URBANA – For more than a decade the controversial highway construction project north of Champaign-Urbana has been known as Olympian Drive.

But now it's all about Lincoln Avenue.

And when county board members Tuesday night take their votes on the multimillion-dollar project – votes that likely will have to be taken again later in the month – the real issue will not be about Olympian but about the north-south route that will link it to Urbana.

Board members are set to take two votes Tuesday night. The first is whether to proceed with the project. That is expected to pass, according to Democratic and Republican leaders on the board, although there could be as many as eight or nine "no" votes.

The second vote will be whether to continue the so-called "green route" that connects the south end of Lincoln Avenue, near Interstate 74, with the north end of Lincoln that actually jogs about a mile east near Olympian Drive.

Urbana city officials prefer the green route, but a number of county board members want an engineering study that would come up with an alternative route.

It's not clear how the county board – which will be at least two members short Tuesday night – will vote on that question.

And it may be a moot point anyway, since the board probably will take the votes all over again – possibly with its full complement of 27 members – when it takes final action on March 17.

Tuesday's committee of the whole meeting will be at 6 p.m. at the Brookens Administrative Center, 1776 E. Washington St., Urbana.

Tom Betz, an Urbana Democrat who supports the green route, said most Democrats will vote for it but that that might not be enough.

"I do believe the majority of Democrats will support Urbana's, Champaign's and our county highway engineer's recommendation. But that does not mean it gets very far," Betz said. "I am not optimistic. I'm good at vote-counting. And my count says there are at best 12 Democrats. That's the most optimistic count I have for the green."

And it's not clear whether there are any Republican votes for the green option.

At a caucus of GOP board members last Thursday, many of the Republicans were either opposed to spending any more money or time on the project, or favored further study of a potential compromise route.

"I just think this is the wrong time to spend any more money on this because there's so much more on our plate," said Rantoul Republican Stan James. "I just can't see spending any more taxpayer money on this because it might be good for someone."

At least three other Republicans seemed to echo James' opinion, while others were either noncommittal or favored the compromise. There also may be at least two Democrats who will vote against proceeding with what is believed to be about a $20 million project.

"I don't know how many Republicans are going to vote for it, I would say maybe between four and six," said Alan Nudo of Champaign, chair of the 12-member Republican caucus. "So there's 15 Democrats and it's up to them to corral who they want.

"This is not simple. There are people who don't want anything. There are people who want to preserve farmland. There are people who are interested in private property rights."

And all of those various interests run up against officials from Urbana and the chamber of commerce who contend the Lincoln-Olympian connection is vital to lure new industrial development and keep the warehouses and plants already on North Lincoln.

But that means likely using eminent domain to take property from private landowners to build the new Lincoln Avenue.

"What we all have to realize is that ultimately most of that land will become commercial and industrial," Nudo said. "Some of those houses will be near or in that property that will be commercial-industrial. There's no turning back. Some properties will be lost. Some people will be infringed upon. Some people will have commercial-industrial neighbors. I don't know how to get around that."

Nudo said he believes the green route "is dead, but yellow, red or something in between. That's what we're looking at, something that does less infringing on the property owners up there."

Further study of the project will take an estimated 18 months, according to engineers.

"In the great scheme of things 18 months is nothing. We've been working on this since 1999 so that just shows you what 18 months is," Nudo said.

But Betz said another 18-month delay will kill the project.

"I think it's a little bit late for people to be taking magic markers and be drawing new lines on maps," he quipped. "My problem is if we decide to do another study, which is fine, that means there will be another board deciding on this. It will be, again, an election issue."

"It's a stall tactic. They're having public meeting after public meeting. Well, if you stall long enough you can kill it. My personal view is that if we do not get this out of the board in March, it's dead. Eighteen months to do this study, hell, even if it was 10 months to the study you're well into the election cycle."

No matter what happens at Tuesday night's meeting, Betz said, the matter won't be settled. For one thing at least two Republican votes will be missing but likely will be present for the full board meeting on March 17.

"We could vote to do this Tuesday night and then it could be reversed at the full board meeting," he said. "I don't think Monday is as crucial as people think it is. The crucial vote will be at the end of the month because anything that is done Tuesday can be undone later in the month. That's whether it passes or it fails. Under the committee of the whole rules nothing is final until the full board meeting."

Urbana Democrat Brendan McGinty, who like Nudo favors building Olympian-Lincoln but not the green route, said he believes a compromise would be better.

"Can it be done so economic development can occur with as little impact on landowners as possible at a price that we can all afford? I think so," he said. "I think we're incredibly close to getting something done, if we can just get everyone to be forthright about this."