City council greenlights further improvements on Illinois Avenue

Carbondale leaders are moving quickly to add to the downtown improvements unveiled last year.

At Tuesday's city council meeting, leaders approved a $913,000 contract with E.T. Simonds Construction Company of Carbondale to add new street lighting, ADA-compliant sidewalks, trees, planters, traffic signals and other amenities along Illinois Avenue between Cherry and Monroe streets.

The work continues an effort that added those same features between Mill and Cherry streets last year. Those initial, long- desired improvements to "The Strip" finally came about as part of the run-up to August's total solar eclipse. A third phase of the work eventually will extend the improvements, funded by the city's 2-percent food and beverage tax, north to the Town Square.

Since the current phase will cross Walnut Street at one of the city's busiest intersections, city officials hope to see the work finished this summer before SIU students return for the fall semester. The work is to be complete by Aug. 10

"If it doesn't get finished, we'll have a real problem on our hands," Mayor Mike Henry said.