U.S. Route 24 and Illinois Route 29 run through the Warehouse District in downtown Peoria, and that’s causing a problem for the City. The City wants to make Washington Street more pedestrian friendly by narrowing it and adding on-street parking on both sides of the road. Property owners in that area say they need a more pedestrian-friendly Washington Street in order to successfully redevelop those old warehouses into loft apartments, condos, retail shops, and restaurants. Because of the road’s designation as Routes 24 and 29, any changes to the street must be approved by the Illinois Department of Transportation, and they don’t want parking on both sides of the street. In fact, they prefer it wide and fast, just like it is now.
That leaves only one option if the City is going to move forward on its preferred Washington Street makeover: move the route designations and take over jurisdiction of the street from the State. Under a proposal that comes before the Council next Tuesday night, routes 24 and 29 would be rerouted to East Peoria, bypassing downtown Peoria. Specifically, Route 24 traveling northeast would cross the river on the Shade-Lohmann (I-474) bridge instead of the McClugage, effectively bypassing Peoria altogether. Route 29 traveling southeast would cross the river on the Murray Baker (I-74) bridge instead of the Cedar Street bridge, bypassing downtown.
Those changes come with a cost. Because of the route designations, Peoria receives $45,000 each year from the state to help with maintaining those streets. In addition, the State does all the resurfacing work at its own expense — for the work they’re doing this fall, that comes to about $5.44 million. Including routine maintenance and periodic resurfacing, the Public Works Department estimates that it will cost the City an average of $563,669 per year over the next 20 years to take over maintenance of the street.
There had been talk in the past of moving 24 off of Washington Street, but keeping it on this side of the river — perhaps moving it to Adams and Jefferson. However, even if IDOT would agree to it, it would only be a temporary fix, as the City would inevitably run into problems changing those streets in the future. Caterpillar has also made it clear that it does not want the route moved to Adams street, which passes by the front door of their world headquarters.
It is unfortunate that IDOT is being so inflexible on this issue. Since 2003, they are supposed to have been embracing “context sensitive solutions,” “an approach that uses many tools with one goal in mind: plan and design transportation projects that ‘fit’ into their surroundings – what is known as ‘context.’ It involves: Striking a balance between safety, mobility, community needs, and the environment . . . Addressing all modes of transportation in the planing and design of the project, including motor vehicle, mass transit, pedestrians and bicyclists . . . Applying the flexibility inherent in our design standards to fit the project into its surroundings . . . [and] Incorporating aesthetics as part of basic good design.”
A portion of Illinois Route 83 travels right through downtown Antioch, Illinois. This section of state highway carries an average of 12,300 vehicles every day — slightly more than the 11,600 that Washington St. carries through the Warehouse District — yet, take a look at IDOT’s Illinois Route 83 Project page:
…the downtown segment typical section will have one 11-foot through lane in each direction separated by an 11-foot striped median with 8 foot wide parking stalls. The Village of Antioch was involved in the development of geometry of the “downtown” section.
Now, why is it okay to have three lanes of traffic and parking on both sides of the street on Route 83, but we can’t have the same thing on Route 24? Why the inconsistency?
I’ve asked that question in the past and been given two answers. One is that on-street parking has been “grandfathered in” on state routes in some communities; so, if you already have parking, you get to keep it, but you can’t add it if you don’t already have it. This only goes to show that the no-parking requirement is arbitrary and baseless. If it were a vital safety issue, there would be no “grandfathering in” since it costs nothing to remove parking from a route. The other reason I’ve been given is that IDOT divides Illinois into different regions, and each region has its own engineer who sets the rules for his or her area. We’re in Region 3 and Antioch is in Region 1. Thus, the Region 1 engineer allows parking, but the Region 3 engineer, Joe Crowe, does not. In other words, there’s no consistent policy for the State.
No matter how you look at it, the State of Illinois is bent on frustrating Peoria’s plans to improve its downtown, and the only option left is for Peoria to give up the route designations and pay for the street maintenance itself. But can Peoria afford it? The City is already looking down the barrel of a $10 million deficit for next year. More drastic cuts to basic services are being contemplated. Will development of the Warehouse District produce enough new revenue to make losing the route designations worth it?
There haven’t been any studies (that I know of) yet, but consider that the City figured two hotels and three restaurants on one block (the Wonderful Development) would raise enough revenue to cover $37 million in debt service over twenty years. Surely a mixed-use residential/retail development in the Warehouse District with multiple developers over ten blocks will raise enough revenue in property and sales tax increments to cover $8.3 million (in today’s dollars) over the next 20 years, especially since there would be no bond issue and thus no debt service costs. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to get a commitment from the Warehouse District developers before moving forward.
I know I’ve commented on this before: People won’t move down there as there are few services available to them nearby. Service business won’t move down there as there aren’t enough people to support them. Unless the Kert Hubers of Downtown development build and attract both at the same time, it will never happen. And if rent/condo fees/costs are what 401 Water Street are, no one but the uber rich can afford living there.
“There had been talk in the past of moving 24 off of Washington Street, but keeping it on this side of the river — perhaps moving it to Adams and Jefferson.”
That’s pretty funny because according to Google Maps, that is exactly where 24 AND 29 are marked. Man! Google is so good their maps predict the future. Awesome!
JB
Have they interviewed any of the current businesses on Washington about this change? I know that driving down there a lot of times we have to wait for semis to move around so they can pull in to their drives. I can’t imagine how well that would work by removing a lane and adding parking. Sounds like even more of a mess.
I’m all for increasing business opportunities, but not getting rid of businesses we currently have in the area. Especially when there are plenty of empty buildings on Adams with parking lots that could be revamped for these lofts, apartments, and restaurants everyone seems so excited about.
Chef Kevin,
Unfortunately, business doesn’t work the way we wish it would. Businesses are not going to move down there under the prospect of people eventually being there. They are going to move there after the people are there already. However, I don’t think this is going to be that bad. There is East Peoria just across the bridge, and 74 close by to get uptown. There are not shops in walking distance, but that will change, if this is successful.
I hope that there are fair priced condos and homes in this area. However, if the uber rich do populate this area, it would probably do something that Peoria has needed to do for a while, which is to have people moving to the inner city instead of the outlying areas.
GenerationWhy –
I guess we will just have to disagree. I don’t see people moving down there unless there are closer or more convenient goods and services than Wal-Mart. If it took as long for the uber-rich in Peoria to fill 401 I don’t see more moving to that area, in fact, I’ve known some to move out as there hasn’t been any business development. I would think that there would have to be a lot of commitment from a lot of different groups all at the same time to get this all “up and running”.
The bigger issue is the big gaping hole in development between the Warehouse District and the rest of downtown, namely the blocks between State Street and the Bob Michel Bridge that are filled with parking lots. While this stretch of Water Street is developed, unless Water Street is extended to Persimmon, it won’t really tie the Warehouse District itself closer to downtown.
The current development breakdown is: north of Jefferson, CAT suburban campus type development (not pedestrian friendly); Jefferson-Adams: O’Brien Field (not pedestrian friendly for those two blocks); Adams-Washington: Voting commission and Police Station (not attractive); Washington-Water: back of Kelleher’s and the new “artist’s colony”. The southern end of downtown still has some growing to do (need more to anchor the area than the bus terminal and the two pawn shops).
While the Washington Street facelift would help, it’s unrealistic to expect this area to flourish without something filling in the cracks. The good news is, this would be prime development area for the sorts of service industries that other commenters (and myself) think downtown needs for larger scale residential development. Plus, this area is closer to existing downtown residential (Twin Towers, 401 Water, etc.). Fill in that eyesore of an area and the Warehouse District will become that much more attractive.
I lived at the YWCA for six years when it was residential. I would love to be back downtown, but my next move will have to be rent-subsidized, senior/disabled accommodations. I can only dream.
I don’t think that all the condos at 401 Water are for the “uber rich”
Most of the condos are in the 1,200-3,000 sq ft range and sell for $200,000 on the low end to $350,000 on the high end. More than I can afford but far from million dollar McMansions that are all over the north side of Peoria.
A quick look at realtor.com
401 Water… 3480 sq ft for $589,900; 2209 sqft for $409,500; 1405 sqft for $287,900; 1010 sqft for $199,900.
Considering the square footage versus the price… these aren’t for the average middle class family.
asking price and selling price are two different things.
Actually, Peoria is in IDOT District 4, not “Region 3” as stated.
I love the warehouse district. Nothing says “this used to BE someplace” than a quick drive through it.
Joe Pye — Had you looked at the link to IDOT’s own site that I provided (here it is again for your convenience), you would have seen that the state is indeed divided into regions, and those regions are subdivided into districts. District 4 is in Region 3.
There is nothing more dangerous that too little information.
Hey Kev – they don’t WANT the great un-washed masses living there…
CJ,
A variable to look at is also the fact that how much would maintenance and up keep decrease with the reduction of lanes, slowing down of large trucks who cause much of all the damage on this route.
This is how IDOT operates. It is as inconsistent as the day is long. Antioch is certainly in a different district than we are. It is our district that is probably the most inflexible and industrial of all of the districts in the state.
I blame the weak legislature. If we had politicians in control of the government instead of the bureaucrats, we could get this change pencil whipped through as quick as anything.