Marijuana Dispensary

Had the first person I can remember ask me where a marijuana retailer was in Carbondale. he seemed a bit surprised when I told him he would have to drive east of Carterville to find one as no have applied for a license yet in Carbondale and I think Murphysboro has voted, so far, not to authorize any within their city limits. Given the lines I have seen waiting to get into the Harbor, often half a block long on the weekend, I imagine we should see a marijuana shop apply for a license sometime this year, likely by the end of summer.

Hwy 127 4 Lane

We will proabably never see a 4 lane Highway 127 connecting Murphysboro to the Interstate or the St. Louis metro region, simply because of the layout of IDOT districts. Although both are part of Region 5, any 4 lane upgrade would have to go through both district 8 and district 9, the border of which crosses through Pickneyville. While District 9, which contains Carbondale, Marion and Murphysboro is comparatively quiet and not needing much roadwork, district 8 covers the bludgeoning Illinois-St. Louis Metro region, which continually needs money directed toward it for new roads. As long as that is the situation, and it is for the foreseeable future, we will not see any money freed up to direct towards a 4 lane expansion of 127 north of Pickneyville.

Recreational Cannabis Sales

Both Murphysboro and Marion have voted down licensing the sale of recreational cannabis within the city limits. I heard one opponent in Marion say they wanted the city to remain "drug free". Wonder if that means they will target cigarette and alcohol sales next?

Will bet that Carbondale will allow the sale of cannabis in the city limits when it comes up for a vote. After all, council expanded the sales of beer and wine significantly and seems to have no problem with the number of video gaming parlous that have opened in the city.

Carbondale Traffic

Got to wondering what auto traffic was like on the main streets in Carbondale, so stopped by the Public Works office, where they were kind enough to pull up the IDOT traffic maps, since Carbondale doesn't track vehicular traffic on its own.

Highest traffic area in town is, not surprisingly, out by the intersection of Highway 13 and Reed Station Road, which sees (and all of these figures are averages) about 26,300 cars pass by per day. Traffic drops off significantly as you get to downtown, where the intersection of 13 and Illinois has about 19,200 cars a day heading west. Highway 51 traffic at that spot heading south is about 9100.

Traffic picks up somewhat as 13 reaches the west side of Carbondale with  about 22,700 cars exiting and entering the town at that point and between 15000 to 16000 cars a day travelling between the 2 cities.

Apple Tree Inn

In case you missed it in this weekend's Carbondale Times, Murphysboro's Apple Tree Inn, a landmark in the city since the 1950s, will be demolished sometime in the near future. Much like the Horizon Inn in Carbondale, the city foreclosed on the property and sold it to a Columbia IL developer.

Pity to see it go as it was quite a beautiful property in the past but the owners had certainly let the motel run down in the past few years.

Leady's Feed Store

Noticed that the Leady's Feed Store building, at the intersection of Hwy 127 and Old Rte. 13, has been razed.  No indication as to why or signs of construction.  The old building looked in pretty bad shape from the outside, so hopefully they are replacing it with a newer structure.

Cheng in Murphysboro

Doesn't say much good about the housing market in Carbondale, does it, when the new Chancellor opts to live at the Stone Center until her new house is built in Murphysboro?