Looking at the multi-block long back up caused by trains coming through town, primarily around 9 a.m. , noon and aournd 4 p.m. makes me wish for downtown underpasses or overpasses sinilar to what we have at Mills street and Pleasent Hill Road. The city looked at putting underpasses for Main and Walnut back in the 1960s but pushback from the downtown business community put the kibosh on that.
I asked about the feasabiltiy of puttin in overpasses on the two streets but was told in order to make the gradiant a reasonable one, IDOT would have to raxe the buildings on either side of Main and Walnut for a block east and west from the tracks, destroying waht reamins of the early architecture of downtown Carbondale. An underpass is a bit more reasible but would require each street's closure for several months, if not years. Again not feasible so we are looking at blok long backups with trains come through for the foreseeable future.
I moved here in 1976, back in the late 70's early 80's 2 overpasses were planned. One at Walnut and the other north of town between Prairie Farms and what is now The Crossings. Property was purchased by the city? and many business's were forced to relocate or closed. Federal funding stalled and the project never happened.
ReplyDelete