IDOT, city mull infrastructure plans for business corridor
MacArthur Boulevard has seen better days.
The historic thoroughfare, originally called West Grand Boulevard, once marked the western boundary of Springfield. It was built as a two-lane road in 1919, and by the 1930s it had become a hotspot for commerce. While still a major business corridor in Springfield, MacArthur Boulevard is plagued by congestion, blight, crumbling sidewalks – where they exist at all – and a lack of cohesive planning.
The MacArthur Boulevard Business Association, which started a decade ago, is among the chorus of voices calling for improvements to the corridor, and there have been bright spots like the opening of grocer Hy-Vee in 2014. Still, the association and others have expressed dissatisfaction with the pace of progress.
That may change, however, as the City of Springfield and the Illinois Department of Transportation examine plans to revamp MacArthur. IDOT and the city held an open house on April 21 to showcase seven proposals and gather public comments, but no single idea seems to have unanimous support.
The seven alternatives vary widely in cost and ambition. The simplest plan – resurfacing the existing roadway – would cost about $2.5 million, while the grandest plan would require an estimated $26.3 million. Bike lanes and a wider roadway factor into many of the plans, and some even call for tearing down buildings which would be in the path of lane expansions.
Michael Higgins, president of the MacArthur Boulevard Business Association, says this is an opportunity for the city to invest in its future. He prefers Alternative 6, which calls for widening the roadbed from Wabash Avenue to South Grand Avenue to accommodate wider lanes and a center turn lane. That plan also calls for an eight-foot separation between the roadway and new eight-foot-wide sidewalks which include bike lanes. However, Higgins says he would settle for a hybrid of alternatives 2, 3 and 4 – less ambitious plans which call for more narrow sidewalks and separate bike lanes.
“People should think about what we can do to improve the lifestyle of the neighborhood and how to make the area attractive to large and small businesses,” he said. “We can make it more desirable for people to want to move in and actually build something along a really cool boulevard running through our city.”
Higgins says he fears that the Springfield City Council will favor Alternative 1, the cheapest plan which simply calls for resurfacing the existing lanes and making minor improvements to sidewalks and curbs.
Ward 7 Alderman Joe McMenamin, whose ward covers the portion of MacArthur Boulevard under study, says the MacArthur Boulevard Business Association will play a big role in the final decision and in helping him form his opinion. However, McMenamin says many of his constituents would prefer not to widen the roadway, especially the more residential section between Laurel Street and South Grand Avenue. All but two of the proposals call for widening that section.
McMenamin also takes issue with IDOT’s projection of increased traffic, which is the basis for calls to expand the roadbed. The agency predicts that the average daily traffic on MacArthur Boulevard will increase from between 18,000 and 21,800 vehicles, as measured in 2013, to between 24,250 and 29,500 vehicles per day by 2033. McMenamin believes that’s an overestimate, reasoning that additional traffic would probably use other routes with fewer stoplights.
“I think hopefully there will not be the degree of traffic increase that IDOT presumes here,” McMenamin said. “More traffic is good if MacArthur is a destination, but not if we just have pass-through.”
McMenamin says the MacArthur project presents a “trade-off between how much we do and how quickly we do it.”
“The simpler alternatives can be done much more quickly,” McMenamin said.
He added that the city council passed an ordinance in January 2014 calling for a report on the feasibility study by that summer.
“We’re really two years behind,” he said. “I think there’s a growing impatience on the part of those who live and work in the MacArthur Boulevard area, so I’m hearing that many think let’s get something done sooner rather than later. That may mean a less ambitious alternative for right now.”
Mark Mahoney, public works director for the City of Springfield, says MacArthur Boulevard is currently under the control of IDOT, meaning work on the actual roadway would ultimately be done by the state. He notes that IDOT has worked closely with the city to develop alternatives, and there have been discussions about turning over control of MacArthur to the city.
Mahoney says the city doesn’t have a preference yet on which plan to pursue. That, he said, will come from digesting the public feedback on the proposals. However, he’s sensitive to the growing impatience for something to happen.
“I think what people are asking for is a plan and to see some results in the near future,” he said.
IDOT will accept public comments on the study until May 6. Visit illinoistimes.com for more information.
Contact Patrick Yeagle at pyeagle@illinoistimes.com.
