Madison County considers lowering speed limit on section of Troy-O’Fallon Road

By Charles Bolinger

Editor • One of the items mentioned during Troy’s Jan. 5 city council meeting was the plan for the sidewalk that currently links US 40 and Turtle Creek Drive.

Plans call for expanding that sidewalk along the west side of Troy-O’Fallon Road from Turtle Creek to Meadowbrook Drive using a Transportation Alternative Program (TAP) grant.

Also, city officials have been coordinating with Madison County on a mid-block, pushbutton-activated pedestrian/bike crossing. City officials surveyed residents in the nearby Fairoaks Subdivision about the crossing and 73% of respondents said they wanted it and would use it.

Madison County reps were pleased enough with the survey results that they approved the crossing location and are looking at lowering the speed limit on that portion of Troy-O’Fallon Road.

City Engineer Tom Cissell plans to draft a resolution of support for the council to consider at its Jan. 20 meeting.

Previously, Cissell reported that city officials are also talking to Madison County about the possibility of extending the west side sidewalk as far south as Country Lane and Hampton Glen.

Industrial

On Jan. 7, Troy officials met with the company seeking to annex 1501 and 1515 Formosa Road and rezone it for a directional boring company. The meeting topic was adding solar panels to this parcel as part of the project.

The developer of the Woods Basement site in Plummer Industrial Park provided a letter from Ameren Illinois that takes no objection to a proposed right-of-way vacation that is proposed as part of this development.

Downtown

Belle Rose has complete water and sewer leading to the site, said Public Works Director Rob Hancock. The site awaits construction, which may not take place until spring. The development’s final plat was approved last April.

Around Troy

The latest about the traffic study for Creekside Drive and US 40 is that city officials worked on a turn-lane warrant analysis and a plan for a new development at this location. 

A preliminary right-of-way plat was sent to IDOT for review and they provided verbiage for it last July; the city returned the traffic study for IDOT review and approval last September. 

Cissell said Troy received clarification comments from IDOT on Dec. 11. IDOT now requires a surety bond for the road construction. City Administrator Jay Keeven is working on providing a letter of credit that IDOT requires. City officials resubmitted the traffic study to IDOT on Dec. 29.

Harvest Pointe. This is a nine-lot, single-family subdivision off of Staunton Road and east of Kimberlin. The latest is that city officials are planning to bid the detention pond work in late January. The city applied for a $15,000 Madison County Environmental grant to help cover some of the associated construction costs. The Troy City Council approved a resolution of support for this grant at its Dec. 15 meeting, The grant is due on or before Jan. 16.

Roads

Bouse Road Phase One, which would reconstruct Bouse between Chamberlain and Whitworth drives from an oil ‘n chip road to a 30-foot-wide concrete street with new curbs, gutters and sidewalks, plus a new shared-use path to connect to Madison County Transit’s Goshen Trail. A large amount of grant money, almost $800,000, has been allocated for this work. During Christmas Week, city officials continued working on the design survey.

Bouse Road Phase Two, which runs from Whitworth Drive to Formosa Road has a planned Surface Transportation Program (STP) grant to fund the work. The grant is due by Feb. 4. Further, a resolution of support to the grant application was approved at the council’s Dec. 15 meeting. City officials met with East-West Gateway staff on Jan. 7 to review the draft application and receive feedback.

Olde Farm Road. Work began on this resurfacing project Nov. 17. The contractor completed removing and replacing all of the v-gutter but has shut down for the winter. They will pave Olde Farm and Pinewood Court in the spring. 

Riggin Road. City officials want to reconstruct Riggin between Zenk and Bouse roads, converting it to a 30-foot-wide concrete street with new curbing, gutters and sidewalks. Troy officials said they received preliminary comments from IDOT before New Year’s Day and plan to address them by Jan. 15.

Zenk Road. Troy officials submitted a $286,000 grant application to Madison County Community Development on Dec. 29 to secure the city’s community development block grant award.

PASER Plans

Cissell said he and officials met on Nov. 25 to discuss adding Charter Street to the city’s PASER Project list. The street will receive new gutters among other work and they plan to bid the work out in January. Other streets to fall under the PASER project this fiscal year include Collinsville Road, Sarah Street, Hickory Street and Wickliffe Street. The city’s new fiscal year begins May 1.

Water and Sewer Projects

Troy officials applied for environmental clearances from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and the Illinois Health Practice Alliance before Christmas before work starts to replace a two-inch water main with an eight-inch one along US 40 from Cheshire to Bethany Drive. This work needs to be completed before phase four of Silver Creek Trail is extended to Triad High School in 2026 or 2027. 

Water main extension to Jarvis Township Yard. Troy officials said they will seek to formalize the acquisition of a 10-foot-wide easement for a future trail. This is part of a project to extend the water main under Sr. Airman Brad Smith Boulevard into the Jarvis Township Yard to make salt brine and for future development.

Completed Projects

Left-turn lane on southbound Troy-O’Fallon Road. This lane permits southbound traffic to turn onto Country Lane without backing up mainline Troy-O’Fallon Road, especially during rush hours. The project is substantially complete.

Old Homestead Drive Pavement Patching. This 500-foot-long segment of concrete pavement was patched last year and is substantially complete.

Silver Creek Trail. The third and latest phase of extending the trail eastward is substantially complete. The trail now begins/ends at the eastern edge of C. A. Henning Elementary School while the other beginning/end remains at Formosa Road, north of US 40. The trail now comprises 2.08 miles in length, with another .80-mile segment planned next to connect to Triad High School. The eventual plan will be to extend Silver Creek eastward then northeastward to Highland along US 40.