Champaign-Urbana, Illinois –Multimodal Corridor Enhancement (MCORE) Project transportation improvements are on schedule to begin this fall. The scale of this infrastructure work on key corridors will have significant traffic impacts including detours and street closures during construction. Updated project timelines and associated information will be provided beginning in late summer 2016.
The $42M MCORE Project, a partnership between the Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District (MTD), City of Champaign, City of Urbana, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will improve access for all modes of transportation in critical campus and near-campus areas including Green Street, Armory Avenue, White Street, and Wright Street. The MCORE Project is funded in part by a $15.7M Federal Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) Grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Karl Gnadt, MTD managing director, describes the importance of working together for the good of the community. “MCORE really represents a scenario that the citizens of Champaign-Urbana should be quite proud of. Four of their public agencies have pooled their resources in an unprecedented way and come together for the betterment of the community as a whole – not just their respective constituencies. It’s been so gratifying to see the project partners embrace that ideal and solve every difficulty that has been encountered in an unselfish, unbiased, uncanny way.”
Due to federal funding requirements, MCORE project work must begin while the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is in session. Traditionally, transportation network improvements projects on-and-around the Urbana-Champaign campus are phased-in following Commencement and completed prior to the start of the fall semester to minimize potential inconveniences.
“Everyone has encountered a road construction project at one time or another, rolled their eyes, and wondered why in the world the work was being done at this time or in that way,” Gnadt said. “As much as we would have liked to avoid causing those moments, the federally-mandated timeline for TIGER grants is just so aggressive that we have no real control over when the construction is performed. We just need to go, go, go! It will make navigating the area difficult during that time, but once it’s done it will look beautiful and really be an enhancement to the community.”
New streetscape improvements, a transit boarding island on Green Street, reconfigured Illini Union vehicle entrance and parking, all-way pedestrian crossing, and protected bicycle lanes are some features that will have a transformative impact on these critical downtown-to-Campustown links in the core of our community.
Projects 1, 2, and 3 will be part of the first construction package slated to begin in the fall of 2016. This work is expected to be completed by late fall of 2017. These final project designs include careful consideration of feedback received from stakeholder meetings and outreach, web form submissions, and surveys from the MCORE Project Open House in May, 2015.
