More road work coming to Frank Scott Parkway. Here’s what St. Clair County has planned
St. Clair County is gearing up for the last of the road work it has planned for Frank Scott Parkway East in Shiloh thanks to millions of dollars in federal funding.
The work includes widening the final section of the road that isn’t already five lanes — between North Green Mount Road and Cross Street — and, eventually, extending the road out to Scott Air Force Base via a connection with Air Mobility Drive.
County Engineer Norm Etling said Congressman Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro, set aside $5 million in federal funding for Frank Scott Parkway East several years ago. The county already used some of it to widen a different portion of the road. The rest of that money will go toward the final lane widening project, according to Etling.
Bost also secured $4 million toward the Frank Scott Parkway East extension to Air Mobility Drive in Congress’ spending bills for the 2024 fiscal year, according to the congressman’s office.
Etling said the county will cover a minimum of 20% of the total cost of the road projects with local money to satisfy a matching funds requirement.
The St. Clair County Board approved the first contract for the lane widening project in March. It hired consulting engineering firm Thouvenot, Wade and Moerchen, Inc. to design the project and prepare the plans, specifications and bidding documents. It paid for the $195,918 contract with local highway funds.
The county will select a contractor to complete the work from the bids it receives. Etling estimated drivers would see the work by 2025.
He said the county may also start accepting bids for the extension project by late summer or early fall this year.
Drivers have navigated around construction on Frank Scott Parkway East for years.
In 2016, the county started widening the intersections at Old Collinsville Road, Hartman Lane and North Green Mount Road. Then it moved on to adding lanes between Illinois 159 and Old Collinsville Road in 2018. The widening continued from Old Collinsville Road to North Green Mount Road in 2021.
Etling said the road needed to be widened to five lanes because of traffic in that area. It connects the community to a large shopping center, restaurants, doctors offices and hospitals, including Memorial Hospital Shiloh on Cross Street and HSHS St. Elizabeth’s Hospital off of North Green Mount Road.
The eventual extension to Air Mobility Drive will make access to Memorial Hospital easier and faster for Scott Air Force Base, which doesn’t have a hospital, according to Etling.
His message to Frank Scott Parkway East travelers is to be patient with the highway department.
“We’re getting there,” Etling said.
