Champaign's Council has unanimously passed a FY09 budget:
Capital improvement spending is set at $29 million. The budget includes $12 million in funding for a 600-space parking deck at the southeast corner of Hill and Randolph streets that is under construction; $950,000 to improve the intersection at Windsor Road and First Street; and $4.2 million to widen Curtis Road to four and five lanes next year for 2 miles between Wynstone Drive and Wesley Avenue.
The capital budget also sets aside $6.1 million for the Boneyard Creek detention project, also known as the Second Street reach. Work will begin this year on drainage improvements, including underground conveyance of storm water, in Scott Park.
Discuss.
Thank goodness they are planning on fixing the Windsor/First intersection. It's a bottleneck almost all day---I've waited for the light to change three times before I made it through and it wasn't even rush minute. Plus, games, fireworks, etc. make that intersection insane.
I'm guessing the stretch of unimproved, unmarked blacktop from Windsor to Curtis is either Savoy or County because it's not so hot either---but it's better than the strip of Prospect just north of Curtis---your car could fall in the potholes there....
These are interesting figures--no mention of funding for bicycle pathways. Just as people are shifting to walking, bicycle riding, mass transit, Champaign is spending millions on roads, especially the proposal along Curtis, which is needed because of all of the sprawl moving west.
And the second phase of the Boneyard could be mitigated by a design change so it is more sustainable. If the city passed an ordinance requiring that all surfaces are permeable, planted sustainably, both residential and commercial, the reduction of runoff would reduce the cost and maybe even need for this project.
Pattsi Petrie