Urbana Council Gives Go-Ahead for Shorter High Cross Road Multi-Use Path

The Urbana City Council gave the go-ahead Monday night for work on a new bike and walking path along High Cross Road on the city's east end. But the project is now much smaller than first planned.

The problem is the price. The project is now slated to cost a total of 1-point-2 million dollars, nearly twice the price estimate given when the planning was done back in 2005. , An ITEP (IIllinois Transportation Enhancement Program) federal grant is supposed to pay for most of the project. But Urbana Public Works Director Bill Grey says building the entire path at its current price may exceed the limits set by the grant rules. Still, he says scrapping the project and giving the money back would hurt Urbana's changes for landing such grant money in the future.

"I don't want to give you the impression, that if we go with Option Two and put the money back, that we're never going to see an ITEP grant again, so I'm not saying that tonight", says Grey. "I'm just saying it's going to hurt our chances, in competition with other cities, counties, entities that apply for this money. That we're not going to be in quite the same graces. That's all I'm saying."

In the end, the Urbana City Council voted for "Option Five". That calls for building just the southern portion of the multi-use path at this time --- from Windsor Road, past the Stone Creek subdivision, and out to Po' Boys restaurant and sport complex. The path would not make it out to the future Menard's site or to Walmart. With the reduced plan, the city will pay $310, 000 of its own money - instead of the $1.1 million the city would pay for its share of the full project.