South Grand

 Looks like the city has restriped South Grand.  After resurfacing the street last month and their restriping it for that it had four lanes, now the ciy has restriped it so that there are 2 main lanes, 1 center turn lane and bike lanes on either side of the street, as the proposed plan anounced in 2024 called for.

Good. South Grand did not neeed to be a four lane street and this new sriping should slow down traffic and make bicycling safer along the street.  Maybe eventually, the cty will put curbs or poles up to further protest cyclists.

Wall Street

 the city is doing a lot of work on S. Wall Street. From what I understand, the plan is to reduce it from 2 lanes each way to one lane each way, a center turn lane and a bike lane.  Stay off the street if you can as traffic backed up horribly and traffic moving either direction appears somewhat artibrary.

The results should be fine once everything gets finished but right now, East Walnut was backed up clear to S. Washington this afternoon.

South 51 Closed

South 51/ S. University Ave will close for 24 hours for sewer repairs, from 5 am. March 28 to 5 a.m. March 29th between Walnut and Mill. Side streets crossing University will remain open but drivers will not be able to turn south on 51.

Streets

 I see the city has been doing some work patching holes on West Willow. for some reason, despite the concrete slab construction, the holes get really bad in some locations along there. Unfortunately, the patching consisted of filling the holes with asphalt and tamping it down so it will probably wash out in the next rain.  Street needs resurfacing but that probably won't happen until after the Wall Street and Poplar Street construction is finished.

Repaving

 Gov. Pritzker was in the city this week, announcing among other things, the awarding of a $2 million grant to resurface streets in the Arbor district. The area covered includes:  West College Street from South Forest to South University avenues; West Cherry Street from South Oakland to South Illinois avenues; and Poplar Street from West Mill to West Oak streets

I really hope the city can then come up with money to resurface the section of Poplar between Oak and Sycamore as that stretch of street is in pretty rough shape. Not to the point that someone driving on it will blow out a time but still bad.

Street Projects

 City government announced today it received almost $2 million in non-matching funds to resurface sections of West College, West Cherry and Poplar.  I am especially happy to see that Poplar is included because the stretch of Poplar north of Main has been needing more work for years.  Now if the city could just get funding to redo Willow.

The City of Carbondale is pleased to announce it has been awarded a $1,989,063 grant to repave three important roadway corridors. This award requires no local matching funds, ensuring that the project will be completed at no cost to the City or residents.

The grant, awarded through the state’s largest-ever infrastructure program, will provide 100% funding for the following repaving projects:

• W. College Street from S. Forest Avenue to S. University Avenue
• W. Cherry Street from S. Oakland Avenue to S. Illinois Avenue
• Poplar Street from W. Mill Street to W. Oak Street

This investment will enhance transportation safety, improve road conditions, and support long-term community development.

Street Resurfacing

 From what I hear, the city has plans to resurface at least two streets this year.  Giant City Road will get resurface from the intersection with Highway 13 south to at least Grand avenue and maybe Pleasant Hull Road. Also South Wall will get resurfaced South from Walnut to Grand Avenue, reduced to 2 lanes from its current four and bike lanes added on either side of the street.

Potholes

 I have noticed a number of potholes in the city have been patched. It is much safer driving along Chautauqua and West Willow as well as old East Walnut.  Those streets really do need resurfacing though as the asphalt, especially in the potholes on the hill on Chautauqua, will soon wash out.

Potholes

 After this front moves through  and through the spring, the city needs to work on repairing potholes.  There is one in East Main just across from Consume that has blown the tires out of at least two people that have hit it.

Wrong Way

 With the number of new comers to Carbondale and the number of one way streets in the city, I expect a number of them to drive the wrong way on Main, Walnut, Illinois and University. Local residents ought to expect this and drive more defensively on those steets, at least until the end of the month.

Broken Glass

 If you are driving the alley that runs behind Castle Perilous, La Unica, Electric Larrys and Indigo Lounge, be careful as there are a couple of broken beer bottles in the road behind Indigo. Unfortunately, the city sweeper never makes it down those, or any of the alleys in Carbondale, so I play to get out there tomorrow afternoon when I get back to town and sweep it up.

I can see the city not wanting the sweeper to try to negotiate the alleys in downtown or in residential areas as they can be tough to navigate. Still makes it hard when some one decides to break glass or otherwise spread garbage. The city has been pretty good about clearning up gravel piling up around the speed bumps back there and fixing potholes when called to its attention.

Tower Road

 City has finished work on Tower Road. The patching is similar to that done on Giant City Road a couple of years ago, with the area containg the potholes removed, filled in and leveled, making the street much more tire friendly. The city is now working on Pleasent Hill Road east of Highway 51, the stretch from 51 over to Lewis Lane.

Tower Road

 Work started on the repairs to Tower Road this week. the north end was limited to local access only for a couple of days but it appears traffic is moving more freely along the street now. Next week may block off access at the south end of the street.

Tower Road

 Looks as if Tower Road repair work will start tomorrow and wrap up early to middle of May. Hopefully, the city can patch some of the potholes on the hill on Chatauqua as they are deep enough to cause cars to swerve around.

Lewis Lane Roundabout

 The city will install a temporary roundabout at the intersection of Lewis Lane and Grand Avenue this Saturday morning. For several years, the city has considered installing a roundabout at that location with the Chautaqua roundabout a trial to see if they are feasible in Carbondale. Recycling bins, cones and tires will serve as the barriers to construct the roundabout in order for the city to gather information  about how traffic flow would change at the location.

Tower Road

 According to the agenda for the next city council meeting, The city plans to spend $500,000 patching and repairing Tower Road and another $500,000 doing the same to Pleasant Hill road. I do not drive Pleasant Hill much but Tower Road can certainly use the work. 

Potholes

 Here is the list of streets that the city plans to work on this year. Looks like 8 projects will be tackled. I really hope they also fill the potholes on Old 13 East of Lewis Lane as there are some really bad ones there. It is difficult to use See Click Fix there as the street does not allow any on street parking and the stretch is pretty busy during the daytime

See Click Fix

 If you have not downloaded this app to your phone yet, I recommend it as a way to report problems to the city, especially with streets and lights. On several occasions over the past few years, I have used it to report potholes and have generally seen them repaired in a matter of days. This past week, I submitted a photo of potholes in the 200 block of West Willow on Wednesday and the city had repaired them, or at least filled them with asphalt, by Friday afternoon.

Street Resurfacing

 city announced that it will receive $2 million to resurface S Wall Street from East Walnut south to East Park Street and to slim the street from 4 lanes to 2 lanes with a turn lane in the center and bike lanes on either side. the resurfacing  will cover the section of Wall running south of the eastside Walgreens to about a block south of the intersection of Grand Ave. and Wall Street. projected start date is summer of 2024.

Awnings

 As part of the downtown redevelopment, the city has removed the awning standing in front of The Door and Priority Sports has been removed. It has been there since before I came to town in 1990 so imagine it got grandfathered in when IDOT established more regulations for sidewalks bordering highways. Awnings are OK but putting supports as close to the street as the Priority Shoes awning are likely not approved.