoria Plan and the Form Based Code.

Kudos to the project team and all who have been working to improve this area. Hopefully this project will be fully funded when the budget is set for the next fiscal year.

City of Peoria, Traffic

West Main traffic study update

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I went to the Marty Theater at Bradley University’s Student Center Thursday night, July 10, to hear the latest on the Main Street traffic study the city is doing. The purpose of the meetings was simply to present the findings of the traffic volume study and solicit input from neighbors on how to proceed.

Here are the traffic counts (ADT):

Main at Washington 8,750
Main at Glen Oak 12,300
Main at Garfield 17,700
Main at Glenwood 26,400
Western at Callender 19,300
Western at MLK 20,200

Public Works Director Dave Barber was asked what the traffic counts were before Main was widened. Barber didn’t know the answer to that off the top of his head, but he later told me that city traffic engineer Nick Stoffer looked at the figures from the ’70s and they were roughly the same.

The next step is to consider alternatives for reducing traffic volume, calming/slowing traffic, and making the area more walkable/pedestrian-friendly. Here are some of the ideas presented that night:

  • Change Martin Luther King Dr. from one-way to two-way, allowing more traffic to travel below the bluff between downtown and the south side.
  • Narrow Main from University to downtown to one travel lane in each direction.
  • Install left turn restrictions on Main from University to Farmington road and eliminate the center lane.

They also welcome suggestions from the public. Once the alternatives are determined, they will be reviewed using a computerized traffic simulation. Then they will report the results to the community (estimated to be late August or early September) and finalize their recommendations.

City of Peoria, Traffic

The games we play for federal funds

5 Comments

First of all, kudos to the Peoria Times-Observer for putting their articles online. Welcome to the Internet.

Secondly, take a look at this article about the Northmoor Road improvement project. Apparently, they have to plan for five lanes in order to get federal funding, even though they have no intention of building five lanes:

The federal government is willing to pay for a project that only involves three lanes as long as planning is done for five lanes. [Sen. Dale] Risinger said the city has no choice but to go along with the federal government’s wishes.

“This project is well beyond the scope of the city’s ability to pay,” he said. “We need the federal funds … Don’t worry about five lanes being built. That’s the city’s decision. You are the city.”

The article doesn’t say, but I’m going to conjecture that the advantage of planning for five lanes is that it will be less expensive to upgrade if needed in the future. Which means that the federal government evidently sees five lanes as inevitable in the long run. Hopefully the City doesn’t see the three-lane solution as temporary.

But there’s one other thing that I find surprising. Risinger says this road project “is well beyond the scope of the city’s ability to pay.” How can this be? I thought with all the tax base we’re capturing to the north through annexation and the increases in population that come with it, we should be awash in money for infrastructure improvements. How can this infrastructure improvement in North Peoria be beyond our ability to pay?

Traffic

Question of the Day: What would you do?

27 Comments

I’m doing an unscientific survey, and I hope you’ll help by leaving a comment with your answer, even if you don’t normally comment (perhaps especially if you don’t normally comment):

Do you drive down Main Street on a regular or semi-regular basis? In other words, is it a normal route for you to take someplace like work, church, friend’s or family’s home, downtown or socializing, etc.? If so, what would you do if the city were to narrow Main Street from five to three lanes, slowing traffic down to 25 or 30 miles per hour?

Answer any way you want, but here are some options to get you thinking: Would you keep your same route and just drive the slower speed (maybe leave home a little earlier to compensate for it)? Would you look for an alternate, faster route? Would you cut through the surrounding neighborhoods to try to somehow gain time? Would you take Martin Luther King Drive as an alternate route (either now, or if it were improved)? Would you just not go out at all if it involved driving in that area? There are other options; these are just a few to prime the pump.

City of Peoria, Traffic

Proposed Northmoor Road Improvement Project Neighborhood Meeting March 18

7 Comments

From a City press release:

An informational meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 18th at 7:00 p.m. at the Expo Gardens Youth Building, concerning the proposed Northmoor Road project to discuss the section of the proposed improvement between University Street and Allen Road.

City and County engineering staff, city officials, Senator Dale Risinger, and Representative Dave Leitch will present project information and take input from the community.

For questions regarding this News Release, please contact Office of the City Engineer 494-8801.

Amtrak, Traffic

I’m back

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My train was late getting into Chicago on Sunday — so late that I missed the last train of the day headed back to Bloomington. So I got to stay overnight in the Windy City at Amtrak’s expense.

Some may scoff, but I still think it’s the best way to travel. Yes, it needs to be improved, but it sure beat driving, even with the delays. I was sitting in the dining car, relaxing comfortably, eating salmon and a baked potato while looking out the window, watching motorists slip and slide down the road in near-blizzard-like conditions while we traveled through Wisconsin.

I was happy to see we didn’t get hit with a blizzard here in Peoria. It made it easy to drive home from Bloomington on Monday. Hope you all had a wonderful weekend.

City Council, City of Peoria, Traffic

Cove gate deferred, but why?

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Cove at Charter Oak logoAt Tuesday’s council meeting, one item on the agenda was a recommendation from the Traffic Commission to deny a request to install a gate on Sedley Avenue between Vinton Highlands and the newly-constructed Cove at Charter Oak subdivisions. That item was inexplicably deferred. So far, I haven’t been able to find out why it was deferred. I’ve e-mailed Councilman Bill Spears, who asked for the deferral, but received no response. Another citizen has called Public Works and been told that department doesn’t know why it’s been deferred either. While I haven’t driven out there myself, it’s apparent from the minutes of the public hearing that the gate has already been installed.

This seems to me like an open-shut case. There was a public hearing, and the majority of the people who spoke were against the gate. Those who spoke in favor of the gate said it was for one purpose only — to reduce traffic and make the neighborhoods safer. However, there is no evidence that there is currently any traffic problem or any reasonable cause to believe there will be a problem in the future. If traffic does become a problem, there are other traffic-calming methods that could be employed short of installing a gate.

So why the deferral? What is holding up the denial? Are there behind-the-scenes efforts to try to get this gate approved against the wishes of the residents and against the recommendations of the Traffic Commission and City Staff?