City services, infrastructure will expand, improve
By CHRIS SUNDHEIM
News-Gazette Staff Writer

   In 2030, a motorist pulls up to an intersection near campus - and stops for a traffic signal.
   While the driver waits on a green light, a network of sensors beneath the pavement judges the amount of traffic in the area and adjusts the timing of stoplight signals. One set of traffic lights "talks" to another nearby, optimizing the flow of cars.
   As the driver heads home, he cruises over an innovative type of asphalt called "Superpave," stronger and more durable than much of today's blacktop. Although the hour is late, he is able to see well. Roads that once were draped in inky blackness are clearly lit with overhead lights.
   Driving the last few blocks, our driver can look out over neighborhoods of solid sidewalks and clean streets. In historic areas, brick paving has been preserved. Light fixtures that resemble antiques keep the flavor of the early 20th century while providing the efficiency and security that's expected in the mid-21st.
   If this sounds like an idealized vision of the new millennium, it is. But that's at least part of the picture being sketched by city officials who are even now planning the projects that will carry Champaign-Urbana through the next 30, 50 or 100 years.
   The results should be apparent everywhere: Water will be cleaner, streets will be safer. Flooding will be kept under control. Parks will abound.
   City living won't be so rosy all the time. Along with the improvements of technology will come tough decisions about money, policy and services. As ever, a finite amount of resources will have to be divided for an almost limitless list of needs.
   But Urbana Public Works Director Bill Gray sees many advancements in the crystal ball of this young century.
   "Smart" stoplights are already a reality at several locations in Urbana. Expect more of them in the future.
   Nighttime lighting is steadily getting better too. Urbana is busy with a streetlight replacement project, which should provide reliable lighting for 30 to 50 years or more.
   This and other improvements will improve services without sacrificing the charms residents are accustomed to.
   The city is updating the aging globe-type street lamps with new ones that are similar in style but more modern. Once that phase is finished, there are longer-range plans to see that all arterial streets are lit with overhead lights and intersections in unlighted areas receive overhead lighting.
   The city has made a commitment to preserving the rustic character of brick streets and sidewalks, considered by many to be one of the city's charms. With a few exceptions, streets that are currently brick will stay brick in the foreseeable future.
   The same goes for sidewalks. Urbana plans to spend $75,000 to $100,000 a year for at least the next 20 years replacing failing brick sidewalks, Gray said.
   Managing water quality - how to treat it and how to keep runoff from overwhelming streets - will be another priority in the new century.
   Champaign and Urbana expect that parts of an aging sanitary sewer system will need replacement in the coming years. Portions of the system are 100 years old and made from lengths of old clay pipe.
   To make sure the pipes last, they are inspected every eight to 10 years, or more often if problems are suspected.
   Champaign will continue in long-range efforts to control Boneyard Creek. Both cities will have to find a way to meet upcoming federal requirements that impose new standards for storm water runoff. Municipalities will have to be more vigilant in protecting the sewers from contamination.
   A surprising amount of the work that lies ahead has been planned decades in advance - albeit in broad terms.
   Champaign, Urbana, Savoy and the University of Illinois joined forces to draft a long-range transportation plan titled "C-U in 2030."
   The study, completed in December 1999, lists dozens of goals for development in the next 30 years such as widening many arterial streets, building more parking facilities and providing better accommodations for pedestrians.
   The Champaign Public Works Department is working on an infrastructure master plan that will catalog the city's needs for an indeterminate number of years. Since 1997, the city council has ranked examining infrastructure in older neighborhoods among its top goals.
   "Thirty years ago, this community was not thinking that far ahead," said Mary Anderson, public works director for Champaign. It's only been in the last decade that Champaign began making long-range plans for infrastructure needs.
   The process won't be finished until 2002, but, Anderson said, when completed it should point the way into the next century by defining what are likely to be the most urgent needs. It should also help city leaders begin thinking now about how to provide money for improvement projects later.
   For example, Anderson said, the city is "nowhere near where we need to be" in terms of street repair and maintenance.
   In some ways, Champaign has been a victim of its own growth. As the city has steadily annexed more property, it has assumed greater responsibilities for more streets, sidewalks, trees and numerous services, often overreaching its current resources for maintaining them.
   Among the city's current obligations are: At least 218 miles of streets, 240 miles of sidewalks, 14 miles of alleys and about 18,000 trees, Anderson said.
   Some major roadways are likely to decay to the point where entire segments cannot endure any longer - and resurfacing won't help.
   "We're going to reach a point where we can't just repair roads anymore. We're talking total replacement of the concrete," Anderson said.
   Among the glaring examples: Bradley Avenue between Mattis and Duncan and Devonshire between Prospect and Mattis. Those roads have begun to crumble from overuse and because they probably were not well-built in the first place.
   "All we can do (now) is put on a Band-Aid."

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