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MURPHYSBORO, Ill. (WSIL)-- A project looking to expand Western Illinois roadways that head to the St. Louis metro area is moving into its next phase. 

We're talking about the Southwest Connector Project. 

This is a plan that expands parts of Illinois 127, Illinois 154, and Illinois 3 into a rural four-lane expressway.

The project's coalition held a meeting today to explain the environmental engineering study that will start in June. Murphysboro Mayor Will Stephens says they are still far away from starting construction. 

“This is a billion-dollar project, and so we have $6 million to help further the study of the corridor,�� Mayor Stephens says. “But we are much closer now than we were six years ago.��

He says the road expansion is highly supported by state officials and local businesses that would use the route for commerce. 

“We've got support from Governor Pritzker, we've got support from the house speaker, we've got support from the St. Louis Cardinals, from hundreds of elected officials and businesses along the route,�� Stephens says. “We really believe that in the next couple of years, these studies and the work we've put in are going to allow us to get the funding we've been searching for all this time.”��

He says expanding those routes to a four-lane roadway also adds an extra safety precaution, as he remembers the deadly crash of an SIU student traveling that route in 2024. 

“Lyric Irby was an 18-year-old SIU student who died just north of Murphysboro in an area where, if there had been a four-lane highway, she wouldn't have had to even consider having to pass several vehicles in a tractor that was on the roadway. And so we want a safer road,�� Stephens said. 

Stephens says they also want the road expansion to bring economic development and better healthcare connectivity.

Stephens says they will have a website up soon following the study in June, but for now, people interested in following the project can go to .