Urbana seeking to test out 'road diet' lane reduction on part of Lincoln Avenue next year
Sep. 23—URBANA — City officials are looking to temporarily reduce the number of lanes on a roughly mile-long stretch of North Lincoln Avenue to study how the change affects traffic.
The agenda for the Urbana City Council's 7 p.m. committee-of-the-whole meeting today includes a $220,000 appropriation of state motor fuel tax funds for this "temporary road-diet demonstration" on Lincoln between Wascher Drive and Killarney Street, or from just south of the Interstate 74 interchange to King Park.
"It would be reducing it from four lanes, which is two lanes in each direction, to one lane in each direction with a shared left-turn lane," said assistant city engineer Justin Swinford, who estimated that the trial would last about three months and be completed in 2025.
The city would then evaluate the impact of this change on traffic, with the road reverting to its previous configuration at the end of the study. The results would be used as the basis of a design for future, permanent improvements to this section of Lincoln Avenue, he said.
The city has received a Safe Streets and Roads for All grant from the Federal Highway Administration that will reimburse up to $200,000 for the temporary road diet. Swinford said it will use the motor fuel tax funds to pay for the work upfront, then seek reimbursement through the grant.
The proposed $220,000 appropriation includes a 10 percent contingency, according to a report from city engineer John Zeman. Assuming the council approves the appropriation at a future regular meeting, it will then need to be approved by the Illinois Department of Transportation.
Swinford said the city expects that the "demonstration phase" will be completed in 2025, with construction on permanent improvements tentatively scheduled to begin in fiscal year 2027.
"We're generally hoping to have the demonstration done by the end of spring of 2025 so that we can try to take advantage of having a large part of our population here in town with the students and more activity on campus," he said.
The city's Capital Improvement Plan describes the future Lincoln Avenue project as "pavement rehabilitation with road diet from 4 lanes to 3 lanes and addition of either on-street bike lanes or a shared-use path." Other elements include improvements to traffic signals, street lights and bus stops, as well as "mid-block pedestrian crosswalks."
City officials wrote that upgrades are necessary because Lincoln is a major arterial street with "a high safety priority score, pavement in poor to very poor condition, and a bus route."
The improvement plan allocates $7.97 million to the project from fiscal years 2024 to 2027. This includes about $6.42 million from federal grant programs, including the grant for the demonstration, as well as $1.55 million from state motor fuel tax funds.
