Neil Street is a primary gateway to the City of Champaign. From I-74 to Downtown, the Neil Street corridor connects people to businesses, neighborhoods, schools, parks, and more. The corridor is the only road that directly connects people from the interstate to Downtown Champaign. It has been a long-standing goal of the City to beautify its entryways and to create a more vibrant corridor for residents and visitors alike to enjoy.

The Neil Street Corridor Plan was adopted in 2019 and addressed six themes: Corridor Identity, Beautification, Wayfinding, Entry Node, Sustainability, and Safety. The plan created concepts that can be refined for the eventual infrastructure improvements in the corridor from Interstate 74 south into Downtown Champaign for all modes of travel. At the time the plan was created, it was envisioned to be a 20-year multi-phased project.

The City is now actively working to advance the plan! The City is working with Fehr Graham to develop a Preliminary Design Report. The Preliminary Design Report is a conceptual construction document that will allow City Staff, the Design Engineers, and the community to see if the recommendations of the 2019 Improvement Plan will meet the minimum standards to function. This conceptual document will allow final designs to be developed at a later date, when funding is available. This conceptual design will look at the specifics of turning movements, existing infrastructure widths, and travel times to evaluate if they can achieve the objectives of the adopted plan while meeting adopted national standards for roadway design. For any general comments and feedback, feel free to email neilstreetfeedback@champaignil.gov!