 The
blacktop serves as a primary artery into the city of Lincoln for
rural residents and businesses located to the south and west. It is
heavily traveled between Lincoln and Middletown and funnels traffic
to Interstate 55. Its renovation has been identified by city and
county officials as a top priority necessary for the expansion of
business and development of new residential areas.
The project has been divided into two segments, urban and rural.
Logan County highway engineer Bret Aukamp now hopes to seize an
opportunity that if done right, could get the rural stretch of the
road project moving.
A new wind farm intending to construct in that area is entering
its final planning stages. Due to the use of heavy equipment over
the roadways during the construction period, by agreement, the wind
farm would supply fees for roads.
"With Sugar Creek Wind One as a potential funding partner, the
county hopes to take the next step toward reconstructing the rural
portion of Fifth Street Road," Aukamp said.
West of I-55 is the rural section. Right now West Lincoln and
Sheridan townships have jurisdiction over the roadway. They are both
active partners in the development of the road use agreement with
Sugar Creek Wind One. Because the roadway is intended to become a
county highway once it is built to current standards, Logan County
is funding the engineering for the project.
While small amounts of funding have come through that allowed for
design and planning, and some preparatory construction, the full
project has remained out of reach.
"This is a very large project, and we have been trying to move it
further along with any funding we can find," Aukamp said.
At present, plans for Sugar Creek Wind One show that it would
involve 6.25 miles of Fifth Street Road: all the way from 700th
Avenue, the quarry road, west to 100th Avenue, the New
Holland-Middletown road.
"Everything between these two points is going to get affected by
this wind farm," Aukamp said.
Aukamp's recommendation to the country’s road and bridge
committee was to reinforce the existing roadway as needed and keep
it on its current alignment during the wind farm's construction
phase. Then, after the wind farm's construction is complete,
reconstruct the roadway on the new alignment, with wider pavement,
shoulders and ditches.
He felt that the road could be kept in use by adding rock and
widening it and "let it get tore up" by the heavy trucks that would
be coming in. So, we need to spend some money on that road to get
everything ready and make sure it can handle that increased
construction traffic. He estimated it would need rock 8-15 inches
deep added to the sides of the road and that the road would need
regular work to support the wind farm trucks.
The roadway would also need to be maintained in a safe and
travelable condition for public use. Aukamp expects that the costs
to keep the road up would be $160,000.
There is work that should be started now. Back in 2000, the
engineering design was initiated with Hanson's Professional Services
of Springfield on the westernmost five miles of the project, between
100th Avenue and 600th Avenue. Those roads are both county highways
that created logical endpoints for the first part of the project.
However, currently the wind farm would affect Fifth Street Road
between 100th Avenue and 700th Avenue.
Aukamp suggested that now is the time to get all the design plans
updated and plans created for the additional 1.25-mile stretch
between 600th Avenue and 700th Avenue "so we can have a project
ready to construct as soon as the private wind developer has
finished using the road for their construction project."
Additionally, "By determining the proposed right-of-way now, we
hope to avoid the conflicts with utility easements since the wind
farm will need to be installing electric cables throughout the
project," Aukamp said.
He would also like to begin acquiring rights of way that would be
needed.
"I'd like to get all that done, have it ready to go as soon as
the wind farm gets done," he said.
The wind farm is expecting to complete construction in 2012.
In summary:
-
Preliminary design plans need to be done on the western portion
of Fifth Street, between 600 and 700 avenues.
-
All other design plans are done, but would need updating
-
Rights of way need to be secured.
-
Plans need to be made to shore up the roadway for heavy truck
travel. Between 8 and 15 inches of rock would need to be added.
The city is not involved with the rural section of the project
but has also been focusing hard all this year on the urban segment.
As Lincoln has expanded westward, its portion of the urban segment
has increased to 80 percent and contains some of the more expansive
work of multiple lanes. The urban stretch between Lincoln Parkway
and I-55 is mostly city. The road is under city jurisdiction from
Lincoln Parkway to Connolley Road (Sysco's location), then a short
segment is under the county. New funding sources have been
identified and applications have been submitted. (See
links below
article.)
In other county road news, the County Highway 10 project from
Elkhart to Mount Pulaski is nearly done. It was the first concrete
overlay in the state's District 6. It turned out so well that Aukamp
was asked to submit it for the Project of the Year program hosted by
the Illinois Department of Transportation.
"I was honored by the district for thinking it was worthy," he
said.
As an example of novel material use and construction, others
would be watching to see how it holds up.
[to top of second column] |
Aukamp also has been applying for grants: $14.6 million for Fifth
Street Road and $1.5 million for a major bridge program. He would
also keep watch on the reauthorization when the federal
transportation bill comes out.
In other transportation news, Aukamp said that with the
high-speed rail that will be passing through Logan County and
Lincoln, there will be some specialized construction that would tie
up several miles of crossings at one time.
He has sent letters requesting priority limited-time closure at
the 600th Street crossing, which goes to the coal mine, and at the
prison crossing. He hopes the requests would be honored that could
hold closing times down to three days.
The temporary closures are expected in November or December,
when, hopefully, most of our farming traffic will be done, he said.
He recognizes that to have the Elkhart, Broadwell and Fogarty
crossings closed at the same time would be a problem.
"It is definitely going to get complicated to all of us trying to
travel back and forth across those tracks," he said.
Kevin Bateman commented that new rail sections are each about
1,000 feet long.
On another interrelated topic, the new portal where coal exits
Viper Mine is now located south of the county line. As such Logan
County no longer receives taxes from that business. Yet, the raw
coal is being trucked back into the county to the Elkhart facility
for processing. That's 700 loaded trucks a day going one direction
on Logan County roads.
Initially, that project called for an overhead conveyor to move
the coal, but no funds were found for it, and it has now been deemed
too expensive.
The trucks not only damage roads, but pose a hazard to the
general public traveling to work and for school buses that use the
same route.
Additionally, coal trucks would be crossing the railway tracks on
both ends, coming and going, which results in 2,800 potential
conflicts each day.
Another option that the mine could consider is to build a
connecting roadway that would stay to the east side of the rail
line.
Also in the future affecting travel to the south is the
replacement of the Lincoln Parkway bridge over Salt Creek. This is a
state project and the state has all the say in when and how it is
done.
Aukamp had seen plans and said that one set would take the curve
out of the bridge. If the state would pursue this design, it would
likely result in a full closure that could take a year or more. A
staged closure would keep lanes open but would cause construction to
take longer and cost the state more. Aukamp said he would try to
keep tabs with what the state plans and let the committee know what
he finds out.
[By
JAN YOUNGQUIST]
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