Long Range Transportation Plan 2025
Section 4: Existing Transportation System
The Champaign-Urbana-Savoy-Bondville urbanized area transportation system can be characterized by a grid pattern of major corridors spaced at roughly every mile over its 40 square mile area (see Figure IV-1).
§ Interstates 57, 74, and 72 provide nine interchanges on the west and north sides of the urbanized area. § Local transit service, provided by the Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District, serves the majority of urbanized area residents within a few minutes’ walk of their homes. § Numerous bicycle and pedestrian paths connect many activity centers and neighborhoods. § Three rail lines crisscross north of the downtown Champaign area, providing freight and Amtrak passenger service. § Willard Airport, located on the southern edge of Savoy, offers daily flights to Detroit, St. Louis, Chicago, and Cincinnati.
Private Vehicles. For traveling to work, going shopping, making social calls, and even going to exercise, the car is the predominant transportation mode in the urbanized area. According to the 2000 Census, the 123,885 residents in the urbanized area had 73,558 vehicles available for use, or one vehicle per 1.68 persons. At the time of the Census, 72% of working residents aged 16 or older in Champaign, Urbana, Savoy, and Bondville traveled by car; 85% of those traveled alone.
Roadway Crashes Crashes between cars, pedestrians, bicycles, and fixed objects are commonplace everywhere. In the Champaign-Urbana urbanized area, traffic crashes are monitored by the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) via local law enforcement agencies. IDOT provides yearly statistics on those crashes that are reported in Champaign and Urbana. From this data, CUUATS determines the intersections with the highest number of crashes and highest rate of crashes per traffic volume. Table IV-1 shows the ten intersections in Champaign-Urbana with the highest number of crashes in 2002.
Intersection Number of Crashes N-S E-W 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 Cunningham Ave/Vine St University Ave 19 18 15 19 25 1st St Green St 25 32 27 22 24 4th St University Ave 11 5 13 8 20 Table IV-1: Top Ten Prospect Ave Bloomington Rd 23 18 17 23 20 Intersections for Randolph St University Ave 8 9 6 14 20 Vehicle Crashes in Champaign-Urbana, Prospect Ave John St 11 9 17 8 19 2002. Source: Selected Mattis Ave Springfield Ave 16 19 7 18 18 Crash Intersection Prospect Ave Bradley Ave 9 9 12 5 18 Locations Report, Mattis Ave Bradley Ave 11 19 13 12 17 1998-2002. Neil St University Ave 32 13 8 13 17
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An intersection is not necessarily deemed critical due to the number of crashes that occur. CUUATS classifies an intersection as critical only when both crash rates per volume of traffic and number of crashes reach a certain level. Table IV-2 and Figure IV-2 show those intersections flagged as critical for both 2001 and 2002 based on this methodology.
Daily Entering Intersection Number of Crashes Crash Rate Vehicles N-S E-W 2001 2002 2001 2002 2001 2002 City of Champaign 1st St Green St 22 24 2.45 2.56 24,600 25,701 4th St White St 3 3 1.52 1.54 5,425 5,335 Country Fair Dr University Ave 7 8 1.08 1.21 17,750 18,101 Locust St Chalmers St 2 3 2.74 4.11 2,000 2,000 Neil St Marketview Dr 14 16 1.94 2.13 19,800 20,603 Neil St University Ave 13 17 1.35 1.71 26,400 27,172 Neil St Washington St 8 5 1.80 1.10 12,150 12,408 Prospect Ave Bloomington Rd 23 20 1.28 1.08 49,050 50,886 Prospect Ave John St 8 19 1.15 2.71 19,075 19,209 Randolph St Church St 8 5 1.75 1.10 12,550 12,413 Randolph St University Ave 14 20 1.65 2.26 23,300 24,229 State St Church St 8 5 2.11 1.35 10,400 10,126 State St University Ave 8 11 1.55 2.19 14,100 13,748 Walnut St Main St 7 5 2.27 1.65 8,450 8,313 City of Urbana Cottage Grove Ave Main St 10 5 2.29 1.12 11,950 12,255 Cunningham Ave/Vine St Pennsylvania Ave 7 6 1.32 1.09 14,525 15,133 Cunningham Ave/Vine St University Ave 19 25 1.35 1.78 38,700 38,413 Guardian Dr University Ave 4 9 1.13 2.54 9,700 9,700 High Cross Rd/Rt 130 Windsor Rd 5 6 1.16 1.35 11,800 12,140 Lincoln Ave Pennsylvania Ave 6 10 0.79 1.31 20,900 20,900 McCullough St Green St 3 6 1.03 2.08 7,950 7,890 Orchard St Pennsylvania Ave 2 5 2.74 6.85 2,000 2,000 Race St Main St 10 9 2.54 2.25 10,775 10,938 Table IV-2: Critical intersections for both 2001 and 2002. Source: Selected Crash Intersection Locations Report, 1998-2002.
Many of the intersections listed in Table IV-2 were designated as critical for one or more years before 2001. Such intersections are recommended by CUUATS staff for further investigation in terms of their geometry, sight distance obstacles, or other factors that could contribute to a propensity for crashes.
Table IV-3 provides an historical perspective on crashes in the Champaign-Urbana area. The year 2002 marked an increase in the number of reported crashes after two years of fairly static figures; it is difficult to say whether there were actually more crashes or just more reported crashes.
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1981-2000 TOTAL ACCIDENTS PERSONS INJURED AVG INJURIES FATALITIES YEAR CHAMPAIGN URBANA TOTAL CHAMPAIGN URBANA TOTAL PER ACCIDENT CHAMPAIGN URBANA TOTAL 1981 2597 1129 3726 992 460 1452 0.39 4 1 5 1982 2184 1009 3193 939 368 1307 0.41 3 1 4 1983 2086 892 2978 917 333 1250 0.42 1 0 1 1984 2055 969 3024 950 389 1339 0.44 2 1 3 1985 2429 1058 3487 957 415 1372 0.39 3 3 6 1986 2543 1027 3570 1023 427 1450 0.41 4 2 6 1987 2589 1011 3600 1186 434 1620 0.45 8 3 11 1988 2375 924 3299 973 342 1315 0.40 1 2 3 1989 2232 943 3175 869 321 1190 0.37 3 0 3 1990 2410 926 3336 915 344 1259 0.38 3 4 7 1991 2218 866 3084 788 299 1087 0.35 2 4 6 1992 2264 802 3066 973 276 1249 0.41 1 1 2 1993 2295 881 3176 938 368 1306 0.41 0 0 0 1994 2363 893 3256 1045 347 1392 0.43 0 0 0 1995 2482 780 3262 995 285 1280 0.39 2 0 2 1996 2579 910 3489 907 323 1230 0.35 3 2 5 1997 2154 892 3046 802 265 1067 0.35 0 0 0 1998 2292 790 3082 760 291 1051 0.34 5 0 5 1999 2250 817 3067 802 224 1026 0.33 1 0 1 2000 2075 764 2839 644 212 856 0.30 3 1 4 2001 2032 767 2799 605 170 775 0.28 1 1 2 2002 2135 868 3003 635 185 820 0.27 3 2 5 TOTAL 50639 19918 70557 19615 7078 26693 53 28 81
AVG/YR 2302 905 3207 892 322 1213 0.38 2.41 1.27 3.68
Table IV-3: Champaign-Urbana Crash history, 1981-2002. Source: Selected Crash Intersection Locations Report, 1998-2002. The number of injuries related to reported crashes generally has been decreasing since the early 90’s, as can be seen in Figure IV-3. The crash to injury ratio peaked in 1987 with approximately one injury for every two crashes. The ratio diminished to approximately one injury for every four crashes in 2002.
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Total Injuries as Percentage of Total Crashes: 1981-2002
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50% Percentage 40%
30%
20%
10%
0% 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 Year
Figure IV-3: Crash-related injuries as a percentage of total crashes, 1981-2002. Source: Selected Crash Intersection Locations Report, 1998-2002
Figure IV-4 shows the number of injuries that occurred in Urbana and Champaign over the same 20 year time period. The graph reflects the decreasing number of reported injuries in both cities. Numerous factors could contribute to this decrease:
§ Improved roadways through signage, traffic signal phasing, geometry, or other changes § Increased law enforcement § Safer cars § Safer motorists § Decreased crash reporting § Increased safety belt use
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Roadway Traffic Crash Injuries 1981-2002
1800
1500
1200
900
600 # of Persons Injured 300
0 1981 1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 Year Champaign Urbana TOTAL
Figure IV-4: Crash-related injuries, 1981-2002. Source: Selected Crash Intersection Locations Report, 1998-2002
In contrast, the number of fatalities does not follow the same trend as injuries. The number of deaths fluctuates yearly; despite having the lowest number of crashes and injuries to date, the year 2002 also had five traffic related fatalities. Other years had fewer deaths despite having more crashes and injuries.
Traffic Volumes Figure IV-5 shows Average Daily Traffic count (ADT) ranges for major corridors in the urbanized area as reported by IDOT in 2001. Figure IV-6 shows intersections with greater than 20,000 ADT, which include Mattis Avenue at Springfield Avenue, Mattis Avenue at Bradley Avenue, Prospect Avenue at Bloomington Road, Lincoln Avenue at University Avenue, and Neil Street at Kirby Avenue.
There are many locations in the urbanized area that are considered to be traffic generators. Figure IV-7 illustrates well-known traffic generators, which include places such as shopping centers, industrial corridors, schools, parks, medical centers and government offices. Table IV-4 lists the traffic generators displayed in the map.
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Major Traffic Generators in the Urbanized Area Apollo Commercial Park Mattis Commercial Park Brookens Administration Center Neighborhood Shopping Center Campustown Corridor North Lincoln Industrial Corridor Carle Campus/Carle Main Clinic North Prospect Commercial Corridor Carle Satellite Clinic Old Farm Shopping Center CAT/Huttig Employment Center Parkland College Champaign City Building Philo Road Commercial Corridor Champaign County Courthouse Plastipak Champaign Main Post Office Savoy Municipal Center Champaign Public Library Solo Cup Factory Christie Clinic U of I Assembly Hall Christie Clinic on Windsor U of I Graduate Library City of Champaign Police Department U of I McKinley Health Center Country Fair/Round Barn Shopping Centers U of I Memorial Stadium Provena Covenant Medical Center U of I Parking Garages Flex N Gate Corporation U of I Parking Lots Fox Drive Office Park/Commercial Corridor U of I South Research Park Frasca Airport U of I Veterinary Medicine Illinois Terminal University Avenue Commercial Corridor Interstate Research Park Urbana City Building Kraft Food Distribution Urbana Free Library Krannert Center Urbana Main Post Office Lincoln Square Mall Savoy Walmart Supercenter Market Place Mall Willard Airport Table IV-4: Major Traffic Generators in the Urbanized Area
Level of Service Roadway intersections are classified into Level of Service (LOS) A through F depending on the delay experienced by motorists at those locations. Increasing delays in the flow of traffic through an intersection lower the LOS score, with A being the highest and F being the lowest score an intersection can receive.
Table IV-5 lists the Level of Service classifications according to their effect on traffic delay. Figure IV-8 displays the LOS classification for many of the major intersections in the urbanized area based on p.m. peak hour (4:30-5:30) traffic counts, which is the hour with the highest traffic volumes in the urbanized area. The map illustrates that the majority of intersections have a LOS of C or better, which falls within acceptable parameters for traffic conditions.
Level of Service A Little or no delay B Short traffic delays C Average traffic delays D Long traffic delays E Very long traffic delays Volumes exceed capacity, which F causes congestion affecting all movements in the intersection Table IV-5: Level of Service Classifications. Source: Highway Capacity Manual 2000.
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Pedestrians and Bicycles. The Champaign-Urbana-Savoy-Bondville urbanized area, which includes the University of Illinois, is home to approximately 35 miles of bicycle paths, shared-use (pedestrian and bicycle) paths, and pedestrian trails. These paths connect major activity centers, neighborhoods, and the individual municipalities. Figure IV-9 illustrates the different paths available for use in the urbanized area.
Whether traveling on roadways or making use of the greenways and trails system, bicyclists and pedestrians must often cross busy streets, intersections, and driveways. Conflict can and does occur between non-motorized and motorized vehicle users in these areas, especially in the University district, which has the highest volumes of pedestrians and bicyclists. Table IV-6 shows the ten busiest intersections for pedestrians according to counts completed by CUUATS staff. The number of bicycles counted during the same time period along with the bicycle ranking (1 being the busiest intersection for bicycles) is also provided. In addition, the table shows the number of crashes that involved pedestrians and resulting injuries that occurred at these intersections between 1996 and 2000.
Ped Bike # Crashes N-S E-W # Peds # Bicycles Date Counted Injuries Rank Rank 96-00 1 Wright Green 3579 197 9/4/2002 3 2 2 2 6th Green 2694 156 10/3/2002 6 3 3 3 Good win Illinois 2517 288 8/30/2001 2 1 1 4 Good win Green 1878 473 9/5/2001 1 3 3 5 6th Armory 1495 76 11/29/2001 14 0 0 6 4th Green 923 122 9/30/2002 7 2 2 7 Wright Springfield 913 160 9/25/2002 4 0 0 8 Good win Springfield 786 160 10/1/2002 5 1 1 9 6th Springfield 552 104 9/9/2002 9 0 0 10 Wright Armory 535 120 9/18/2002 8 0 0
Table IV-6: Ten highest-volume pedestrian intersections. Source: Selected Crash Intersection Locations Report, 1999-2000
Similarly, Table IV-7 shows the ten busiest intersections for bicyclists according to counts completed by CUUATS staff. The number of pedestrians counted during the same time period along with the pedestrian ranking (1 being the busiest intersection for pedestrians) are also provided. In addition, the table shows the number of crashes involving bicyclists and resulting injuries that occurred at these intersections between 1996 and 2000.
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Bike Ped # Crashes N-S E-W # Peds # Bicycles Date Counted Injuries Rank Rank 96-00 1 Goodwin Green 1878 473 9/5/2001 4 2 2 2 Goodwin Illinois 2517 288 8/30/2001 3 2 1 3 Wright Green 3579 197 9/4/2002 1 1 1 4 Wright Springfield 913 160 9/25/2002 7 1 1 5 Goodwin Springfield 786 160 10/1/2002 8 1 0 6 6th Green 2694 156 10/3/2002 2 1 1 7 4th Green 923 122 9/30/2002 6 2 2 8 Wright Armory 535 120 9/18/2002 10 0 0 9 6th Springfield 552 104 9/9/2002 9 0 0 10 1st Kirby 164 91 8/26/2002 14 2 2 Table IV-8: Ten highest-volume bicycle intersections. Source: Selected Crash Intersection Locations Report, 1999-2000
Recent measures have been taken to improve accessibility for visually impaired persons and other pedestrians in the urbanized area. Accessible Pedestrian Signals (APS) have been installed in several locations, mainly in the Campustown area, that assist visually impaired persons cross the street by providing tactile buttons and audible tones. Municipalities are also continually upgrading crosswalk ramps and installing sidewalks to make travel easier for all pedestrians.
Planning for pedestrian and bicycle facilities is becoming increasingly important in the urbanized area. The Champaign County Greenways and Trails Plan (February 2004) focuses on connectivity between land uses, existing pedestrian and bicycle facilities, and other transportation modes. Concepts and public input from the plan contribute to the LRTP.
Local Public Transit. The Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District (CUMTD) provides public transit within the Champaign-Urbana-Savoy urbanized area. Its current service area (see Figure IV-10) covers the majority of the cities of Champaign and Urbana, and the northern third of the Village of Savoy. MTD’s 10-year service and capital plan identifies the goal of extending their service area to become coterminous with the urban area to the extent permitted by law.
The current fare for adults is $1.00; transfers to any route are free. Children 46 inches or less in height accompanied by a fare-paying adult ride for free, as do senior citizens and disabled persons who obtain a DASH pass from the MTD. Seven tokens can be purchased for $5.00 from any MTD driver, and unlimited ride passes can be purchased on an annual or seasonal basis from MTD offices. University students, faculty, and staff have unlimited access to the bus system by presenting the driver with their University of Illinois identification card. University students pay a mandatory fee each semester on their tuition bill for this unlimited access.
MTD also offers deviated fixed-route and demand-response services. These services pick up passengers both at designated locations and by reservation within a specified service area. SafeRides is a night van service serving various parts of the University upon request. MTD also operates ADA paratransit service in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (from MTD Existing Conditions Report 2002).
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Figure IV-10: Mass Transit District Service Area and 2000 Urbanized Area Boundary
CUMTD has fifteen routes that serve the overall community on weekdays between 5:51 a.m. and 7:40 p.m. Buses on these routes have headways3 between 15 and 30 minutes during peak travel hours and every 30 minutes during non-peak hours.
On weeknights, service is limited to five routes that run from 6:21 p.m. to 2:56 a.m. These buses have 10 to 30 minute headways. The evening routes follow routes that deviate from and or expand upon some of the daytime routes.
Weekend service is limited to seven routes during the day on Saturday, five routes on Saturday evening and Sunday during the day, and two routes on Sunday evenings. Headways range from 30 to 45 minutes on weekends.
Saturday daytime service runs from 5:53 a.m. to 6:48 p.m. Saturday evening runs from 6:22 p.m. to 2:56 a.m. Sunday daytime routes run from 8:35 a.m. to 6:56 p.m. Sunday evening routes run from 5:57 p.m. to 2:56 a.m.
3 Headway is defined as the time period between buses moving in the same direction on a given route.
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In addition, the free campus bus service offers six routes that serve major destinations in the University District between 6:35 a.m. and 3:07 a.m. Headways for these routes range from 5-20 minutes during peak travel times and 7-30 minutes during off-peak times. The campus routes operate when school is in session; only the 22 Illini route operates on weekends.
Ridership In 2004, CUMTD tallied 10,435,923 passengers, reflecting a ten percent increase from the previous year. As can be seen in Figure IV-11, historical trends indicate general growth despite some periodic decreases in ridership.
MTD Ridership: 1988-2004
12,000,000
10,000,000
8,000,000
6,000,000 Number of Passengers 4,000,000
2,000,000
0 FY88 FY89 FY90 FY91 FY92 FY93 FY94 FY95 FY96 FY97 FY98 FY99 FY00 FY01 FY02 FY03 FY04 Fiscal Year
Figure IV-11: MTD Annual Ridership, 1988-20044. Source: CUMTD.
Intercity Public Transit. There are a variety of intercity bus services available, ranging from charter service to weekend service for University of Illinois students. Outgoing schedules are provided for those services that have Champaign as point of origin. As can be seen in Table IV-8, buses provide the most opportunities for intercity travel compared to air and passenger rail travel.
4Every three years, the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship Conference brings thousands of visitors to the community. The event relies on public transit for travel between venues and residences. MTD ridership figures reflect this event.
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Willard Intercity § Greyhound Bus provides direct Destination Amtrak Airport buses intercity bus service from Illinois Bloomington IL 2 Terminal to Rantoul, Effingham, Carbondale IL 2 1 Decatur, Mattoon, and Chicago. In Centralia IL 2 addition, service with one or more Chicago IL 6 to 7 2 13 stops is available between Illinois Danville IL 9 Terminal and Springfield; Decatur IL 2 Indianapolis, Indiana; Memphis, Du Quoin IL 1 Tennessee; and St. Louis, Missouri, Effingham IL 2 3 among numerous other national Galesburg IL 2 destinations. Gilman IL 1 Homewood IL 2 § Burlington Trailways provides intercity Kankakee IL 2 11 bus service from Illinois Terminal to Mattoon IL 2 2 various locations in Illinois, Indiana Moline IL 1 and Iowa. Rantoul IL 1 11 Peoria IL 2 § Bluebird Charter Coach provides daily Quincy, IL 1 charter bus service between Willard Springfield IL 3 Airport, Illinois Terminal, Village of Davenport IA 1 Rantoul, Bradley, O’Hare Airport and Des Moines IA 1 Midway Airport in Chicago. Crawfordsville IN 9 Gary IN § Suburban Express provides weekend Indianapolis, IN 9 bus service between various Fulton KY 1 locations in the Chicago suburbs and Hammond LA 1 the University of Illinois Campus. New Orleans LA 1 Detroit MI 3 to 4 § Chicago Express provides weekend St. Louis, MO 1 to 2 3 bus service between various Brookhaven MS 1 locations in Chicago and the Greenwood MS 1 University of Illinois Campus. Hazlehurst MS 1 Jackson MS 1 § Lincolnland Express (LEX) offers McComb MS 1 service every three hours, twenty-four Yazoo City MS 1 hours a day, between Champaign LEX Omaha NE 1 terminal (4400 W. Springfield Cincinnati, OH 3 Avenue) and Chicago O’Hare Airport, Memphis TN 1 Indianapolis, and Chicago Midway Newbern-Dyersburg TN 1 Airport. In addition, LEX runs TOTAL 13 to 16 28 87 reservation-only hourly service Table IV-8: Daily Departures from Champaign-Urbana- between Champaign and the Central Savoy (Destinations without Transfers) Source: Champaign Illinois Regional Airport at County Statistical Abstract, 2004 Bloomington-Normal.
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Commercial Trucks. Given that three interstates and several state and national routes intersect in the urbanized area, it follows that commercial trucks contribute to local traffic. According to IDOT, Champaign, Urbana, Savoy, and Bondville have 2,176 commercial trucks registered with the State of Illinois (as of July 2003).
The urbanized area is home to numerous industries and firms that ship and receive freight at local, regional, and national levels. Some firms may have as little as one delivery per day, while others may have dozens. Regardless of frequency, roads must be able to carry these trucks and local engineers must plan roads and infrastructure to accommodate their size, weight and vertical clearance requirements.
Currently, there is no truck route system in the urbanized area. Trucks can essentially travel any road, which can increase wear and tear on roads that were not necessarily constructed to handle commercial truck traffic. In addition, there are no time limits on when trucks can make deliveries in the urbanized area; trucks generally deliver goods during business hours, which can exacerbate local traffic conditions for other transportation modes. Many commercial truck destinations are not equipped for deliveries, forcing trucks of all sizes to block roads when loading and unloading.
Figure IV-12 illustrates truck traffic on State of Illinois routes and interstates in the urbanized area, as counted by IDOT in 2001. Generally, the heaviest truck traffic occurs on the major corridors, with less traffic occurring on those routes that are in the core of the urbanized area. Commercial trucks tend to travel on the Major Roads as identified on the map rather than other local roads.
Rail. Three rail companies own track within the CUUATS 20-year metropolitan planning boundary. Canadian National-Illinois Central (CN-IC) operates the north- south line that runs parallel to Neil Street/US 45; this track leads to stops in Chicago and New Orleans, among other locations. CN-IC also operates an east-west line that runs through Champaign west through Bondville and Seymour; this line connects to the CN-IC north-south line near downtown Champaign. Norfolk Southern operates the line running roughly parallel to US Route 150 from west of Champaign through the urbanized area to Smith Road in Urbana. CSX now owns the portion of the same track between Smith Road and Danville. The CN-IC line west of Seymour and the CSX line between Urbana and Danville have both been leased to local Rails to Trails interests that are in the process of creating nature trails and bicycle paths along the abandoned lines.
Passenger Rail Amtrak passenger rail service is provided to area residents via Illinois Terminal. The Illinois service runs between Chicago and Carbondale twice a day in each direction on the CN-IC track. The City of New Orleans service runs between Chicago and New Orleans, stopping in Champaign once daily in each direction.
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Champaign Ridership Share of All Illinois Stations
900,000
848,433 843,695 800,000 807,467 815,963 775,158 754,575 700,000 705,040
600,000
500,000
400,000
300,000
200,000
100,000 71,668 74,141 76,236 73,306 59,601 68,625 62,186 (8.8%) (9.09%) (8.99%) (8.69%) (7.9%) (8.85%) (8.82%) 0 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
All Illinois Stations Champaign
Figure IV-13: Amtrak Ridership (boardings and disembarkations) from Champaign Illinois Terminal. Source: IDOT.
Ridership In 2003, 73,306 Amtrak passengers either boarded or disembarked at Illinois Terminal. These passengers comprised 8.7% of all riders that either boarded or disembarked at stations in Illinois and St. Louis. As can be seen in Figure IV-13, the Champaign station’s share of state ridership experienced an increase in 2003 after several years of decline.
The number of passengers using the Champaign station had been declining since 2000, when ridership peaked at 74,141 passengers. In 2003, Amtrak experienced a 15% increase in ridership locally.
The Chicago-Champaign-Carbondale corridor has seen an overall decrease in ridership of 4.5% since 2000. In 2003, however, corridor ridership increased by 11.2% with 146,249 passengers using the corridor. Half of those passengers boarded or disembarked at the Champaign station.
Air. University of Illinois Willard Airport provides direct air service to Detroit Metropolitan Airport, Chicago O’Hare Airport, St. Louis Lambert International Airport, and Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.
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Willard receives sixteen flights daily Monday through Friday, with twelve flights on Saturday and fifteen flights on Sunday (as of August 2004).
Emplanements In air service, the term emplanements is used to identify the number of persons that board a plane. Figure IV-14 illustrates annual emplanements at Willard Airport from 1961 through 2003.
The figure illustrates a peak in air travel in 1990, when 179,726 people boarded planes at Willard Airport. In 2002, 111,159 persons boarded at Willard, marking a 38% decrease in air travel via Willard Airport compared to the peak year 1990. The 1993 closure of Chanute Air Force Base in Rantoul contributed to this decline in air travel via Willard Airport. The recent addition of Delta Airlines is expected to increase emplanements for Willard Airport.
Emplanements
180,000
160,000
140,000
120,000
100,000
80,000 Number of Passengers 60,000
40,000
20,000
0 1961 1964 1967 1970 1973 1976 1979 1982 1985 1988 1991 1994 1997 2000 2003 Year
Figure IV-14: Willard Airport Annual Emplanements, 1961-2003. Source: University of Illinois.
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