MORRISON – The Morrison City Council on Monday, Sept. 11, will have a study session examining options to improve the U.S. Route 30/Genesee Street intersection.

That intersection currently is in need of many repairs. Sidewalks are crumbling, curbs are limited or nonexistent and catch basins in need of repair are causing stormwater to collect on the street, according to city documents. The stoplight at the intersection also has been under discussion. Put in place by the Illinois Department of Transportation sometime in the late 1960s or early 1970s, the last known work on the stoplight was in 1985.

The traffic light is the city of Morrison’s responsibility to maintain. Because of the age of the signals, the cost of maintenance and poor signal timing, the council has talked about what could be done at the intersection. IDOT currently has no plan of action to upgrade the intersection, according to city documents.

Options the city will consider at its meeting include:

• Doing nothing and imploring IDOT to improve the intersection and U.S. 30 throughout the city.
• Having the city complete work at the intersection to include limited sidewalk repairs, catch basin work and painting signal poles.
• Having the city do extensive sidewalk, curb and stormwater drainage work and paint poles. In this scenario, the city could decide whether to replace the intersection’s traffic signals or possibly remove them altogether.

A 2015 estimate to replace the traffic signals came in at $167,000; removal would cost $10,000, according to a June 2023 estimate. Sidewalk, curb and catch basin improvements would cost an estimated $45,000, according to the June 2023 estimate.

If the stoplight is removed, Mayor Scott Vandermyde has said, the Illinois Department of Transportation will not allow motorists to turn from Genesee onto the highway or cross Route 30, because of a poor line of sight.

That will leave a few choices, he said. One option would be to make the 200 block of Genesee a southbound one-way street from Route 30 to Main Street and make the 300 block of Genesee a northbound one-way street from Route 30 to Knox Street That would prevent motorists from turning east or west onto Route 30 or crossing the intersection.

Another option is to close the 200 block of North Genesee to traffic and make Genesee north of U.S. 30 a one-way street to Knox Street or as far north as High Street, near Northside Elementary School.

The 200 block of Genesee Street then possibly could be be developed into a park or place for downtown events. The city early last month already had received five pages with the names of petitioners against the street’s closure, city officials said.

The meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. at Odell Public Library, 307 S. Madison St.