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Originally Posted by ardecila
Yeah but how much of that $3bn price tag is eligible for funding from those sources? Seems like a lot of the cost is related to lakefill, flood prevention/coastal work and park projects.
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All the federal highway bills since 1992 have included setasides for "transportation enhancement," which has been used for some pretty peripheral things, even including historic preservation of nearby buildings. No problem at all to tap into that for making a historic parkway more scenic or more protected from winter erosion.
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LSD is a unique road with unique needs, I'm not sure we want to take a huge amount of Federal money with strings attached. Will IDOT need to raise the speed limit and embrace design standards for faster speeds? Will huge signage and glaring lighting be required? etc etc.
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No, also since 1992 there have been special provisions for scenic byways. Now if LSD were to be given an Interstate number, that would pressure IDOT to bring it up to Interstate standards. But otherwise it's all up to IDOT and the eternal battle between those who understand that a parkway is for more than moving vehicles and those who hide behind the Engineering Green Book and say "but the standard says this." The 1991 reconstruction on the North Side added new median dividers with a unique Moderne design that FHWA signed off on, and the Moderne overpasses at North Avenue and 47th have been reconstructed since then with the cooperation of IDOT.