Business and downtown leaders will decide this week whether to hire an independent consultant to study the impact of the state’s $6.1 reconstruction plan for Illinois Highway 64.
Renee Hanlon, executive director of Friends of Downtown, said her organization’s board will likely vote against the study out of concern the state’s plan cannot be modified now that the city has given its approval.
“The city wouldn’t listen to us when we raised our concerns,” Hanlon said. “Why would the city listen to a consultant that we hire?”
Friends of Downtown members, property owners and businesses objected in vain in November when the City Council endorsed the Illinois Department of Transportation’s plan to rebuild the state highway, St. Charles’ Main Street.
Set to begin in 1996, the project will stretch from 7th Avenue to 14th Street. It will replace the century-old bridge spanning the Fox River in downtown St. Charles and widen lanes to accommodate the truck traffic that travels the highway.
The project also will reduce sidewalk widths and eliminate curbside parking along some areas of Main Street.