Prospect Road will be narrowed from five to three lanes including a center turn option downtown and its sidewalks widened to accommodate pedestrian traffic and al fresco dining as part of a $20 million plus reconstruction of that corridor, the Peoria Heights Village Board has decided.
The vote to establish a curb line or road width was necessary to allow the Phase 1 engineering study and planning for the corridor to move forward on a reconstruction project that will run the length of Prospect through the Village from War Memorial Drive to Tower Park.
Ultimately, the vote was unanimous to move forward with the so-called “road diet” plan, minus a previously considered bike lane, but not before some trustees expressed concerns regarding the potential for traffic congestion and the hardships on businesses during construction.
What seemed to sway the Board was the recognition that this project is about much more than aesthetics, given the need to replace the out-of-date infrastructure along and beneath the road – the water mains, for example – along with the crumbling pavement. That makes the need to tear up the road at some point inevitable, at a cost that is well beyond the budget capacity of a community the size of Peoria Heights.
Meanwhile, the construction likely will be phased, a part of Prospect will remain open throughout the expected 18-month construction period, and the burden on businesses temporary. No start date has yet been chosen for the project and external funding sources must still be found for it.
Beyond that, Trustee Brandon Wisenburg seemed to move the board with his appeal on behalf of the elderly and disabled in the community who find it difficult if not impossible to get around the downtown area now.
“Since getting elected in 2019, I have had a lot of people come up and tell me that are wheelchair-bound that they cannot get through downtown Peoria Heights when dining is going on … Sometimes, you can’t even walk,” Wisenburg said. “If we are going to ensure that our elderly, our disabled patrons can also enjoy a good meal, we have to do something with ADA (the Americans with Disabilities Act) compliance. I don’t think it’s possible without reducing the streets because the buildings aren’t going anywhere.”
Ultimately, it’s a “dignity” issue for all of the Village’s residents, which trumps being “a little inconvenienced,” he said.
The Village’s engineering consultant, Hanson Professional Services, had offered the Board three options. A “status quo” option that would keep four driving lanes was not one of them. Even that would require becoming ADA compliant after ground is broken, and possibly on the Village’s dime, consultant Mark Lee told the Board.
Trustees Nate Steinwedel and Teresa Symmonds expressed an initial preference for four lanes, voicing reservations about “bottlenecks,” “this strangling of these lanes,” the impact on commuters and replicating the traffic snarls on Peoria’s Main Street near Bradley University. Steinwedel also mentioned emergency vehicle access and messing with the formula of “a very successful downtown,” the epicenter of the Village’s tax base.
“I just don’t see how that’s going to be a winning situation,” he said.
One alternative that would keep four lanes and meet ADA obligations would be to sacrifice the on-street parking on Prospect downtown, said Lee, which no one wanted. The street seats will go away with this plan, which will free up some additional parking. Meanwhile, Lee and Hanson representatives reassured the Board that based on software modeling, “you’re not going to see a dramatic difference” in travel times through the downtown with three lanes based on current and projected traffic counts.
Lee acknowledged the hit of future construction on businesses, saying “it’s going to be painful for them during the process. On the flip side, this process is going to happen one way or another sometime in the future. Eventually, you have to do it” given the current condition of the corridor. Trustee Sarah DeVore said that Business Development District funds potentially could be used to offset losses for local businesses during construction, as they were during COVID.
Meanwhile, decisions like these do matter to the Illinois Department of Transportation and whether it gets behind future funding,” said Lee. “We don’t want to risk that,” said Mayor Matt Wigginton.
Hanson is doing the Phase 1 engineering and design work at a cost of $2.5 million, 80 percent of which is coming from a federal grant secured through Congressman Darin LaHood's office. Hanson's final recommendations are expected late next year.
The east side of the corridor south of Lake Avenue is in the City of Peoria, which reportedly is on board with the three-lane option.
Ultimately, “we need to create a space that’s full of life,” said one Hanson representative. “You could have something that’s really special. Like, nobody else has this.”
“It’s really about creating an even greater place,” said Wigginton.