Local highways to undergo construction during summer

By: Joe Astrouski / City Editor

Posted: 5/4/09

As students leave Eastern for the summer, three sections of the state highways they will take will either be under construction or slated for repair.

The projects involve two stretches of Illinois Route 130 and one stretch of Illinois Route 16, said Gary Welton with the Illinois Department of Transportation in Effingham. In total, the projects will cost the state about $9.6 million, Welton said.

The first project involves the section of Route 16 between Charleston and Ashmore, Welton said.

"It's going to be a rural resurfacing project," Welton said. "We're going to be putting down a new surface (and) we may be adding shoulders."

Welton said the project, which is contracted to Howell Asphalt Company of Mattoon, will cost roughly $2.5 million. As of this weekend, a stretch of the project area had already been resurfaced.

State officials also plan to resurface 15 miles of Route 130 south of Charleston, Welton said. That project, which will cost an estimated $5.8 million, is being funded through Illinois' Mini-Capital Bill, which funds infrastructure upgrades around the state.

"That should be starting any time," Welton said.

Resurfacing work has also begun on a 5-mile stretch of Route 130 north of Charleston.
That project, which is contracted to Niko Asphalt Company, will cost an estimated $1.3 million, Welton said.

Welton would not say when the projects would be completed.

Joe Astrouski can be reached at 581-7942 or at jmastrouski@eiu.edu.