Click here to find out the answer.
Because Chicagograd ain’t gonna give you the money.
For the unaware, they’re talking about the stretch of Illinois Route 13 between Marion and Carbondale, which is usually pretty busy. As it’s my daily commute, I might have inadvertently caused a few accidents during rush hour :) It is a four lane divided road with a grass median, but not a freeway. A similar comparision would be Highway 94 in St. Charles County between I-70 and Highway 40/61 (now I-64), except for the parts that are now multiplexed with the Page Avenue Extentsion (Route 364), that short part being a freeway. Route 13 is that same kind of road, with almost as much traffic.
As it is, all they want to do is add one lane in each direction between Marion and Carbondale, to make it a six lane divided road. What really needs to happen is to convert that part to a freeway with continuous one-way outer roads, the interchange of IL 13 at I-57 in Marion is already a free-flow cloverleaf, so no upgrade there would be required. Perhaps such a freeway could be I-157. But neither option is going to get the time of day until you click above.
