DANVILLE — The City of Danville is moving forward with plans to make one of its busiest corridors safer with around $10 million in a Federal Safe Streets for All grant (SS4A).
The public works committee approved on Tuesday, a resolution awarding Phase One engineering services for the project to Lochmueller Group.
The project will remake East Seminary Street from North Vermilion Street to North Bowman Avenue also South Bowman for what some call a ‘Texas Avenue roundabout’ to East Main Street.
David Ruwe, Danville’s Public Works Director, says the first phase covers the conceptual design, as well as environmental reviews and safety analysis.
“A lot of those are what they call vulnerable road user improvements,” Ruwe said. “So it’s bike lanes, sidewalks, resurfacing type stuff where it’s not shut[ting] down the road and you can’t get through here.”
Mayor Rickey Williams Jr. says the project is long overdue, joking that driving that corridor is like being on a wooden roller coaster. Other aldermen agreed that the area is quite bumpy.
Ruwe added the city’s current plan focuses on upgraded crossings and other pedestrian features at East Seminary Street and North Bowman Avenue, instead of a roundabout in that area. He added that there is an Illinois Department of Transportation project that will replace the Texas Avenue and Perrysville Road interchange with a roundabout and a new bridge over Interstate 74.
The project is projected to continue through the design portion until 2028, with construction expected to begin in either 2029 or 2030.
After being approved by the committee, this plan moves to the full council for approval on Tuesday night.