A public hearing was held at Central A&M Middle School on Thursday afternoon, to discuss proposed improvements to the US 51 at Leafland Street Intersection. The meeting was held in an effort to provide the public with an opportunity to ask questions, review plans, and for the Illinois Department of Transportation to share what is coming next in the project.

Jeffrey Myers, Region Four Engineer for the Illinois Department of Transportation says after reviewing many different design alternatives, the plan moving forward is what is called a J-Turn which has shown to cut down on crashes especially severe crashes.

A similar J-Turn is being used in Macon and has cut down on crashes.  Between 2014 and 2019 there were 19 total crashes at US-51 at Andrews Street Road in Macon.  The J-Turn opened in the fall of 2019.  From 2019-2023 there was 1 crash.  Zero car-on-car crashes were reported since the J-Turn was opened.  This is a 94% reduction in crashes to date. 

Currently at the Intersection in question between US 51 and Leafland since 2017 there have been 28 crashes.  US-51 at that intersection sees an average of 3,775 vehicles per day.  Leafland Street sees 1100 vehicles per day. 

Myers says the hope is to have construction start in 2025.