PUBLICATIONS Inside Illinois Vol. 21, No. 7, Oct. 4, 2001

Champaign City Council approves Campustown redevelopment project and new traffic circulation plan

By Sharita Forrest, Assistant Editor
(217) 244 -1072; slforres@illinois.edu

Photo by Bill Wiegand Safer Streets Traffic on Wright Street will be reduced 80 percent by changing from metered to leased parking spaces and by creating a transit mall on Wright between John and Daniel streets. Pedestrian safety will be enhanced because there will be fewer private vehicles in the area, city official say.

Campustown will be undergoing a $4.5 million facelift beginning next spring if all goes according to the city’s plan.

At its Sept. 25 study session, the Champaign City Council unanimously approved a redevelopment project and a traffic circulation plan aimed at improving Campustown’s appearance, easing traffic congestion and revitalizing the area’s business community.

If city officials are able to meet their tight deadlines and secure a contractor by February 2002, the first phase of construction will start during spring break, which begins March 18, and be completed before fall semester classes begin in August. During the 2002 construction period, Green Street will be reconstructed from Wright Street to at least 132 feet west of Fourth Street. In the spring of 2003, construction will begin on Sixth Street with expected completion by August 2003.

The Campus Area Transportation Study approved for implementation by the city council includes changes to traffic circulation and parking that city officials say will enhance pedestrian safety and improve traffic flow in Campustown.

The Campustown Infrastructure Reconstruction and Streetscape Project, also approved by the council, includes plans for rebuilding the area’s crumbling infrastructure and beautifying the area with benches, trees and ornamental fencing as well as decorative sidewalk paving, signs and streetlights.

Charles Colbert, vice chancellor for administration and human resources, spoke at the city council meeting in support of the plan and said he was "ecstatic" at its passage.

"This is a project I’ve been working on since I came here [in 1994]," Colbert said.

Council members said during discussion that they recognized Campustown’s importance as a drawing card for potential faculty and staff members and students as well as other visitors, tourists and local shoppers. Council members said they were concerned that if the community did not help maintain an attractive, safe Campustown area, the university might start moving programs from the Urbana to the Chicago campus.

The city of Champaign’s food and beverage tax fund will be allocated to Campustown for at least seven more years to pay for the infrastructure renovations. The city also will be investigating other funding mechanisms such as state grants to help pay for the reconstruction. Although Colbert declined to specify an amount, he said the university "is prepared to pay its fair share" for the renovations.

Campustown property owners will pay for aesthetic improvements in the area through a private financing plan also approved by the council. The plan will allow Campustown property owners to form an association known as a special service area upon which an extra property tax will be imposed. The extra tax will be based upon a combination of equalized assessed valuation and lot frontage. The tax would be in effect for at least 10 years and would be used to pay for streetscape amenities and capital improvements above and beyond what the city will cover.

City officials acknowledged that a funding gap exists between the $15-per-square-foot designs they showed council and the $10 per square foot that Campustown business owners are willing to pay. The two groups have pledged to work together to contain costs and obtain other funding.

The city faces tight deadlines if it is to meet its goal of beginning the first phase of construction in March 2002 and have construction substantially completed by mid-August. City planners urged council members to act quickly on the proposed plans so that they might proceed with obtaining a consultant for the project, have construction plans done by the end of the year, accept bids during January and award a contract by Feb. 5.

"We have to move on an incredibly fast timetable," Council member Tom Bruno said. "We’re practically two months behind now and need to catch up during October and November. History has shown us that this community has very little tolerance for road construction projects in progress during the second half of August."

Charles Shapland, president and CEO of Campustown 2000, urged the council to approve the plans. He said that although business owners in the area are concerned about the disruption to their businesses and some owners are not pleased with the directional changes planned on some streets, they support the reconstruction and are willing to fund the enhancements to ensure their businesses’ long-term profitability.

Although the schedule is aggressive and the first phase of construction involves a large area, city officials want to complete it during one construction season to minimize the inconvenience to citizens and the costs to the area’s businesses.

During the first phase of construction, Green Street will be closed from Fourth Street to Wright Street. Before the actual reconstruction can begin, Wright Street will be opened to two-way traffic, and the intersection at Wright and Green streets redone to accommodate the change. Sixth, Fifth and Fourth streets would remain open to through traffic.

The proposed circulation plans call for redirection of traffic on John Street too, which will become one-way westbound from Wright to Sixth streets, then one-way eastbound from Sixth to Fourth streets. Sixth Street will be reduced to one-lane southbound from University Avenue to Armory with diagonal parking on one side. The reconstruction project will provide 20 to 30 percent more parking spaces per block by replacing parallel spaces with diagonal spaces along South Sixth Street, officials said.

The principal goal of changing traffic circulation in the area is increasing pedestrian safety, according to Bruce Knight, the city of Champaign’s planning director. To accomplish this, Green Street will be reduced to one lane in each direction with a two-way turn lane in the center, thereby increasing the pedestrian space along Green Street by about 3 1/2 feet on each side.

In addition, allowing two-way bus transit on Wright Street is expected to decongest Sixth and Green streets by diverting bus traffic off those streets onto Wright Street. Plans also call for construction of a transit mall on Wright Street between Daniel and John streets. The transit mall would be closed to vehicles other than public transit and authorized vehicles. The consultants for the project estimate that traffic volume on Wright will be reduced by 80 percent by the restricted-used mall and by changing parking along Wright Street from metered spaces to leased spaces during weekday business hours.

The Champaign City Council voted down a proposal to establish a 25 mph speed limit in the University District, another measure city officials say would help slow traffic and enhance pedestrian safety. The University District, formally established by the council in July 2001, is an area roughly bounded by University Avenue on the north, Wright Street on the east, Windsor Road on the south and Neil Street on the west.

The traffic circulation changes, particularly on Wright Street, are intended to pave the way for the Mass Transit District to develop an improved transit system for the campus area.

On Sept. 25, the MTD board conditionally approved a contract with the consulting firm of Washington Infrastructure Services, New York, to conduct a study of alternate transit systems for the campus area, such as fixed guideway and trolley systems. The board’s approval is contingent upon the MTD managing director’s and staff’s approving the project manager appointed by Washington Infrastructure Services. The study is expected to be completed by August 2002.