Washington Avenue Corridor Study

The increasing levels of traffic on the two major north-south arterial roadways (Kennedy Drive-Convent Street and Kinzie Avenue) have led local officials to consider the addition of a new corridor on Washington Avenue. The Mayors of the City of Kankakee and the Villages of Bradley and Bourbonnais requested that Kankakee County apply for funding for a Corridor Study for the Washington Avenue corridor from the Kankakee River to Armour Road.

The request for an Illinois Tomorrow Corridor Study was approved by the Illinois Department of Transportation, and the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) was designated as the oversight committee. The consultant selected to perform the study was URS, from Decatur, Illinois.

The study began in July 2002 with URS gathering information from various local governments and from the Norfolk Southern Railroad. URS presented a Preliminary Draft (Preliminary recommendation) report to a Public Information Meeting on January 22, 2004, and the public comment period remains open. The study will be completed by June 30, 2004.