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The Pantagraph from Bloomington, Illinois • Page 3
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The Pantagraph from Bloomington, Illinois • Page 3

Publication:
The Pantagraphi
Location:
Bloomington, Illinois
Issue Date:
Page:
3
Extracted Article Text (OCR)

Pantagraph A 3 Bloomington Normal, III. July 21, 1976 Decatur trying to block were hired at a cost of nearly $100,000 to perform a 10-month study of the state's proposed highway package. The chamber uses data from the Illinois Department of Transportation to challenge the consultants. The consultants recommended reducing the North-South Expressway to a project that would involve freeway construction only between Rockford and LaSalle-Peru. From LaSalle-Peru south to Decatur, consultants said, a four-lane pavement with structural interchanges near Bloomington-Normal and Decatur and grade crossings elsewhere would be adequate.

South of Decatur, the four lanes would 66, from California to Chicago, to stop the Kerner move. It was successful. This time, Decatur appears to be in the same dilemma agreeing with engineers and fighting politicians to keep what has been promised for years. The battle lines began forming Wednesday with a press conference called by the Decatur Chamber of Commerce. Challenge Copies of a 23-page report (sent to some news media, including The Daily Pantagraph, in advance) were to be distributed.

The report challenges recommendations made to the Illinois Highway Study Commission, a political body, by independent consultants who Tortuous, rocky politicking followed expressway route By Bill Wills Assistant city editor All the factions of another "Kerner Curve" are back, but the fighting fervor hasn't peaked. The "Kerner Curve" was a move to bend Interstate 55 to benefit Peoria. McLean County led a successful, 1'2-year battle against it. This time, McLean County is a spectator in a new highway battle. The combatant is Decatur.

City of Decatur and Decatur Chamber of Commerce representatives are fighting to keep the proposed North-South Expressway as a freeway, especially between Decatur and the Twin Cities. But Decatur probably cant depend on the Twin City area for the type of support Decatur gave the Twin Cities in the "Kerner Curve" fight. Only one McLean County group has endorsed the freeway concept without stipulation. Two major groups the McLean County Board and the McLean County Regional Planning Commission are flatly opposed to a freeway. They prefer a limited-access, four-lane highway.

The only solid endorsement has come from the transportation committee of the Association of Commerce and Industry of Mclean County. Still hoping But Decatur officials won't give up hope. After all, Decatur was the launching pad of the "Kerner Curve" fight. It was the Decatur city manager who publicly revealed Aug. 11.

1965, that Otto Kerner, then governor, had been working secretly for three years to divert Interstate 55 construction from Lincoln north toward Peoria and then toward Hennepin to connect with Interstate 80, instead of following the U.S. 66 route through Bloomington-Normal. And it was in Decatur two days later that a group fighting for the North-South Expressway provided the first organized effort to stop political man-uevering of highways. Bloomington picked up the ball and organized a campaign up and down U.S. Difference What's the difference between the expressway that Decatur wants and the four-lane, divided highway proposed by state consultants? An expressway is an interstate-type highway with bridges to carry cross traffic over or under the highway.

Four-lane, divided highways talked about by consultants may or may not have structures with ramps leading onto the highway near larger cities, but in the rural areas there would be grade crossings with cross traffic. U.S. 66 is an example of the type of four-lane highway proposed instead of an expressway in the U.S. 51 corridor from LaSalle-Peru to 30 miles south of Decatur. rood what had been proposed for years as the North-South Expressway.

But that was nine years ago. The "assistance" the commission was to give has at times become somewhat of a political football. I DOT engineers think they know what is best for the safety of motorists and how to keep traffic flowing. The commission, comprising 10 legislators and six appointees from throughout the state, looks at one area that engineers don't place high on the priority list cost. Engineers tend to want to build what will be needed in 20 years.

The commission's staff tends to think engineers want to build more than will of a freeway, compared to improving U.S. 51 to four lanes with limited access. Both governmental units favored the improvement of U.S. 51. On the other side of the fence were the Town of Normal and Illinois State University, which endorsed the freeway concept provided it would include an interchange with College Avenue as the freeway merged with the Interstate 55-74 bypass west of the Twin Cities.

Neither body got such a promise. The transportation committee of the Association of Commerce and Industry of McLean County endorsed the freeway without stipulations. Normal and Illinois State University, which endorsed the freeway concept provided it would include an interchange with College Avenue as the freeway merged with the Interstate 55-74 bypass west of the Twin Cities. Neither body got such a promise. The transportation committee of the Association of Commerce and Industry of McLean County endorsed the freeway without stipulations.

The Bloomington City Council straddled the fence. Saying it lacked information upon which to base a sound decision, the council merely voiced approval of improvement of U.S. 51, whether by upgrading or building a new road. And in the midst of those meetings and discussions came recommendations to the Illinois Transportation Study Commission from its consultants. The consultants recommended a complete re-evaluation of the state's proposed $84-billion supplemental freeway system.

Recommendations Recommendations pertaining to the North-South Expressway included: Building a six-lane freeway for 24 miles between Rockford and Rochelle between 1976 and 1978. at an estimated cost of $76.1 million. Building 38 miles of four-lane pavement between Rochelle and LaSalle-Peru between 1979 and 1981. at an estimated cost of $76 million. Building 58 miles of four-lane pave- 1 1 1 1 ment Detween uaaane-reiu aim Bioornington-Normal between 1990 and 1993, at an estimated cost of $1 16 million.

Building 37 miles of four-lane pavement from Bloomington to Decatur in 1987-89, at an estimated cost of $74 million. Building 30 miles of four-lane pavement and 31 miles of two-lane pavement between Decatur and Vandalia in 1979-81. at a cost of $89.2 million. Building a 20-mile, two-lane highway between Vandalia and Salem in 1981-82. at a cost of $19.6 million.

Consultants said the proposed freeway would cost $766.7 million. Their proposal, they said, would cost $450.9 million. That was just part of a statewide package the consultants recommended to cut the cost of the proposed highway package from $8.4 billion to $4.3 billion, The consultants' report has become the target of a campaign by Decatur civic, government and business leaders, who hope to marshal forces for another shot at putting pressure on politicians to have the North-South Expressway com- pleted. ject." Then came 1973 another year, another governor. Within three months, Gov.

Daniel Walker froze freeway construction funds. At that time, IDOT Secretary Langhorne Bond again declared the freeway a "high priority." After a meeting with Bond, State Sen. Harber H. Hall, R-Bloomington, said Bond told him the road was "the most important highway in the state for upgrading to freeway standards." Less than a month later. Governor Walker released his road-building program for 1973-74.

Only the portion from Rockford to LaSalle-Peru was included. Walker's program announcement was only days after state engineers and planners had assured mayors along U.S. 51 that the North-South Freeway was at or near the top of the construction list. Angry Bloomington Mayor Walter Bittner was angry. "It looks like we've got a Walker Curve," he said, referring to the battle Bloomington led to keep former Gov.

Otto Kerner from diverting Interstate 55 through Peoria and away from Bloomington-Normal. "I think the governor (Walker) is selling the state short on this," Bittner said. "I think we'll have to have a united effort to overcome his decision." Senator Hall was furious. "As long as I've been down here (Springfield)," Hall said, "everybody has considered the North-South Expressway first priority." William Harris, R-Pontiac, then Senate president, was upset too, but more at Walker's plan to pump $15 million into upgrading the two lanes of U.S. 51 between Bloomington and LaSalle-Peru plan be needed or wanted.

The commission hasn't accepted the consultants' recommendations. The recommendations are the subject of public hearings the commission is staging throughout the state because the recommendations involve changing more than just the North-South Expressway plans. Hearings are scheduled lor the morning of Aug. 26 in Bloomington. that aftermxm in Decatur and the next day in Danville.

Lloyd Simonson, director of fiscal analysis in the commission oltice, said Tuesday that the tentative scheduling is "a little tight" and might be altered Decatur officials would love to use IDOT officials to help present their case at the hearings. Obviously, they look upon llHf as. a friend. They use I IMT statistics and formulas to try to shoot down the consultants' report. And Decatur officials constantly refer to IDOT statements, including those of Secretary Langhorne Bond, who has said for years that a freeway through the center of the state is a "high priority." But IDOT officials are responsible to the governor.

And it was Gov. Daniel Walker who limited North-South Expressway efforts this fiscal year to work between Rockford and UiSalle -Peru. The only work he promised south ol LaSalle-Peru was about $12 million in work to upgrade the two lanes of U.S. 51 south to BUxmington. The state upgraded those lanes less than eight years ago.

Mum's the word Governor Walker has remained mum on the North-South Expressway since the consultants' recommendations were released in April. IDOT officials have been mum, too An IDOT spokesman said Tuesday that the department is continuing to design a freeway system both north and south of Bloomington-Normal. He said IDOT has received no orders to halt that work and start working on a four-lane, grade-crossing design. He said such roads as proposed by the consultants are rarely, built through rural areas. "We're building mostly freeway and interstate-type stuff." the spokesman said.

He said the argument of freeway versus a four-lane pavement with grade crossings always boils down to the same fight engineers arguing from a safety viewpoint and economists arguing from a cost viewpoint. But one state official, who asked to remain anonymous because his job could be jeopardized, wondered whether IDOT's defense of freeways might be public-relations verbiage, leading nowhere. He said IDOT has said for years that the North-South Freeway has high priority. He said IIXr has continued to say it is working on the project. How long But he questions how long it takes to get from the talking stage to the action stage.

'They were making the same statements four to five years ago," the official said. The only freeway work IIHJT is doing on the North-South Expressway, he said, is consistent with the consultants' report. Decatur's 23-page summary contends the consultants erred in figuring certain data; overemphasized agricultural production and underemphasized the contribution of manufacturing, both of which depend on good transportation systems; used an average to compute rural and urban construction costs instead of projecting them separately, which increased the estimated cost; omitted maintenance-cost figures based on lane miles for freeways versus two-lane roads; used outdated traffic-capacity figures in concluding that U.S. 51 doesn't generate enough traffic for a freeway; didn't document basic research findings; cited right-of-way widths greater than required, and showed costs only in dollars, ignoring costs in accidents, injuries and lives. The report also emphasized that between 1970 and 1975.

the stretch of U.S. 51 between Decatur and Bloomington claimed 29 lives in 999 accidents. More than 700 people were injured in the 37.9-mile stretch, the report said. available after more than a year. One of those applicants, he said, is a member of Bloomington's present staff.

The city will have to make a choice or find other applicants by Sept. 21, when the metromanagement experiment runs out. Anderson said it would not be unlikely that some of the 14 applicants would be still looking for a job. "The job market's tight." Anderson said. "I've had more calls over the last year for jobs than I've ever had before." Many of the job seekers, he said, were persons with graduate degrees interested in working as his assistant in the metromanagement experiment.

continue for about 30 miles before two-lane pavement into Salem. Decatur is crying political intervention in a project requiring engineering knowledge. The City of Decatur's target is the study commission and its consultants. Assistance The commission was formed in the 1960s by the General Assembly to assist what was then the Illinois Department of Public Works and Buildings and the Illinois Division of Highways in planning long-range projects. Among the first projects recommended by the commission was a freeway from Decatur south a portion of than at Walker's plan to include only the northern portion of the North-South Expressway in his budget.

Harris pointed out that the two lanes had been improved within six years. "The people want freeways," Harris said. He accused Walker of "pouring money down the drain by ignoring previous plans." Persuasion Hall and more than a dozen other legislators met with Walker in an attempt to change his mind. It wasn't changed. Not much happened for two years.

Then in February, 1975. about 60 Central Illinois civic and business leaders met to push for construction of the entire North-South Expressway. Not much came from that talk either. Last summer, the Illinois Transportation Study Commission hired consultants to study the state's various highway proposals and to make independent recommendations based on need and finances. IDOT seemed to reassert interest in the highway.

Earlier this year, it had sessions in various cities up and down U.S. 51 to show design proposals to anyone interested. Opponents had been staying in the background until then. But they, quickly surfaced at the hearings. Higher cost In McLean County, the McLean County Board and Mclxan County Regional Planning Commission voiced opposition to a freeway because it would take farmland out of production and because, they said, the need for a freeway hadn't been proven.

Each group also cited the higher cost and graduated cylinders for budding liter readers, balance scales and thermometers, and even a metric aquarium for a metric-minded goldfish (size: 31 by 20 by 20 centimeters). Teaching cards Even the Chicago Tribune is getting into the act, with a set of metric teaching cards due to come out this fall, which will be provided free to all schools using the newspaper in its classrooms. The change to metrics is causing a rush of sorts for teachers, who must refresh their early scientific knowledge as they get ready to impart it. "So many of my teacher friends are trying to get in their metrics, because they're sadly lacking." said Debbie Sapp, a 1975 graduate of ISU who substitute-taught for a year and is now- working on another area of certification The change to metrics has also meant more than a few dollar signs in the eyes of sales-hungry educational materials firms. "In the last six months, our sales in metrics have increased something like 116 per cent," said Bruce Johnson of Imperial International Learning Corp.

"And we expect it to keep on the upswing, at least for the next two years." Textbooks are now available which give all measurements in metric units, followed by their English equivalents in parentheses. And for those schools who cannot afford to replace the books they now use, there are a number of supplementary booklets for teaching Johnny and Susie to think metrically. "Most of us are not worried that students will be unable to comprehend metrics," said John Sipe, a regional manager for William H. Sadlier Inc. "They'll be taught to think in metric terms.

Just as you have a concept of inches and feet, they'll have a concept of centimeters and meters." For those students who have already begun to learn the "confused, complicated system" of miles, gallons and degrees fahrenheit, "we'll have a generation of children who will be bilingual. "The real problem in metrics will be with adults. Most adults seem to hate change, whereas children are very open to it." He smiled manfully. "And I'm probably in the same boat as most adults." Metric devices big attraction at ISU Thirty-two years ago, city and state officials agreed that a major highway should run north-south through the center of Illinois. The proposed highway came to be known as the North-South Expressway.

The road would link Rockford on the north and Interstate 57, near Salem, on the south. The road basically would follow the U.S. 51 corridor through Bloomington-Normal. The proposed road was a candidate for inclusion in the federal in-state highway system. The official request for such designation came Sept.

7, 1956. But the proposed road was excluded because of a con-gressionally mandated mileage limitation. The push then came to build the highway as a freeway. There was widespread support for the project, especially after a 1964 Chicago Motor Club study that listed the "North-South Expressway" as a high priority. The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) agreed and in 1968 made another attempt to have the road included in the Interstate Highway System as part of a nationwide addition to interstate highways.

Again the road fell victim to mileage limitations. Another shift Attention again shifted to building a freeway. Central Illinois officials were assured by Richard Ogilvie, then governor, that the freeway would be among priority projects financed by a 1971 highway bond issue. Ogilvie announced July 13, 1972. that the federal Bureau of Public Roads had approved a U.S.

51 corridor. Ogilvie said he hoped construction would get under way in 1973 on the "long-overdue, problem-plagued pro University's 43rd annual Educational Exhibit strolled past meter after meter of display tables in 21-degree air-conditioned comfort. Among the teachers viewing a dizzying array of teaching materials at ISU's 43rd annual Educational Exhibit was Mrs. Joan Wise, a special-education teacher in El Paso. She examines metric wares of Dick Blick as demonstrated by Chuck Burfchart.

Exhibit runs today from 8:30 a.m. -noon and 1-4 p.m. (Pantagraph photo) A i lift? Zi I i i 7 1-1 By Rick Pope The outside temperature was well on its way to a steamy 30 degrees Tuesday, but inside, the visitors to Illinois State Think metrics vwT'-vr Cj The ISU Union Ballroom took on the festive, bustling atmosphere of a sales convention as representatives from 71 firms in the educational materials market touted the latest textbook series, visual aids and thought-provoking artifacts disguised as toys. Tapes, ilmstrips and calculators were in abundance as the newfangled fruits of educational technology were shown, aimed at a generation of students raised on television. Among the most popular items at the exhibit were materials designed to acquaint students with the yardstick of tomorrow metric measurement.

"This year is going to be big with metrics," according to Fred Home of Pyramid of Urbana. "From orders coming in now, I can see there is much more activity." The activity is spurred, no doubt, by a decision by the Illinois Office of Education (IOE), which says that beginning this fall, the primary system of measurement taught in grades kindergarten through sixth must be metric. And the metric system must be taught exclusively in grades seven through 12. The change must be completed by 1980-81, the IOE has said, with a phasing out of non metric mathematics texts. In the meantime, such books must be supplemented by a special metric program.

Meaningful materials "I do plan to use metrics, and I have looked for materials that will make it more meaningful for students," said Marjorie Dickerson, a second-grade teacher at Sheridan School as she studied a table of metric materials. "They're just now beginning to have a choice of materials available. Even today, I found new things that weren't available last year." The materials include more than the standard meter stick and sets of metric weights. "We want the kids to get used to feeling something, and knowing it's two centimeters, or knowing it's 20 degrees celsius, or knowing it weighs a kilogram," said Richard Beye of Creative Publications. There are metric tape measures, giant plastic metric calipers, metric land chains most useful item of surveying metric beakers City to reopen manager search By Jim Flannery Bloomington is starting its search again for a new city manager.

Mayor Walter Bittner announced Wednesday night. The city will begin by contacting 14 applicants considered for the job before David Anderson, Normal's city manager, was hired as metromanager for both cities in June, 1975. The 14 applicants were "semi-finalists" from among an original 159 applicants for the city manager position following the resignation of former City Manager Richard Blodgett. Bittner said the first step would be to see if any of the 14 applicants is still.

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