Improvements planned for Campustown appearance, streets

Renee Messacar
The Daily Illini

The stretch of Green Street in Campustown will likely close next March for repairs and will not re-open until the end of August, city Champaign officials announced during a meeting Wednesday.

A meeting Wednesday night was the second in a series of steps to reconstruct and enhance areas of Campustown in the Campustown Infrastructure Reconstruction and Streetscape Project. Later this month, Champaign will present its construction plans to the Champaign City Council for final approval.

Long-term project plans include turning Green Street from a four-lane to a two-lane road to increase bike and pedestrian space, opening Wright Street to two-way bus traffic and constructing a new bike path on Wright Street. Only busses and authorized vehicles will be allowed on Wright Street from Armory Avenue to Green Street. Green Street will remain open to two-way traffic.

"We think the two-lane (Green) Street will flow better than the current four-lane street if we can take care of the loading traffic," said Bruce Knight, Champaign planning director.

Knight said trucks unloading goods at Green Street businesses will have to do so from designated areas off the main street.

"Our goal is to get all this done so we can open it all up for traffic before the beginning of school," said Rick Marley, Champaign assistant engineer.

Marley added that to finish the majority of the construction in the estimated 173 days, crews might have to work nights or second shifts. He estimated that crews will finish construction as well as streetscaping by Thanksgiving 2002.

Champaign officials said they hope to increase pedestrian safety by decreasing vehicular traffic along Green and Wright streets.

"Our first priority is pedestrian safety," Knight said.

The death of University student Jason Chow in 1995 initially spurred officials to seek improvements in pedestrian safety. The 19-year-old engineering student was hit by a truck while crossing Green Street at Mathews Avenue.

University and city officials said they think the urgency to make Campustown safer has increased since the death of Lisa Corsini, who was hit by a car while crossing Lincoln Avenue on Sunday.

In addition to making Campustown safer, officials count on streetscaping to enhance the area's appearance. Colored concrete sidewalks, decorative curb planters, fences, benches and bike racks are some suggestions Champaign officials will give the city council later this month.

"We are looking at these enhancements to make the space comfortable and to making it somewhere people want to be," said Geoff Roehll, vice president of Hitchcock Design Group.

"People connect the campus with Campustown as a whole," Knight said. He added that people also connect the deterioration of Campustown with the University.

The project is a joint effort of the cities of Champaign and Urbana, the Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District and the Champaign-Urbana Urbanized Area Transportation Study.

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