Gov's Road Map Won't Finish 6-Lane Projects

The five-year road map for transportation spending unveiled this week by Gov. Pat Quinn fails to include any funding to finish both the Route 13 widening between John A. Logan College and Carbondale, or the Interstate 57 widening between Interstates 24 and 64.

The spending plan includes both the upcoming FY 2015 and the next five fiscal years ending on June 30, 2020. Quinn outlined details of the plan Wednesday. Only the $71 million I-64 replacement bridge over the Wabash River made the highlight reel.

Under the last five-year plan the state poured millions in to new construction projects, starting the Route 13 widening between Marion and the college as well as the rebuild of the Route 13/I-57 interchange and development of the new Morgan Avenue exchange on the north side of Marion.

Overall, the plan includes few new construction projects for Southern Illinois focusing, as almost always, on resurfacing and basic maintenance. That means few economic game-changers so when the existing construction now underway on Route 13 and the I-57 interchange ends, that's it for now.

As to the widening of I-57 in Williamson, Franklin and Jefferson Counties, the only project on the list that appears connected at all is replacement of the I-57 bridges over Atchinson Creek two miles north of the Ina interchange.

Over the last few years IDOT has been replacing the bridges on I-57 between Interstates 24 and 64 with 6-lane structures in preparation for widening this stretch of the interstate. Besides the bridges they also will have to rebuild some of the overpasses used by smaller roads such as Westminster Drive on the south side of Marion.

The largest project on the list for the region - the Wabash River bridge on the state line - will be led by IDOT, but paid in part by Indiana.

Although the higher profile projects are not included in the governor's plan, hope remains. Lawmakers have been talking about a new capital spending plan for sometime. High profile projects usually get saved for those in order to get lawmakers to support the higher fees and/or taxes to pay for them.

The most interesting brick and mortar projects included actually aren't road projects at all, but mass transit and air transportation.

Rides Mass Transit District which serves much of southeastern Illinois should get three new buildings out of the deal - a $1 million administration building to replace their existing one, $1.5 million for a new maintenance and dispatch facility, both to be located in Harrisburg, as well as $1.8 million for a new District Transfer Center to be located in Marion.

This is in addition to $2.45 million to replace four 35-foot, three super medium duty, and eight medium duty diesel buses as well as one minivan.

After years of delay in part caused by the recession, the Williamson County Airport will be getting a new $10 million terminal building. This Phase I and Phase II work is slated for funding in FY 2015, which is the budget year beginning this July 1.

It's been at least seven or eight years since the airport authority started serious discussions on a new terminal. Before the recession in 2007, the airport had two airlines offering scheduled service, one to St. Louis and the other to Chicago, and a third airline planning flights to Las Vegas and Orlando. The latter deal fell apart before any planes got off the ground, but not until after the airport had made changes to the terminal to handle the larger flights.

I-57 Interchange Ahead of Schedule

The massive two-year I-57/IL Rt 13 interchange project in Marion that isn't supposed to be finished until next year may open fully finished before the end of 2013, according to Mayor Robert L. Butler.

Learned a few other updates from him yesterday about Marion developments. Nothing new on the STAR Bonds project, based on past conversations with him and state Rep. John Bradley, D-Marion, the would-be developers looking to step into Bruce Holland's shoes are waiting for the road projects to be completed.

Last year's drought helped the construction of the new rebuild of the Exit 54 interchange, but the mayor's still waiting for construction to begin on the connections and upgrade of the Morgan Avenue interchange. The additional overpass is up, but remains unconnected with Morgan Avenue.

Crews have finally begun earthwork on the new access road off of the south side of Morgan and on the west side of the interstate that will provide access to the north end of the old Holiday Inn/Executive Inn hotel and the mobile home sales lot at the southwest corner of Morgan and I-57. Due to restrictions on entrances too close to the interchange IDOT purchase access rights from the property owners and agreed to build the new access road. One thing different from the original design, the road will not hit Morgan opposite the Holiday Inn Express entrance, but a bit to the east.

Meanwhile work continues on the six-lane expansion of Route 13 from I-57 east to Court Street, the new overpass of the Burlington Northern on Route 13 by the Illinois Centre Mall (I'll add the "Star" to the name when the new owners get around to actually changing their signage). Once traffic can be redirected onto the new overpass and the area around Skyline Drive and the new extension of Walton Way is finished, that new road will be opened.

On the jobs front the owners of the former Circuit City building are hot on one or two tenants for giant warehouse and distribution center on the west side of town. If successful it could mean around 300 jobs.

New Harmony Seeks to Save Bridge

According to TheSouthern.com, folks in New Harmony, Indiana, are seeking ways to save their bridge over the Wabash River that's been closed since May 2012.

...The Harmony Way Bridge Committee began meeting this summer to work on proposals for the 83-year-old New Harmony Bridge.

The span was operated for decades by a private commission as a toll bridge until inspections last year found extensive deterioration, prompting its closure in May 2012. Indiana officials have said replacement costs could be as much as $25 million.

Businesses in both Indiana and Illinois have been hurt by the bridge's closure, committee member Linda Henning of Crossville, Ill., told the Evansville Courier & Press.

The group is looking at having the city buy the bridge and issue bonds which would be covered by bridge tolls.

One thing that could help is if Illinois extended a spur from the Ohio River National Scenic Byway from New Haven (where the current byway crosses into Illinois, up through White County to the New Harmony bridge. Indiana already has a spur of the byway leading to the tourist town.

The move could generate some additional traffic as well as give the bridge some additional points when it comes to grants.

Morgan Street Overpass Opens

I haven't seen an official announcement, but the new Morgan Street Overpass crossing Interstate 57 near The Hill in Marion is open to traffic.

I've already traveled over it twice today.

Down below construction crews were laying asphalt for the off ramps from the southbound lane of I-57 to Route 13. The ramps should be open later this fall.

Meanwhile Marion's newest McDonalds opened yesterday at the old Court Street location. The owners tore down the 35-year-old original building and replaced it with a new larger structure.

On the west side crews continue to install a new exterior to Burger King and just up Halfway Road halfway to The Hill, Country Inn & Suites continues its progress.

According to the Marion Daily Republican that hotel should be open by November 15, which is the same target date for the new Pirate Pete's restaurant and family fun center locating in the Illinois Centre Mall.

IDOT Puts Route 13 Plans Online

The public apparently likes what it sees when it comes to the Illinois Department of Transportation's plans for Route 13 widening and expansion between Marion and Carterville.

Today's Southern Illinoisan reported feedback from last month's public unveiling of the plans here at the Williamson County Pavilion proved to be mostly positive.

According to IDOT, about 170 people attended and 226 comments were submitted with 115 supporting the project, 38 supporting with suggestions for revisions, 63 opposing the project and 10 who were neutral.

"We were pleased with the overall results from the public meeting," said Carrie Nelson, program development engineer at IDOT.

The biggest complaints came from the Crainville area which would lose their four-way intersection at Main Street and Route 13 (Pioneer Log Cabin restaurant), but would gain a diamond interchange at Wolf Creek Road and Route 13.

The proposal for the highway expansion is also now online at the agency's website.

Part of the website shows the updated 2007 traffic count for Route 13, as well as what it projected by 2025.

Route 13 and Halfway Road, the first stop light west of Interstate 57 sees 38,100 vehicles a day. With a projected 3 percent growth rate, IDOT is projecting 64,800 vehicles on average to be pulling through there in 2025.

Down the road at the next stoplight at Williamson County Parkway where the Pavilion has its sign in front of Steak 'n Shake sees 29,800 vehicles passby each day and is expected to grow to 50,700 daily by 2025.

Father west the traffic count stays pretty steady. Even at the west end of the project at John A. Logan, 28,100 vehicles pass by daily with a 2.5 percent growth coming out to 43,800 vehicles daily by 2025 at Route 13 and Greenbriar Road.

More About Great Lakes Airlines

Williamson County Airport Manager Doug Kimmel has a news conference scheduled in a couple hours concerning the current problems with air service to St. Louis.

Last week the airport authority endorsed Great Lakes Airlines to the FAA as the local choice of carriers to operate flights from Marion to St. Louis and back.

While we're waiting to see what will happen, the new airline released its February flight stats.

Scheduled service generated 10,510,000 revenue passenger miles (RPM's), a 9.8 percent increase from the same month last year. Available seat miles (ASM's) increased 4.6 percent to 22,815,000. As a result, load factor increased 2.2 points to 46.07 percent.

Passengers carried increased 7.8 percent to 39,113 when compared to February 2006. Preliminary revenue per available seat mile (RASM) increased 1.3 percent from 28.06 cents to 28.42 cents.

For the two months ending February 28, 2007 compared to the same two month period in 2006, revenue passenger miles (RPM's) increased 10.2 percent to 21,189,000 and available seat miles (ASM's) increased 2.0 percent to 47,378,000, resulting in a load factor of 44.72 percent for the year 2007 effecting an increase in load factor of 3.3 points compared to the same two month period in 2006.

The company carried 79,375 revenue passengers for the two month period ending February 28, 2007, an 8.7 percent increase from the prior year. Preliminary revenue per available seat mile (RASM) increased 2.8 percent from 26.99 cents to 27.75 cents on a year-over-year basis.

The numbers appear to look good, which is important. We need an airline with a healthy cash flow to operate.

Trouble in the Skies, But Options Expand

The Federal Aviation Administration has grounded Regions Air, the commuter airline operating the American Connection flights from St. Louis to Williamson County and a host of other small airports around the Midwest.

From the Southeast Missourian of Cape Girardeau:

An FAA spokeswoman, Laura Brown, said the federal agency has a signed consent from the airline to suspend operations.

...Brown said while the previous problem was with RegionsAir's manual, later in the week the agency discovered actual airmen were unqualified, so the airline was shut down a second time.

"We determined that the line check airmen, the pilots who instruct and check out other pilots, were not properly trained themselves," Brown said. She declined to elaborate.

Although this is the second time in as many weeks the FAA has shut down the airline's operations, this apparently has been building. U.S. Senator Dick Durbin's office released a statement Friday noting that the senator had been personally working to address the issue for at least the last four weeks.

Durbin promised that air service would return soon.

"The U.S. Department of Transportation, working with the affected communities, has accelerated their efforts to find a reliable replacement carrier and will be announcing their decision shortly."

According to the Post-Dispatch RegionsAir, which operates 27 daily flights in and out of Lambert Field, "has been up for sale since last fall."

The Williamson County Airport Authority has a news conference scheduled for Monday with additional information. In their own statement released Friday, the airport backed the efforts of Great Lakes Airlines to take over the flights.

"The Williamson County Airport Authority is as frustrated as everyone with the recent events that have led to Regions Air terminating their operations. We are confident that the Department of Transportation will work diligently with Great Lakes Airlines as the carrier that we have recommended to take over operations to St. Louis as quickly as possible.

Though we realize this interruption of service is an inconvenience to everyone, it is far better than trying to hold into place an airline that has continued to provide unreliable service to Southern Illinois."

It looks like Williamson County recommended Great Lakes because they were 1) not RegionsAir, and 2) they offered the lowest bid, at least that's what happened in Missouri.

In a separate story, the Southeast Missourian provided some additional information.

They reported that out of the four airlines bidding for the current contracts to fly out of St. Louis, Great Lakes submitted the lowest bid at least for service out of Cape Girardeau. The other three bidders were RegionsAir, Mesa Airlines (which operates the flights from Marion to Chicago), and Big Sky.

Despite the low bid, the airport authority in Cape Girardeau decided this week to cancel essential air service to St. Louis and instead switched their federal subsidies for flights out of Cincinnati where Delta Airlines is big and the airport handles nearly twice as many flights as Lambert.

While the move ends air service to St. Louis from southeast Missouri, it's good news for us in Southern Illinois as it gives the Heartland a direct connection to a third major airport besides Lambert Field and Midway in Chicago.

Although air service from Williamson County to St. Louis is disrupted by the shutdown, it does not affect Mesa Airline's service from Williamson County to Chicago that began last month.

Prices Drop for Williamson County Flights

Thanks to increased competition for air passengers flying out of Williamson County, not only are air fares to St. Louis dropping, but four companies are now vying for the Lambert Field contract.

RegionsAir this week announced a new fare structure... One-way fares start at $99 each way, with a maximum of $169. Round-trip fares run the gamut from $109 to $159.

Today's Southern Illinois has the story.

Rail Travel Up With New Chicago Train

Passenger travel increased on Amtrak between Carbondale and Chicago since a third route began last fall. The numbers are up 68 percent for November, December and January over the same time period last year.

The Association Press has the story.

Although the vast majority of travel on the old Illinois Central track from Carbondale to Chicago is Windy City-bound, there is a small segment of inter-city travel just here in Southern Illinois.

I was just told today about a couple from Marion who took the train from Carbondale to Centralia for dinner at the Centralia House restaurant, a historic eatery that catered to both Lincoln and Douglas prior to the Civil War when then Illinois Central was the only railroad in the state.

They took the 4 o'clock train up and the 8 o'clock train back.

Chicago Air Service Returns to Williamson

The first flights of Mesa Airlines began yesterday from Williamson County Airport. The Southern Illinoisan has more.

A Conversation with Doug Kimmel

The Marion Daily's Cherri Flinn sits down with Williamson County Airport Manager Doug Kimmell in this week's conversation piece.

What jumped out at me was where the reservations were coming from for the new air service to Chicago.

Doug: ... Pursuing getting an additional carrier is something we all knew we wanted to achieve.

Cherri: Isn't that the struggle all small airports face?

Doug: It really is. That's one of the unique things about the opportunity we have right now of starting service to Chicago from here, and also from Decatur and Quincy as well. They are very similar airports as far as size and the markets that they represent. So far, 95 percent of the reservations have come from this market.

I guess now with the new air service beginning we can start talking about a need for a new airport terminal, especially when they start looking for a third airline.

A new terminal isn't a new proposal. It was being talked about when I covered the airport board back in college which around the same time as the development of the Illinois Centre mall.

Airfares Set for Marion to Chicago Flights

Williamson County Airport's second commercial air carrier will begin operations Feb. 1 with flights daily to Chicago's Midway Airport via Quincy, Illinois.

Airline officials announced today flight schedules and fares for Mesa Airlines new Chicago service, according to the Marion Daily Republican.

Flights from Williamson County Airport to Chicago Midway will depart at 6:10 a.m., 10:45 a.m. and 3:20 p.m. daily. Return trips will be 8:30 a.m., 10 a.m., 1:05 p.m. and 8:25 p.m.

Tickets from Williamson County Airport to Chicago Midway will be $138 roundtrip if purchased 14 days in advance; $158 roundtrip, if purchased seven days in advance and $198 roundtrip for walk up service.

Tickets can be purchased through Mesa Airlines online at www.flymesa.com, by phone at 1-800-MESA-AIR, or by calling the Williamson County Airport at (618) 993-3353.

Mesa Airlines joins American Express in providing passenger air service at Williamson County Airport.

State Shelves Wireless Plans at Rest Stops

The state's idea to turn the interstate rest areas into Internet wireless hot spots has apparently hit a snag according to the State Journal-Register.

Only one vendor responded to an Illinois Department of Transportation request for proposals to provide free, wireless Internet access (known as WiFi) at the state's rest stops. However, the vendor's offer was rejected because the company missed a mandatory pre-bid meeting conducted by the agency in October.

Consequently, IDOT is back to square one in its efforts to provide WiFi to the motoring public. IDOT hoped to have the service available in 2007, but that timetable is uncertain now.

"Certainly, we knew this was aggressive in that we hoped we could provide the service with no charge to the state and no charge to the consumer," IDOT spokesman Matt Vanover said. "We will re-evaluate our options after the first of the year. We'll see if changes have to be made in order to get a better response."

Maybe, it would help if the state stopped trying to manage all the rest areas under one contract. Try splitting it up. Certainly the state welcome centers would be better off if it region ran their own operations.

Airline Named for Marion - Chicago Flights

The long-awaited news that commercial air passenger service from Marion to Carbondale would resume is old news to us here in Southern Illinois, but it's made the Chicago Tribune now, so it must be real.

Seriously, the free publicity in the Tribune will trump the entire marketing budget for the Williamson County Airport Authority spends to promote flights to St. Louis, and soon, Chicago.

Although the new flights won't be non-stop to Chicago, Airport Manager Doug Kimmel has said publicly in the past he believes ridership will grow to a level that makes non-stop flights feasible.

Airport leaders made the official announcement this afternoon. I'm certain more details will be in tomorrow's Southern.

Air Midwest joins American Connection in offering flights out of Marion, the only airport in Southern Illinois with scheduled commercial air service.

There's only one detail unclear. The newspaper stories all described the name as Air Midwest, but the company's news release says Air Midwest will operate the flights under the name Mesa Airlines.

State Eyes Free Internet at Rest Stops

State officials announced last week they are considering plans to make the interstate rest stops Internet hotspots.

Under the plans, still in the earliest stages, the state would offer free Internet service for travelers at the rest stops.

I thought IDOT Spokesman Matt Vanover's comment was appropriate for Williamson County.

Vanover said it could be particularly useful for motorists and truckers who are traveling on long trips. Someone crossing into the state from Kentucky could stop at the Interstate 57 rest area across the Ohio River from Paducah and look up which hotels are up the road in cities like Marion or Mt. Vernon.

The state is trying to figure out how to do this without any cost to the state. Likely, a private firm would offer limited free service and charge for longer times online.