Plans to Seek $25 Million in Grant Funds for Missing Mile Project

Plans have been announced to seek $25 million in Federal grant funds to finance construction of the "missing mile" project.

The missing mile involves a stretch of street connecting Evergreen Avenue in Effingham with Water Street in Teutopolis. Evergreen currently ends at Willenborg Street, while Water ends at Crystal Street, also known as Crystal Club Road.

Effingham City Engineer Jeremy Heuerman said the project would also involve the reconstruction of Evergreen from US Route 45 to Willenborg Street, reconstruction of a 1700 foot stretch of Willenborg at Evergreen, and addition of a turn lane and stop signals on Water at Harvester Street in Teutopolis.

The project is a joint venture of the City of Effingham, Effingham County, and the Village of Teutopolis. Heuerman said the final application is due April 29, and word on whether the request is approved should come by this fall.

Heuerman said the project is 100% grant funded, although said any matching money committed locally could improve the chances of the request being approved. He said the local request also has a better chance of approval since a project development report has already been completed. That report was funded by a Federal grant received by the Village of Teutopolis in 2013. Heuerman said that is especially significant since it's an 18-month process to complete the report, and it's already in-house.

The money is being available at the Federal level through a Tiger 8 grant program that will allocate $100 million to the State of Illinois. The local project will be in competition for a share of those funds.

Heuerman said the project would involve sidewalks and bike trails.

The rationale for the project is to reduce traffic on US 40 between Effingham and Teutopolis and the Teutopolis frontage road, and to give alternate access to and from the Network Centre High Tech Park.