I’m too busy to do a lot of blogging today, but here are a few comments on the news of the day:
- West Main Street needs to be narrowed from five lanes to three, the on-street parking restored, and sidewalks widened. That’s the only way to slow traffic on the street. The 30 mph speed limit is a joke — the street is built for speed and people are going to go the speed the road is designed to accommodate. There’s a meeting planned to discuss this issue on Tuesday, May 29, at 6:00 somewhere at Bradley University (exact location TBD).
- I see the Journal Star caught up with WCBU today by reporting how Ray LaHood has been throwing cold water on the Peoria Amtrak plan. LaHood’s comments are devoid of logic. He thinks no one will take a train to Chicago from Peoria unless it can get there quicker than driving, but on the other hand he thinks people will take a bus to Normal or Galesburg and take a train to Chicago from one of those stations. Who’s whispering in LaHood’s ear to try to sabotage this effort? Auto makers? Oil companies?
- Now that’s what I call a “happy meal.”
- Whenever I try to go to WMBD radio’s website, it crashes my Firefox browser. However, it works in Internet Explorer. It’s really annoying.
Feel free to discuss anything else you want. This is an open thread.
“Who’s whispering in LaHood’s ear to try to sabotage this effort? ”
Trail advocates…. developers….
Where are you going to put the rails? Through whose neighborhoods? Through which developers future plans? Wouldn’t want to piss off the Itoo cartel, they might cancel his membership.
Are they going to run the trains over the freight lines? If so then the time it takes to get to Chicago becomes very relevant. While one might not expect to get there faster than by car, there is a limit in patience. There are horror stories to be told because Amtrak generally does not have its own lines in Illinois.
LaHood’s position is just stupid to downright hostile to good development in Peoria. The people who need the trains the most, can’t afford to be commuting to Normal or Galesburg. I look forward to him ‘dancing’ when gas gets over $5 a gallon.
Could the whisperer be Peoria Charter Coach?
Put what rail lines? The lines are already in place. The cost of upgrading to passenger is significant but the upkeep will be shared with freight thus giving both cheaper coverage. As for sharing the rails with freight that is what is being organized and worked on right now in feasibility studies. The horror stories are just that horror stories. Things have changed a lot since then. Sharing the freight lines with passenger lines is beneficial to both companies and to the population in general. Let Peoria become the city it can be with the latest in mass transit availibility. We will attract a lot more upscale developers if this infrastructure is in place.
I, on the otherhand, can’t listen to WMBD via the internet using internet explorer. It hasn’t worked the last several days.
LaHood all but admits that Peoria is going to become a satellite of Bloomington-Normal. Now a question for you readers – Which of Peoria’s 3 TV stations will be the first to move its HQ to B-N and switch from “Peoria-Bloomington” to “Bloomington-Normal/Peoria”
Choking the traffic on West Main down to 3 lanes will make it a nightmare to traverse. Have you been through there at either morning or afternoon rush hours as it is? Look at the long lines of people waiting to turn left from Main to northbound University.
MDD — Yes, in fact I live over there and have experienced rush hour traffic both as a motorist and a pedestrian.
There is currently only one left-turn lane from east-bound Main onto north-bound University. Under the proposed narrowing to three lanes (one travel lane in each direction with a center turn lane), there would still be one left-turn lane. So it wouldn’t make left turns any easier or harder.
There needs to be a paradigm shift in Peoria. We need to recognize that the public right of way should be designed to safely accommodate cars, bicycles, and pedestrians. There should be balance in our transportation corridors. You’re worried that “3 lanes will make it a nightmare to traverse” — but you’re only thinking of cars. It’s already a nightmare to traverse as a pedestrian or bicyclist. Narrowing it to three lanes will make it much safer for those modes of travel. We have to stop thinking that the public right-of-way is the sole domain of automobiles.
What is the saying, if it bleeds it leads? The TV stations won’t make the switch until the more exciting news (homocides, shoot outs, etc) start happening more often in B-N than Peoria. So that makes my guess for a switch over date of never.
Your handle says it “BeanCounter”. The switch will be dictated by advertising revenues. One of the Peoria stations is going to want to get a leg up on the others for B-N advertising revenues. As the value of consumer dollars grows in B-N, in relationship to Peoria, advertising revenues are going to similarly respond.
I can’t believe this is even a discussion. B/N adds nothing to ad revenues or viewership. All three stations have tried bureaus in the Twin Cities and none have seen a significant jump in ratings or ads because of it. When I was in the business many years ago, outside of Peoria, you’d be surprised to find out that a good majority of viewers tend to come from small, rural areas rather than larger “urban” areas such as B/N, Galesburg, Pontiac, or Pekin. WYZZ was based in Bloomington and when WMBD took over that operation, they did make it Bloomington/Normal-Peoria and it didn’t work.
With ad rates and ratings as low as they are, there’s no way any of the stations would think about moving to the Twin Cities.
The Champaign/Springfield/Decatur market is a great example of why it won’t work. In that market, no one station dominates the entire market. WCIA (CBS) is in Champaign. WAND (NBC) is in Decatur. WICS (ABC) is in Springfield. None of those stations have much of a market outside of their home bases…therefore, the larger city wins the ratings war and the ad dollars. For being a TV market about 30 sizes bigger than Peoria-Bloomington/Normal, their news, staffs and ad rates, are comparable or worse than Peoria’s.
To take 2 lanes down to 1 will create a huge traffic mess. It already takes several cycles of the lights to make it through at busy times and that’s even for those going straight.
1. I don’t drive on West Main too much, but I never notice speeding to be a big problem. The lanes are already pretty narrow most of the drive, which seems to have a slowing effect.
2. Have you asked WMBD about the Fx problem? If so, what was their response?
Main Street is too fast. Slow it down.
St. Charles Missouri…
http://www.newtownatstcharles.com/Default.aspx
It hurts me to see how most Republicans are no different from the Democrats when it comes to spending our money. This is the same Ray Lahood who put a couple of million dollars in the Highway Bill to continue studying Rt. 29 AFTER the cost rose from $300,000,000.00 to $600,000,000.00 and that was two years ago. How about a billion dollars if it ever were reconstructed which it won’t but one always has to build a war chest from those special interest groups doint the studying.
Sorry, As a “politician” I don’t “buy” in.