Studies agree: 1000N best for interchange

Two studies have reached the same conclusion on the best location for a new Interstate 57 interchange in Coles County. Both an engineering and an economic development study are recommending the interchange and its access roads be located at County Road 1000N. 

County Engineer Fred Sherer said this means the debate has ended about whether the interchange will go there or at County Road 1100N, a mile further north. Sherer said the road's configuration will depend on whether a new landfill is built just north of Loxa, but the interchange itself won't be affected.

About $22 million in state, federal and local funds are in line to build a third interchange in the county, north of the one at Illinois Route 16. The main purposes are to provide better access to industrial areas north of Charleston and Mattoon, and to help route heavy truck traffic out of the two cities.

The other road, 1100N, had been considered because it's already a continuous roadway and wouldn't require routing around the proposed landfill.

Hanson Engineers Inc. of Springfield is, conducting one location study. It's not completed yet, but has already concluded that 1000N would better meet the goals of the project. Among its findings were that truckers might not want to drive the extra mile and instead go through the cities, defeating one purpose of the new interchange.

Meanwhile, the other study supported concerns of Charleston and Mattoon officials who complained that using 1100N would add an extra mile, and extra cost, to extending utilities to the road. Coles Together, the county's economic development organization, hired Developmental Strategies of St. Louis to conduct another location study. The additional cost of extending utilities to 1100N was one reason that study mentioned in recommending 1000N.

Both studies said another advantage of 1000N would be a new road crossing the interstate to go along with crossings now at County Road 900N and 1100N. Sherer pointed out that having access across the interstate at the three locations would help farmers and others who have to travel the area extensively.

The engineering study also said disadvantages to 1100N include having to relocate houses and a business. The only advantage to 1100N mentioned was that it wouldn't go through the proposed landfill site.

Allied Waste Industries Inc. is expected to file a new landfill sitting application with the county after it withdrew an earlier application. The company wants to build a new landfill near the facility it currently operates in that area.

Sherer said the engineers will look at how to run the road around the landfill as well as through the area in case it's not built. However, what type of traffic the road will handle must be known before the road can be designed, he said. Using 1000N also means an overpass will be built over U.S. Route 45 and railroad tracks near the Kal Kan Foods Inc. plant. State' funds will cover 60 percent of the cost and the county win pay the rest, but Sherer said he didn't have a cost estimate yet.

The economic development study also said using 1100N might create a "leapfrog effect" in patterns of development in the area. Also, 1000N would likely be more attractive to existing businesses because it would be closer to the interstate, it said.

The costs of using 1000N and 1100N are about the same, but 1000N is a bit less, the study also said.

Sherer said construction, or at least purchasing rights of way for the access road, will begin in about four years.

Used with permission from Mid-Illinois Newspapers
Publishers of the Mattoon Journal Gazette and the Charleston Times-Courier

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Coles Together
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Mattoon, Illinois 61938
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