MTD receives $15.7 million in grant money for route amenities

By Edward Gathercoal

The Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District was awarded a highly competitive $15.7 million federal grant on Sept. 9 to revamp streets for transportation use.

The Multimodal Corridor Enhancement project aims to improve five key corridors and redesign bus routes with bus-exclusive lanes. 

Karl Gnadt, managing director of CUMTD, said that the project will rebuild and enhance existing routes to provide “sturdy, long-lasting and complete streets.” Gnadt said the project may also reduce travel times.

“We’ll have dedicated bus lanes, we’ll have dedicated bike lanes, improved pedestrian walkways, improved bus stops with new amenities, shelters and stopwatch kiosks … It really is an all-around complete package for improvement,” said Gnadt.

The project will cost roughly $34.88 million. Projected costs will be covered by the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grant, which will provide $15.7 million and local agencies, which will contribute the remaining $19.1 million. Local contributors include: the University ($3.60 million), CUMTD ($3.88 million), the city of Urbana ($2.10 million) and the city of Champaign ($9.59 million).

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The project will repair a portion of Green Street between Fourth and Neil streets; Armory Avenue between Fourth and Wright streets; Wright Street between Armory and White streets; White Street between Wright and Second streets; and a longer section of Green Street between Wright and Race streets.

This is the third time CUMTD has applied for one of the TIGER grants, but the first time it received the money.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, 797 applications were submitted to the TIGER program, requesting a total of $9 billion — 15 times more than the amount available.

One of the areas to be repaired that is of particular concern to the University is Armory Avenue in front of the Main Library, said Stacey DeLorenzo, plan review coordinator for the University’s Facilities and Services.

“It is just that the continuation of the mode of transportation there is not as safely configured as could be, and the infrastructure of the streets and the pavement needs to be improved,” she said.

Another component of the project is for Champaign County to be more environmentally conscious, said Jane Sullivan, transportation and sustainability planner for CUMTD.

“Our community members are able to choose different modes of transportation whether it be riding their bike, or walking, or taking the bus or driving their car,” she said. “And creating roads that make those options available and safe and accessible gives them (people) more options of transportation.”

In August, Sen. Dick Durbin sent a letter in support of CUMTD’s application for the TIGER Grant to U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx.

“The Champaign-Urbana Multimodal Corridor Enhancement project is part of an ambitious effort that will have a transformative effect on the region — creating jobs, enhancing access to employment and health care, stimulating the economy, and supporting the growth of the community and the University of Illinois,” said Durbin in a press release.

The TIGER grant program, created by Congress in 2009, aims to generate economic activity by creating construction jobs and improving the country’s transportation infrastructure in both rural and urban areas. As of now, development projects in Illinois have received $264 million in TIGER funding.

“It’s not easy to get these things; it was a really good combined effort,” said Champaign Mayor Don Gerard. “Everybody worked together to craft a really good proposal to win the grant.” 

In fiscal year 2014, CUMTD had 13.2 million passenger trips, over a 10 percent increase from the 12 million trips in 2013. Gnadt said that this number has been increasing over the last several years.

“We have the number seven ranked public transportation system in the country … so to have something that is going to further enhance that with all of the private development that’s going on, you’re going to have a much more urban environment,” said Gerard. “It creates an even more insular economy where you’re going to have people more making their home in Champaign.” 

Historically, Gerard said Champaign hasn’t had a lot of connection with Illinois’ elected officials, making it difficult to bring tax dollars back to state. As of recently, there hadn’t been much funding for Illinois from the U.S. Department of Transportation since the Clinton administration. However, he thinks the cities of Urbana and Champaign have developed a better working relationship with the University and CUMTD over the last three years, as seen by getting these funds.

“We have a much stronger connection, a lot more dialogue, we’re on the same page and have a similar vision,” Gerard said. 

Edward can be reached at [email protected]