2003 Year in Review

Community Meeting Discusses US 30 Changes

Bob Bees and Bill Shirk hosted a community meeting pertaining to the widening of US 30 through Morrison Thursday, September 4 at the Community Room of the Library. Bees said he was “flabbergasted” at the standing room only crowd. He introduced himself and Shirk as concerned citizens who live on the north side of Lincolnway (US 30) and west end of Morrison.

Bees told the crowd he wanted the meeting to be an outpouring of ideas and concerns. After taking a poll of the crowd, less than half actually saw the IDOT plan at the Morrison High School in August. Several copies of the plan were passed around the room during the meeting.

Bees shared his concerns with the project. He is troubled that the highest traffic area around downtown is only 2-lane while neighborhoods go to 3-lanes. Also the fact homes are going to be less than 10 feet from the highway and placements of utility poles close to those homes are also a concern. Bob kidded that “Bring back the charm” was considered as a theme for the group and he expanded on the idea of Morrison being an attractive community.

On the positive side, Bees conceded that the road needed to be resurfaced, infrastructure needed to be updated, and utility lines need to be put underground. He felt IDOT could use this as an opportunity to make this an attractive highway with landscaping and ornamental fixtures. In fact, IDOT already has Lincolnway listed in its list of Scenic Byways in Illinois.

Bees and Shirk had done research on prior challenges to IDOT and found that other communities have hired experts, spoke with one voice and took on IDOT. Recent laws have forced IDOT to consider community opinion, economic impact and the historic nature of the community along with traffic flow and safety on projects. They have also pulled accident reports along Lincolnway to find there are usually 50-60 per year but only a small percentage of them were on the west end.

Bill Shirk reported he counted 120 trees would be removed with this project. He also felt this is a “community problem not a north side south side problem”. He was referring to the fact that on the west side of Morrison, the space for the center turning lane would be taken off the south side of the road rather than equally as it is through the rest of the town making the road very close to homes.

Community members also expressed their views on the widening. Jan Snyder who lives at Hall and Lincolnway asked, “Where are they turning to?” Hall and Grape Streets are only a block long and have very little traffic. Doug Kuehl drives truck through Morrison and acknowledged the road needs to widen for increased truck traffic. He noticed oversized vehicles have a hard time going through town. Kuehl also noted the utility poles are currently too close to the road and some truckers have had to buy new poles after hitting them. Low wiring and trees are a concern for Kuehl when he’s driving through town. Bill Bull contributed by telling the crowd IDOT should build a weigh station on 30 to lower the number of trucks.

A main concern of the group is the lowering of property values in the Lincolnway area. Homes will be hard to sell that sit between the railroad and widened highway and lower values transfer into a lower tax base. Other concerns were water runoff, increased speed, safety for children, and the confusion of three lanes. A citizen living in Unionville on the east side of Morrison didn’t like the idea of a stop light at Garden Plain Road but would like a turning lane put in.

The last part of the meeting Bees opened the meeting by asking, “What do we do next?” Bill Shirk told the crowd, “Without comment, IDOT thinks we are accepting their plan.” The duo encouraged every citizen to use the IDOT form for citizen’s comments to express their concerns. They are willing to gather the comments together and make copies for legislatures, the City of Morrison, and IDOT for hand delivery. Forms and a copy of the plan are available at Odell Public Library, City Hall, and TheCity1.com office at 230 East Main Street. The forms can be returned to Bob Bees, 606 W. Lincolnway Rd, or Bill Shirk, 102 Olive St. Bees also asked for a steering committee of 7-8 persons from both sides of the street, business people, and those away from the road to set up other committees concerning economic, historic preservation, and quality of life concerns. They announced another meeting would be convened in about 6 weeks.

For more information, check out these web sites:
IDOT
Traffic Counts

by Barb Benson, theCity1.com
September 5, 2003