The Champaign City Council will consider a draft plan for development of the Curtis Road / Interstate 57 Interchange area:
The draft plan is a detailed guideline for developing the Curtis Road interchange area, which consists of 640 acres, a full 515 acres of which is developable. Most of the property is farmland.
City officials say the interchange area will be a new southern entryway to the city and the University of Illinois, and that it represents a rare development opportunity for a mature city like Champaign.
"Our goal is to create an area that people want to come to and enjoy, not a place they just have to come to," Knight said.
You can view a draft of the plan here.
A question not addressed by this plan (at least not that I saw in my quick review) - how does the city plan to connect this interchange to the middle of town? Is Curtis going to be upgraded, or is something going to be done to funnel traffic north to Windsor? It seems to me there needs to be some 4 lane roads somewhere to handle the looming traffic from the interstate.
(Both Bloomington and Spfld have Veterans Parkway bypass)
Take a ride out to Curtis and Duncan. Parts of Curtis have already been widened with curbs, gutters and sidewalks installed. It will be improved to Neil Street over the next two years. That is why there is a "free" house at the corner of Curtis and Prospect. They have acquired most of the land needed for the road improvements and, I believe, they have gotten approval for a "quick take" from the owners who are not cooperating.
It's urban sprawl, and therefore doomed to failure by the rising cost of energy. Urban planning is an oxymoron in this town. Witness the North Prospect shopping area. Building on the edges of the city is short-sighted and ill-conceived. I'm disappointed by this plan.
The automobile is an insect that eats cities and regurgitates them as it departs.
ok, Purplelady, so Curtis will be 4 lane to Neil, and then traffic will be 'encouraged' to head north to Windsor?
Nidan, building on the south edge of town will reduce the congestion on north prospect, as long as they don't drive one or the other out of business. Folks from the booming southwest side can just stay down there - this will be less driving, not more.
ok, Purplelady, so Curtis will be 4 lane to Neil, and then traffic will be 'encouraged' to head north to Windsor?
I don't see what you're getting at....once you hit Neil St on Curtis, there isn't too much more past it.....some apartments, condos, retirement home, more apartment, then First St. and a whole lot of corn. I would think anybody coming off the interstate at Curtis woudn't want to go too much further than Neil anyway. If anything, widening Curtis to 4-lanes all the way to Neil keeps the the larger traffic quantities off of Duncan, Mattis and Prospect, which aren't really designed to handle much more traffic than what they currently get, and Neil St. already is.
I'm am curious, though if there will be any improvements to Mattis between Windsor and Curtis to make it more similar to Duncan between the same two points.
I would think a forward thinking community might want to put a nice 4 lane road all the way from I-57 to Rt 130 (that is the road to Philo, isn't it?). I do realize this is Champaign's, not Urbana's document - Urbana should be planning too.
Do it before things are put in, so you don't have to deal with angry property owners later.
I'm am curious, though if there will be any improvements to Mattis between Windsor and Curtis to make it more similar to Duncan between the same two points.
I have not seen any plans for this, but it would make sense. Especially with the new Carle Clinic being built at Mattis and Curtis as part of the Liberty Lake subdivision. Improvements to Prospect between Windsor and Curtis would also be helpful in getting to the new Schnuck's at the Savoy Plaza for those who live in southwest Champaign.
"I would think a forward thinking community might want to put a nice 4 lane road all the way from I-57 to Rt 130 (that is the road to Philo, isn't it?). I do realize this is Champaign's, not Urbana's document - Urbana should be planning too."
I believe Urbana has this in its plans, but the University is fighting them at every step. UIUC wants to be able to walk cows and whatnot across Curtis, and hope to block Urbana from widening it at all. They do, however want Champaign to widen it to First St. so that everyone can get to them easily.
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the design review portion of Champaign's plans. If this was mentioned in relation to Urbana I would expect a horde of cries (especially from people in Champaign) about how Urbana is anti-business. Interestingly, when it's proposed for Champaign, nobody makes a peep. Personally, I think it's a good thing, and appropriate for that area given the high-end homes directly adjacent to it.
That's not surprising, I seem to remember UIUC fighting Windsor Road through the south farms for similar reasons.
ah, UIUC, the blessing and curse of Urbana.
Curious, I agree with you that the Champaign planning doc is awful particular - mandating stuff like the % of cars that should be shaded in a parking lot at noon. Champaign has shown a propensity to be pretty liberal when it comes to "urban planning" and "development". I think zoning should be used to "protect" the housing in this area, but I think the council has gotten too involved quite often.
"Urbana should be planning too."
Let's see Urbana has one N-S street (Lincoln Ave) and two E-W streets ( University & Windsor) which do not fall under the traffic and sewer term PLUGGED FLOW. Actually Windsor traffic movement came because of the U of I. So I have great difficulties visualizing Urbana doing any meaningful traffic planning other than gas burning stop signs everywhere.
"Let's see Urbana has one N-S street (Lincoln Ave) and two E-W streets ( University & Windsor) which do not fall under the traffic and sewer term PLUGGED FLOW"
Actually, I'd say Lincoln falls under plugged flow as well. Last year, the council took their only N-S 4-lane arterial and changed it to 3-lane, claiming that traffic flow would improve. Well, while there was some improvement, it was from the new traffic lights. However, that improvement was negated by the conversion to 3 lanes. As someone who drives that street every day, I often get backed up multiple blocks and watch the lights change multiple times without hardly moving at all. For example, I'll get stuck in line before Nevada (going south on Lincoln), watching multiple lights come and go without movement because traffic is backed up all the way from Pennsylvania and isn't moving. Now Urbana has zero north-south 4-lane arterials that run the length of the city.
If you ask council members or the mayor about it, they'll tell you about how much better traffic is on Lincoln. Funny thing is, though, that many of them rarely drive to work. Remember to elect some people who drive on your streets next time you elect a council whose primary functions include approving street improvements.
Nice anecdote, curious.
As an Urbana resident, I think it's incredibly frustrating trying to get around town. Champaign (particularly Neil Street) can be just as frustrating in isolated places, but in Champaign it just feels like there are more options to avoid congestion when necessary.
As a lifetime resident of C-U, raised in Urbana and now residing in Champaign, I've never been able to figure out how reducing streets from 4 lanes to 2 is supposed to improve traffic flow at a time when there are more vehicles than ever using those streets. Would the next step be to reduce them to one lane one way streets?
As someone who lives in Southwest Champaign I can't wait until Curtis Road opens. There will be either closer access to more shopping at the exit or I can hop on 57 and drive 80 miles an hour and be at Olympia Drive in 10 minutes. I also will be able to hit the road to all points much quicker.
"Funny thing is, though, that many of them rarely drive to work."
I am guessing they ride the CU MTD given they undying support of these overpriced, oversized, property tax supported, street distroyers.
Champaign-Urbana has always been in last place concerning traffic flow. Decatur, Springfield and Bloomington-Normal have had synchronized traffic lights for a long time. In those cities if you drive the speed limit you can go across town without stopping for a red light. A city laid out on a grid like most of CU is should be easy to get the lights synchronized. The U of I has a traffic engineering facility at Rantoul, maybe they could offer some guidance on the traffic flow.
"Champaign-Urbana has always been in last place concerning traffic flow. Decatur, Springfield and Bloomington-Normal have had synchronized traffic lights for a long time. In those cities if you drive the speed limit you can go across town without stopping for a red light. A city laid out on a grid like most of CU is should be easy to get the lights synchronized. The U of I has a traffic engineering facility at Rantoul, maybe they could offer some guidance on the traffic flow."
What I wouldn't give for synchronized traffic lights on Neil, Prospect, Mattis, Duncan, Springfield/Main, University, Bradley, Kirby/Florida and Windsor. That such a simple, common-sense approach hasn't been tried just adds to the frustration.
And, yes, I realize that we're very spoiled by our short commute times. But traffic flows could be improved so much and so easily just by putting some thought into something as simple as coordinating the signals.
that would require 1-way streets, IP. If I remember correctly ex-Mayor Dan didn't like them much.)
"that would require 1-way streets, IP. If I remember correctly ex-Mayor Dan didn't like them much.)"
No, it wouldn't. Lots of cities with several two-way-traffic main streets coordinate the signals so that traffic moves as easily as possible. It's harder, and probably impossible to make them perfect, but certainly not impossible to coordinate them to some degree. As it is, if you drive south down Neil Street from Springfield to Windsor at the speed limit, you'll hit just about every red light just about every time. It's almost like the red lights are coordinated to get traffic to stop as much as possible.
synchronization with two way streets is basically impossible. It might be feasible for one direction, but then the other direction is going to get constant stop and go, not to mention the cross directionals. Bloomington has it on their one ways. Springfield has it on their one ways. Bloomington doesn't have it on Veteran's parkway. Likewise, Springfield doesn't have it on the far west side.
What annoys me most are the stupid left on arrow only on places like prospect north or a few of the entrances to the interstate. why i have to be at a complete standstill and watching absolutely no traffic coming from the opposite direction is beyond me. And there isn't much rhyme or reason to it. You can turn left on full green to go neil to westbound I74. But if you're doing the turn onto eastbound I74 you can't. ?????
I hear you anon. You get one or two cars turning left get hit, and the city is quite eager to change the lights to protect the
idiotsdrivers that can't figure out when to yield.At the very least, the city could synch up Church and University at Duncan and Mattis, so you always catch both lights. They could do the same with State and Randolph thru the middle of town. Would it be a huge improvement, saving hours of time? No. But it would show that they actually were making an effort.
Bradley Avenue is another example of a lack of planning. The City allowed plenty of subdivisions to built west, but very little thought was given to how that impacted traffic. Traffc has increased dramatically. Even without construction, Bradley can be quite congested, and now we see a number of large trucks getting off the interestates, or 150, and using Bradley to turn north on Mattis. With the construction, it's a true mess, especially now that the Parkland College students are back. Calls to the city have resulted in answers that amount to: suck it up, there's nothing that we can do. Hopefully, the weather will hold and the contractor will make good progess.
What I wouldn't give for a little gizmo that would make them synchronize when I want them too. I guess I would have to visit a fire truck for that. :-)
Run- Or an MTD bus.
RSW- Church and University at Duncan?
Anon- What annoys me most are the stupid left on arrow only on places like prospect north or a few of the entrances to the interstate. why i have to be at a complete standstill and watching absolutely no traffic coming from the opposite direction is beyond me.
This is a major pet peeve of mine also.
Not Duncan, Country Fair? Sorry.
No worries, sorry to nitpick. A lot of the local roads are at least partially under IDOT jurisdiction. I am not sure what impact that has on the city's ability to control the lights, maybe someone else would know?
What really disturbs me was touched on by a council person last night and that is the city's desire to control the market in this area. I am still perturbed by the whole county market at the old burnham issue.
I am still perturbed by the whole county market at the old burnham issue.
Amen.
I would like to see synchronized swimmers on Neil Street.
"What I wouldn't give for a little gizmo that would make them synchronize when I want them too. I guess I would have to visit a fire truck for that. :-)"
Pay attention: MTD buses are getting traffic signal preemption. That means you have yet another way to get screwed on Champaign streets (in addition to moron country bumpkin drivers, cops who don't follow the traffic laws, hot rodders with thumping subwoofers...).
MTD says: hey, if you're behind an MTD bus, you benefit from the traffic signal preemption. I say, what about the poor people on the intersecting streets who have to wait LONGER because of the MTD buses.
Aaargh.
Anon: I already have to watch to make sure they don't run me over as they turn.
Anon: I already have to watch to make sure they don't run me over as they turn.
False. Those really expensive strobe lights and obnoxious alarms actually protect you, removing the need to pay attention to any of your surroundings. I'm glad they made 50' long vehicles with huge diesel engines more visible and audible - they used to sneak up on you pretty easily.