Fiction vs. Fact : Transportation Necessity

Highway proponents have claimed that Illinois 336 is necessary to remedy a critical lack of highway capacity through Western Illinois. The title of a “study” done by a pro-development group, the Economic Development Corporation of Fulton County,  “The Impact of Poor Highways on Economic Development in Fulton County”, is typical of this view.
          The implication that Fulton (or McDonough) County highways are inadequate for current or reasonably projected future needs is completely false. The highways that would be replaced by the Peoria to Macomb portion of Illinois 336 are mostly underutilized. I.D.O.T. generally uses eight to nine thousand vehicles per day as a threshold number for four-lane planning, yet nowhere west of Canton does traffic volume exceed one third of that number. Even going eastward from Canton, traffic barely approaches I.D.O.T.’s  four-lane threshold.
          Highway proponents have claimed that Western Illinois highways are worn out. (Mark Johann, interviewed in the Peoria Journal Star, Feb. 20, 2005) This is a misrepresentation of how highways are designed and built. Regular maintenance is the expected norm; highways do not “wear out” unless traffic density and weight greatly exceed design strength. They are either maintained properly or not. The highways connecting Peoria and Macomb are in a generally good state of repair. Driving these roads, one sees that they are well maintained and far from overloaded. West of Canton, traffic volumes of one or two vehicles per minute are the norm.
          Highway proponents claim that two-lane highways impede traffic traveling between Peoria and Macomb, yet a 2003 study by I.D.O.T. showed that there was very little through traffic. I.D.O.T. states, “As was expected, almost all the travel in the study area has an origin and destination within the study area.”
          Between Canton and Macomb, traffic volume could double or triple before congestion became a problem. Going east from Canton, traffic volume does not approach the four-lane threshold until one reaches the Peoria suburbs.

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