Taking the long view on Curtis Road

It's taken a long time – nearly 15 years – but Champaign now has its fifth interchange on I-57.

The first reference to a Curtis Road interchange on Interstate 57 that we could find in our files was from 1994. It was reported then that federal officials had notified Champaign planners that the city had one remaining access permit for Interstate 57 and that if the city didn't use it, it might lose it. Curtis Road was the logical place for the location, planners agreed, but no one was sure when the interchange would be built nor how much it would cost. So they estimated it would take a decade and cost $7 million to $9 million.