I had no idea that the Curtis Road /I-57 exchange was costing $13.5 million.
Here's a map of the area:
At the top and bottom of the map are existing interchanges. Right smack in the middle (at the green arrow) is Curtis Rd. As you can see, the intersection of Curtis and I-57 is surrounded by corn fields.
Granted, this was done because Champaign has grown and is likely continue to grow southwest, so pretty soon those cornfields will be replaced by McMansions. But to the extent that that growth is south, it will head straight for the Monticello Road (Route 18) exit. So the only people who really benefit from this are those who live west of Duncan, south of Kirby and north of Old Church. And we've spent $13.5 million that could have been used to repair Champaign's crumbling arterial roads to save them six minutes of driving time.
http://www.stblogs.org/scgi-bin/mv/mt-tb.cgi/24057
