With Illinois just one day away from being without a state budget for a two-year period, construction projects around the state face an uncertain future.
The $44 million MCORE project that is rehabbing Green st. through Campustown will shut down at the end of the day today unless a budget agreement is reached.
In a statement the Champaign city engineer Dave Clark says that it loses its ability to pay contractors on July 1st.
“We are following the directions issued by IDOT in regards to suspending work until a budget is passed and IDOT can pay contractors. The project partners and our contractor for the project, Duce Construction, are eager to see a resolution come quickly, so that work may continue.”
If work is shut down, some portions of the construction may reopen, but the area in front of the Illini Union will remain closed.
By the end of the day on Friday, June 30, the projects will be in the following status:•Project 1 (Green Street, Urbana) Work on this project will be suspended. Green St. between Wright St. and Goodwin Ave. will remain closed to through traffic. The City of Urbana will reassess any potential street openings pending evaluation next week.•Project 2 (Green Street, Champaign) Work on this project will be suspended. Barricades and construction materials will be pulled back from Green Street to allow for two-way traffic all the way from Neil St. to Wright St. Two-way traffic has also been re-established on First St. between Healey St. and Daniel St.
The project which was expected to last until December of 2019 aims to make the Campustown roads easier to share among different modes of transportation.
