FAQs:
What is this process for?
This is a planning process to reinvent and re-envision Veterans Parkway with a focus on safety, equity, accessibility and sustainability. The goal is to define a new Veterans Parkway to safely accommodate all vehicles, pedestrians, bicyclists, and public transit in the future.
McClean County’s current Long-Range Transportation Plan includes the following goal: “Our transportation system will be safe for everyone regardless of where they go or how they get there, as the implementation of Vision Zero takes effect.”
What is Vision Zero?
In Fall 2018 MCRPC joined communities around the country working to end deaths and serious injuries on our streets and highways, with the Vision Zero Action Plan. Vision Zero is a traffic safety project with a clear goal - a transportation system with zero fatalities or serious injuries, which also increases safe, healthy, equitable mobility for all.
What are the community engagement opportunities?
We want to hear from all voices! Community-wide engagement within the process will include a series of invited focus group discussions hosted by the MCRPC and the consultant team, “coffee-talks” with the consultant team, as well as a community survey. As the team develops concepts for consideration, a series of two public open houses will be hosted to gather community feedback.
A Steering Committee has been formed, including representatives of local and state governmental agencies, and community members representing users of the roadway, businesses located there, as well as diverse sectors from across Bloomington-Normal area.
Why Plan?
Originally constructed in 1941, the 80-year old Veterans Parkway (I-55 Bus./Old U.S. Route 66) has grown from a 4-lane by-pass to a major arterial with 6-12 lanes, carrying the highest traffic volume of any road in the Bloomington-Normal twin-city metro area with little regard for alternate modes of mobility like public transit, walking and bicycling, which presents many challenges. In a corridor that combines substantial local employment, heavy commercial uses, residential areas, large corporate campuses, industrial facilities, and a persistent crash history, action is urgently needed.
What are the challenges with Veterans Parkway?
Located between two I-55 interchanges, the 10-mile stretch Veterans Parkway is a substantial barrier to cross-community access and a frequent scene of serious crashes, including those resulting in deaths and life-altering injuries. The roadway is considered the most dangerous in our area. Many pedestrians attempt to cross this roadway with little to no accommodation for them, such as crosswalks and pedestrian signals. It is extremely dangerous for bicycle users and disrupts the Constitution Trail, which intersects the corridor.
Connect Transit, the primary public transportation service agency in our community, and its users experience Veterans Parkway as a barrier to mobility, lacking pedestrian scale amenities, a cause of delay for transit trips, and a challenge to sustaining an efficient and cost-effective transit system.
Who is leading the planning process?
The planning process is being led by the McLean County Regional Planning Commission (MCRPC) in partnership with the Illinois Department of Transportation, the City of Bloomington, the Town of Normal, McLean County and Connect Transit. MCRPC has enlisted the support of TY Lin, a transportation planning consultant.
How did this planning process come about?
The process is an implementation step of the “Vision Zero” transportation safety process led by MCRPC. The project resulted in the Go:Safe McLean County Action Plan, adopted in April 2021, which explicitly calls out Veterans Parkway, noting that: “…Veterans Parkway was designed as a bypass of the community, not as a commercial center, nor to accommodate modes other than vehicular traffic. As such, the road lacks Complete Streets infrastructure needed to protect the present day, multi-modal users of the facility and surrounding commercial area.”
The planning process will apply the recommendations/strategies in the Go:Safe Action Plan and the Complete Streets policies/principles adopted by local governments and the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT).
What parts of Veterans Parkway will this project cover?
The proposed corridor study area includes Veterans Parkway in its entirety, and an extension to Northtown Road at its northern end with access from I-55. Veterans Parkway extends from I-55 Interchange 167 and travels south and then west to I-55/74 Interchange 134 A&B, allowing easy access to the Interstate system, including indirect access onto Interstate 39, and further to other cities across Illinois and the Midwest. For pedestrian planning purposes, the study area will include a buffer of one-quarter mile on either side of the Veterans Parkway right-of-way, which is generally accepted as a comfortable walking distance.
