Project Overview

History of the Project

This project began in 1969, with the passage of state legislation for major highway improvements statewide, including a supplemental freeway, FA 407, from Peoria to Quincy. A corridor study was completed in 1970 and included that portion of the supplemental freeway area from Peoria to IL 61 near the town of Tennessee in McDonough County. Three corridors, A, B, and C, were evaluated, and Corridor A was selected. A draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the portion of Corridor A from Peoria to Canton was begun in the mid-1970s, but the study was suspended in 1979. The FA 407 corridor was also included in three feasibility studies for a highway between Chicago and Kansas City, in 1968, 1974, and 1990. All three studies concluded that the highway could be feasible. In 1998, the 336 Coalition, a group of concerned citizens, business people, and local government representatives, was formed to promote the study and construction of a four-lane highway from Peoria to Macomb. The three corridors from the 1970s study, with a new terminus at Macomb, are re-evaluated in this study.

The Illinois Department of Transportation completed the study of IL 336, the Peoria to Macomb Highway, in 2011. The Federal Highway Administration signed the Record of Decision on June 6, 2011 thus ending the study phase of the project. The final Environmental Impact Statement is available for viewing at www.dot.state.il.us/desenv/il336feis/il336feis.html. The department has identified the rights of way needed to build IL 336 from Peoria to Macomb. To insure this right of way is available, IDOT has initiated the corridor protection process along the right of way from Peoria to the west side of Canton.