I was listening to a story on WUIS (I think) about the Macarthur Blvd. extension project that’s going to be getting underway on Springfield’s South side one of these days. The focus was on the probable disruption of the Interurban Trail between Springfield and Chatham. As it stands, the Macarthur project would pretty much doom the bikeway unless some (probably expensive) accommodation is made.
But it also got me thinking; does Springfield really need Macarthur to be extended to I-72? Oh sure it would be nice, I guess, but is it worth the millions?
I know, I know, the money is going to go somewhere so why not here. Plus there are the construction jobs, etc, etc. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, just not really all that necessary. Not millions of dollars necessary. From that part of town Sixth Street and Veterans Parkway provide reasonable access to I-55 and I-72.
But that’s what I get for thinking more universally. The money surely could be used for better things but we wouldn’t see it here so there’s no advocacy for it.
By the way here is a list of the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce’s top road improvement priorities. It’s two years old so at least one project (widening Koke Mill from Greenbrier to Old Jacksonville Rd.) has already come to be. Some of the others are interesting though.
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I'm with you on the fiscal aspect. If money has to be spent on roads, I'd rather see it used to take better care of the streets we already have. For me, one argument against extending MacArthur is the Stanford overpass. Even going the speed limit, you can get from MacArthur to Fifth Street in a about two minutes. From there, you're just blocks (maybe a mile) from I-55 and I-72. It will be interesting to see how hard and fast this gets pushed. As a point of reference, the Eleventh Street extension starting at Stevenson has been on the table since the 70's.
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