PEORIA MAGAZINE October 2022

S P O T L I G H T

MAJOR IMPROVEMENTS COMING TO RIVER CITY ROADWAYS

BY LISA COON PHOTOS BY RON JOHNSON

C ity residents wi l l soon get a reprieve from road construction and repairs, but many projects remain ongoing or in the design stage. One such involves amajor conversion of Jefferson Avenue and Adams Street in Peoria fromone-way to two-way streets. “We’re hoping it will slow down traffic and drive business to downtown,” said Andrea Klopfenstein, deputy director of the Peoria PublicWorks Engineering Division. “Also, one-way streets lead to increased speeds, pedestrian barriers and hinder access to property.” To convert Jefferson and Adams to two-way streets will cost $16 million. The work will include mill and overlay and converting eight intersections, with their traffic signals replaced by overhead lights. A total of 13 intersections will be fitted with new signals and improved pedestrian access with ramps, sidewalks and bump-outs. Curb cuts on the corners will be changed and new streetlights will be put in to accommodate the lane changes. “The conversion will give that stretch more of a downtown feeling than that of a thoroughfare,” Klopfenstein said. “It will be a little more inviting to be a pedestrian moving around the area.” Construction will begin in 2023 and run through 2025, she said.

The city is coordinating the project with the Illinois Department of Trans portation, as its shutdown for renovating the Bob Michel Bridge will impact the intersection at Kumpf Boulevard. GLEN AVENUE City and Peoria County work on Glen Avenue includes reconstruction between Sheridan Road and Knoxville Avenue. Klopfenstein said construction will wrap up next year, at which point that stretch of Glen Avenue, now under Peoria County ownership, will become a city road. The most notable change is the elimination of ditches that line both sides of the road. Underground pipes will be added for rainwater to flow into, eliminating the steep drop-off. A second project on Glen Avenue involves resurfacing the road between University Street and War Memorial

Drive, doing some minor storm sewer work, and improving traffic signals at two intersections. “This has been on the books for a long time, so we’re glad to get started,” Klopfenstein said. While there is a contractor for the University to War Memorial Drive project, difficulty in getting some of the needed material is delaying work until next year, with completion expected by year’s end, 2024. The total cost for both projects is $13.5 million. WESTERN AVENUE The two-year project on Western Avenue running from Adams Street to Lincoln Avenue is expected to be completed this year with landscaping and punch list items wrapped up next year, Klopfenstein said.

40 OCTOBER 2022 PEORIA MAGAZINE