Underpass

The Normal Town Council heard from staff Monday about possible uses for the plaza surrounding the planned $27 million Uptown underpass — including one idea of extending the Children’s Discovery Museum exhibit space across the green area.

The Normal Town Council will consider spending close to $561,000 to improve tennis and pickleball courts at Anderson and Underwood parks when it meets Monday evening. Town staff said none of those courts have been resurfaced in two decades with the infrastructure spending taking into account the growing popularity of pickleball.

The Normal Town Council on Monday will consider a joint funding agreement for the Uptown underpass project. The agreement with the Illinois Department of Transportation covers development of a detailed construction design and formalizes part of a grant-supported funding scenario approved by the council in July 2021.

The estimated price of the Uptown Underpass Project in Normal could go up by 25% because of inflation.

The proposed 2022-23 budget for the Town of Normal is more than 16% higher than the estimated current year budget. That's an increase of $27.3 million from the current spending plan.

The Normal Town Council has taken the next step toward building the estimated $23 million underpass project linking Uptown and Uptown South via a below-grade crossing of the Amtrak and Union Pacific tracks.

Normal Town Council member Kathleen Lorenz keeps expressing reservations about a $24 million Uptown underpass project and yet keeps voting for it over a period of years. She said during a WGLT Sound Ideas interview, she is taking a leap of faith.

After hearing from former town leaders and other citizens, the Normal Town Council voted 6-1 Monday night to accept federal and state grant funding that will finance more than 90% of the cost of the Uptown underpass project.

The Town of Normal is poised to move ahead in the next budget year with the long-debated underpass project in Uptown Normal. The project first came up 12 years ago and it will be another two or three years before it's done.

The Normal Town Council held a special work session Monday to discuss progress on the long-planned $22.7 million Uptown Normal underpass project.