Duryea Days Begins Tonight

Don't forget about the Duryea Days festivities happening this weekend. Car show tonight; Rod Stewart singer dude, as well. Food vendors, beer tent, etc. It's all good.

Tomorrow on Saturday, there is such a long list of featured acts performing, that I'll have to ask you to check it out at the Chamber of Commerce website:

http://www.peoriaheightschamber.com/

Many thanks to the members of the Peoria Heights Chamber of Commerce, along with Trustee R. Scott Owen for all of the hard work they've put in to making this a Duryea Days to remember!

IDOT Safety... ?

From the Journal Star the other day comes the following story:

"A highly traveled section of Farmington Road is due for an overhaul in the coming years, but highway engineers want public input before putting the final touches on the project.

The Illinois Department of Transportation will host a hearing from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Itoo Hall, 4909 W. Farmington Road, in which the plan will be detailed and engineers will be available to answer questions. Drawings of the project also will be presented.

"Our goal that night is really to present what is proposed and take back feedback," said IDOT District 4 community relations manager Brian Williamsen.

The scope of the project covers Farmington Road from just east of Swords Avenue to just west of Red Bud Drive and includes a major overhaul of the intersection with Kickapoo Creek Road, as well as replacement of the bridge over that body of water.

"A big part of that project is moving that intersection," Williamsen said, adding that it will move about 75 feet to the west. "It's enough to make it so the sight lines there are better."

Farmington Road from just east of Swords to the area just east of Kickapoo Creek also will be widened to include a turn lane.

Also included in the project is the installation of a traffic signal at the intersection of Farmington Road and Swords.

"Safety is the goal," Williamsen said of the proposed changes.

The project also has a bike lane through part of the roadway but does not include any sidewalks. The design of the widened road, however, incorporates areas where West Peoria could build sidewalks if desired.

The work does not yet have a specific start date but is included in the state highway department's five-year plan that begins next year."

Is there any significance in this story in regards to Peoria Heights? Well, the key component is that a traffic signal light is going to be installed at the intersection of Farmington Road and Swords Avenue. And, why is that going to be done? Let's let the quote from IDOT District 4 community relations manager Brian Williamsen explain why...

"Safety is the goal."

Since when is a traffic signal considered to be "safe" by IDOT, I ask. You see, when we made the same request to have at least one signal installed on Galena Road, I was told that IDOT studies show that intersections with traffic signals are much more dangerous than those without traffic signals. On a few thousand other occasions, I asked the readers to digest that statement for a spell. My response to the IDOT rep who told me that was simply, "Well, if that's the case, then why not remove ALL traffic signals so that EVERYONE can be safer when they travel?" And, of course, I was met with absolute silence.

So, once again, the decisions and actions of the IDOT "brain-trust" have virtually no continuity; it's just what they feel like they should do that day. Or, perhaps a person or company with clout made the request for the traffic signal; or maybe there's an elected representative in that area that will go to the mat with IDOT about a traffic signal; who knows...

My wife, Kathleen Allen, has lived along Terrace View Lane (right off of Galena Road) for almost all of her life. These issues with Galena Road have been around for so many years, which she can definitely verify.

All I know is that none of us will get a straight answer from IDOT as to why Farmington Road and Swords Avenue should receive a traffic signal light, when Galena Road and Galena Park Terrace/Longshore subdivision cannot get one.

It's just... because.

Tower Park Music Fest 2011

I can't seem to get the Journal Star to acknowledge the upcoming Tower Park Music Fest, even when I supply the information to them, prior to the deadline, for the Red Letter Date section. But, regardless, we WILL be having the Music Fest again this year; our 6th Annual. A few of the acts and their times still have to be finalized, but so far the line-up is as follows:


Friday August 5

5:00 Caribbean Sol

7:00 Roundstone Buskers

9:00 Five Guys Named Moe



Saturday August 6

12 noon OR 1:30 Heath and Greg

3:00 Ready Steady Go!

5:00 Barry Cloyd's Celtricity

7:00 The Special Consensus (Bluegrass)

9:00 Nick Boettcher and DriveTrain


The open times should be filled shortly; I'm just waiting for finalizations from the bands. We will be having the blow-up things for the kids again; food, drink, & beer "wagon," and hopefully a couple of surprises. I'll be providing more information as we get closer to the dates.