Transportation

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Portion of Urbana street to close for construction work

URBANA – Church Street between Lincoln and Busey avenues will be closed to traffic beginning Monday as Cross Construction is set to begin work, weather permitting.

It is expected to reopen Sept. 15.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Chanute Air Museum to host 'Night at the Museum'

RANTOUL – The Chanute Air Museum will have "A Night at the Museum" from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Saturday to bring alive the characters in the latest Indiana Jones movie.

Also, the movie "A Night at the Museum" will be shown starting at 6:30 p.m.

Ludlow police switch to motorcycle to save on fuel costs

LUDLOW – The Ludlow police have switched from a squad car to a motorcycle in an effort to cut fuel use from 25 to four gallons a week.

While Police Chief Joe Navarro's squad car got about 8 to 10 miles per gallon, his motorcycle gets 40 miles per gallon.

Douglas County Board boosts mileage rate for county cars

TUSCOLA – The Douglas County Board, like every other government body, will soon be paying more for gas.

The board unanimously agreed to increase its mileage rate, according to the IRS' standards, from 51 1/2 to 58 1/2 cents.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Reporter tries out pedal power for a week

This summer, I've written about how people are worried about the cost of gas, and I'm worried, too. I also need more exercise – I'm starting to cringe when faced with bathing suits.

So when my boss asked me to write about whether more people are cycling now that gas prices have gone up, doing my own experiment seemed a natural segue.

The idea: I would trade my car for a bicycle for a week.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Danville officials extend four-way stop for 90 days

DANVILLE – After trying a four-way stop for four days at Vermilion and Seminary streets, city officials now want to do the same for 90 days before considering removing the stoplight and making the four-way stop permanent.

Glenda Kietzman, a Vermilion Advantage employee, drives through that intersection between the Danville Public Library and the New Holland Apartments on a daily basis.

Monday, July 14, 2008

UI horse barn to be relocated Wednesday

You might want to avoid the far south side of campus Wednesday, as the University of Illinois plans to move a historic barn, weather permitting.

In order to make way for the expansion of the UI's softball field and the Atkins Tennis Center, the University of Illinois has hired a company to move the Mumford horse barn from the southwest corner of Florida Avenue and Goodwin Avenue extended to the southwest corner of Race Street and Windsor Road.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Carpooling becomes more important as gas prices skyrocket

Nancy Keith worked at the Carle Clinic in Bloomington for nearly nine years before taking her current job as nursing research coordinator at Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana.

One requirement for her to accept the new job: She'd have to find someone to share rides between Bloomington, where she lives, and Urbana.

Sunday, July 6, 2008

No gas? No problem: Bicycle sales, interest on the rise locally

The Bike Project's warehouse may look like the place where bicycles come to die, but really, it's just the opposite: This is where bicycles are reborn.

And, as gas prices rise and word of mouth gets out about the warehouselike space in the basement of Urbana's Independent Media Center, more and more bicycles are coming and going as more people join the cooperative or just pedal by to work on an off-kilter wheel or get a replacement part.

'Fit, fabulous,' fully funded teenager opts to go gas-free

URBANA – Sarah Hoyle-Katz could have been a car owner right now.

Her grandmother offered to buy her a car, and she could have been driving wherever she wanted to go, come home from Knox College in Galesburg regardless of a bus schedule.

Kirby Avenue Lane to be closed

CHAMPAIGN – Eastbound Kirby Avenue between Greencroft Drive and Arrow Road will merge into one lane Monday and Tuesday for storm sewer maintenance.

Motorists are urged to find alternate routes or to obey all construction signs if they must drive that stretch of Kirby.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

American cutting 2 Chicago flights

SAVOY – Even with American Eagle cutting two flights a day to Chicago, the airline can still fly as many people in and out of Willard Airport by increasing occupancy on its remaining flights, the airport's interim manager said.

Steve Wanzek said American has apparently eliminated the noon flight to Chicago, effective in August, and that he had no information about the other flight cut but was told it would happen in November.

Monday, June 30, 2008

American Eagle to cut daily flights from Willard

SAVOY – American Eagle will reduce its daily flights from Willard Airport from eight to six by November as the result of systemwide cuts, airport manager Steve Wanzek said.

The airline will continue its daily flight to Dallas, but will trim two of its daily flights to Chicago's O'Hare Airport. American is cutting capacity by 10 percent to 12 percent systemwide and closing operations at three American Airlines cities and five American Eagle cities.

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Interstate ramps to be closed

CHAMPAIGN – Cloverleaf ramps on Interstate 57 between Interstate 72 and Olympian Drive will be closed periodically during July while resurfacing work takes place on I-57, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation.

Starting July 7, ramps will be closed in the following order:

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Streets to stay open, though lanes may be closed

CHAMPAIGN – Traffic may be delayed on some of the major streets in Champaign starting next week.

The city's annual pavement -striping projects will begin Monday at a number of locations, with work expected to last two to three weeks.

Friday, June 27, 2008

Closure scheduled on Third Street

CHAMPAIGN – Starting today, Third Street will be closed adjacent to 907 S. Third St. while utilities are being connected to a building under construction there.

Both lanes of Third Street will be closed.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

New downtown parking regulations go into effect July 14

CHAMPAIGN – Jessica Paris spent Wednesday afternoon with her laptop computer seated outside Cafe Kopi. She's a frequent visitor to downtown Champaign after she gets off work at 3 p.m. from her job at Wolfram Research.

She's no fan of the city's plan to make people pay parking meters downtown until 9 p.m., compared to the current 5 p.m. limit.

Monticello to get federal road funding

MONTICELLO – President George W. Bush has signed transportation legislation that will provide federal money for the lion's share of $1.1 million in road improvements through Monticello.

Monticello Superintendent of City Services Floyd Allsop said he received confirmation this week that President Bush signed a law on June 6 providing for a $900,000 grant to improve two heavily traveled routes through the city.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Restored 'Flying fortress' to visit Willard Airport

SAVOY – A restored B-17 "Flying Fortress" bomber will visit Willard Airport as part of a national "Salute to Veterans" tour.

Area residents can sign up for flight "missions" or take ground tours of the "Aluminum Overcast" July 11-13 at the University of Illinois airport in Savoy. The 60-city tour is sponsored by the Experimental Aircraft Association of Oshkosh, Wis.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

U.S. 150 project west of Danville set to begin

DANVILLE – The Illinois Department of Transportation on Wednesday is scheduled to begin a project to repair U.S. 150 west of Danville.

The project, estimated at $110,000, calls for removing some of the existing surface, patching areas and putting down a new water-proofing system, said Jerry Cearlock, a District 5 operations engineer. He said the work is expected to take about eight weeks, weather permitting.

MTD looking at small annexations

CHAMPAIGN – The Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District is moving to annex three small parcels in Urbana, Champaign and Savoy.

Unlike previous annexations, such as one in southwest Champaign, these are unlikely to generate much heat, since no individual property taxpayers are affected.