Community Benefits

Completion of Olympian Drive promises many benefits to the residents of Champaign County.

Generally they fall into three areas:

• Enhanced Economic Development - The City of Champaign’s Comprehensive Plan, and the North I-74 Development Area Regional Transportation Study, both state that this area “represents the largest concentration of growth in commercial, industrial and office spaces” for the next 20 years. The City of Urbana’s 2005 Comprehensive Plan also calls for increased industrial development in this area, and notes “Urbana lacks access to Interstate 57, the region’s major north/south transportation link.”

  The majority of the land along the Olympian Drive corridor has already been zoned industrial, general business and residential. Intensive commercial and light industrial development is continuing to expand in the area north of I-74, between I-57 and the Canadian National Railroad that will be served by Olympian Drive. It is also within the service area of the Urbana Champaign Sanitary District, Illinois American Water and Ameren who have already invested to provide services to new and expanding customers.

  The construction of the remaining sections of Olympian Drive will accelerate economic development in the area north of I-74 between the Canadian National Railway and US Route 45 consistent with the existing and future land use plan designations established for this area. This will improve employment and social conditions for the Champaign-Urbana community and the region.

• Improved Traffic Circulation/Safety – Continuing growth and development in the area north of I-74 combined with limited road access from the west forces local traffic onto I-74 creating congestion both on the interstate and most notably at the interchanges. Without an east-west alternative continued growth will ultimately overload I-74. If traffic volumes reach a level that require improvements to I-74 it will reduce funding available for “local” road improvements in the Champaign-Urbana metropolitan area.

  The primary benefits of the Olympian Drive project are to improve access to rapidly developing and undeveloped land in the area north of Champaign and Urbana, and relieve congestion on the existing roadway system including Interstate 74. Construction of the remaining sections of Olympian Drive will increase safety for drivers and will provide the necessary access to new developments from I-57 and US 45. At the same time, the construction of Olympian Drive will alleviate congestion in the area and at the interchanges and connecting roads which are becoming more congested as traffic volumes increase.

• Environmental Benefits – Completion of this project will decrease stop-and-start traffic that causes environmental damage. Local traffic using Olympian Drive instead of I-74 will reduce vehicle emissions by traveling at lower speeds. Olympian Drive is anticipated to provide bicycle and pedestrian facilities that will be part of the Champaign County pedestrian and bikeway system, which should further limit the growth of vehicular traffic and bring more bicycle-pedestrian traffic users to this area.