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.

McLean County’s current Metropolitan Long-Range Transportation Plan 2050 continues a goal from the 2017 Long-Range Transportation Plan: “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. MCRPC will expand the Action Plan with the aid of a Safe Streets & Roads for All (SS4A) federal grant.

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, 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?

Built in 1941, the 84-year-old Veterans Parkway (I-55 Bus./Old U.S. Route 66) has grown from a 4-lane bypass to a major arterial with 6 to12 lanes, carrying the highest traffic volume of any road in the Bloomington-Normal metro area. Today’s Veterans Parkway makes little provision for alternate mobility options, such as public transit, walking and bicycling, creating many challenges for users. 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.