Savoy Village Board to vote on deal with Champaign County to share cost of Curtis underpass

Jana Wiersema, The News-Gazette, Champaign-Urbana, Ill.
·3 min read

Apr. 17—SAVOY — Champaign County is expected to provide up to $862,500 to help fund work on the Curtis Road underpass and related road improvements.

The Savoy Village Board will consider whether to approve an intergovernmental agreement with Champaign County regarding the project at its 7 p.m. meeting today.

"The issues with that railroad crossing cause problems for county residents in terms of emergency vehicle access when a train is going through," said County Executive Steve Summers. "It's a safety concern."

The county board has already approved the intergovernmental agreement, he said.

Local officials wrote in a resolution that Savoy and Champaign County have "jointly planned and advocated" for improvements to the Curtis Road corridor between Prospect Avenue and First Street for several decades.

The project includes a structure to carry the Canadian National railroad over Curtis Road, just east of U.S. 45. Village President John Brown said in a previous interview that the street would be lowered six feet, while the tracks would be raised 15 feet.

Per the proposed agreement, the project is still in the engineering phase and is expected to be bid by the Illinois Department of Transportation in November 2025. Construction is estimated to run from March 2026 to November 2028.

"The underpass has been on the radar in the area for probably 20, 25 years," Brown told The News-Gazette. "I'm just glad that we're finally able to make some progress on that. Getting that grant last year has really helped us achieve that goal."

The underpass project was awarded a federal grant of over $22.6 million in June of 2023. According to village officials, Savoy had previously secured a little under $17.7 million and is using these funds to cover design and engineering costs.

Other funding sources include $2 million in Congressionally Directed Spending. Canadian National is also funding a portion of the project.

The proposed agreement between Savoy and Champaign County states that the project has an estimated cost of $40,365,400. Brown said that this is a preliminary estimate.

It's his understanding that village staff have identified around $48 million from various sources that could go to this project, if need be. He added that if inflation proves to be an even greater issue than expected, there are also some parties who have indicated they might be willing to increase their contributions.

It's anticipated that, in addition to the county's funding, Savoy will put $1,341,300 toward the project. These funds are already in reserve, Brown said.

The terms of the agreement state that the village will provide funding for Phase I and Phase II project engineering costs, but both parties will cover the local share of construction costs.

"The County share of the construction funding shall be $862,500," the agreement states. "The Village will pay for the remaining local share of the project construction costs. While Village costs may vary based on the actual project cost, the County share will not increase."

"We're really happy that the village has been able to secure significant federal funding to get this done," Summers said. "Otherwise, they could never have afforded it. So this is a great example of federal, state and local cooperation and providing funds to address community needs."