BENTON, IL (WSIL) 鈥� Illinois continues to invest in improving southern Illinois roadways, committing more than 500 million dollars to 12 local projects with many cities hoping it will mean more economic growth.
"Over the next seven to 10 years, IDOT is going come into our community and do some work on one of our main streets, which is all of our state highways that come right here to the square,鈥� said Benton Mayor Lee Messersmith.
With an investment to improve roads in Southern Illinois, Messersmith is looking toward the future and how it will benefit his town.
"We try to make Benton a place where people wanna live, not just for business to come to town, but we want people to do life here,鈥� he said.
According to IDOT officials, it's some of the busiest they've seen since the interstate days.
"The program that we have now just for District Nine alone, the rebuild Illinois put a billion dollars worth of programming in our area,鈥� said IDOT District 9 Project Implementation Engineer Doug Helfrich.
Many of the projects will continue work on the three interstates that come through Southern Illinois.
"If you take a look at I 57, we would've never been able to provide three lanes, of traffic from Marion to Mount Vernon without this rebuild Illinois,鈥� said Helfrich. 鈥淪o it's been a huge benefit to us. We are pleased with the progress."
IDOT is working on a major project to improve the state highways leading to Benton鈥檚 Square.
"You come right off the interstate, the first thing you look at is our county courthouse, which is new,鈥� Messersmith said. 鈥淪o why wouldn't you want to see a nice new Main Street as you come to the courthouse?鈥�
Messersmith says a lot of the work that IDOT will do will be similar to what was done for HIGHWAY 149 in West Frankfort.
"one of the first big projects they're going do is they're going to redo all of West Main,鈥� he noted. 鈥淲e have one storm drain for all of West Maine, which is why West Main floods so much."
In addition to new storm drains, IDOT will also put in new sidewalks and bike paths. For Messersmith, it all leads to helping make Benton more attractive to visitors and potential businesses.
"Impression's a big thing and for us, the best presentation we can give is new roads,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd if IDOT's gonna help us do that, why wouldn't we want to be a part of that?"
