Road
to riches?
Interstates mean profits for some towns, poverty for others.
by Pat Harrison
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No one considers it newsworthy
when Chris Langston and his fellow
horologists eat or stay overnight in El
Paso. But the money these clock collectors spend in the town five times each
year reflects the way interstate highways affect the communities they pass
through — as well as those they bypass.
When Interstate 39, which intersects
El Paso, was completed in 1992, it was
hailed as part of a major transportation
artery that stretched from Canada to
the Gulf of Mexico. Since then, it has
become an economic boon for several
small Illinois communities between
LaSalle and Bloomington.
Highway exits have attracted new
businesses to the off-ramp towns. New
businesses have meant more jobs and
more sales and property tax revenues.
And more revenues in city coffers have
paid for improved roads and increased
city services. "The interstate has
allowed the city to do a lot of infrastructure work," says El Paso resident
Frank Iskrzycki. "We've kept the smalltown effect on one side and have the
opportunity and advantages of having
all the business on the other."
In El Paso's case, the interstate has
meant a permanent home for Central
Illinois Chapter 66 of the National
Association of Watch and Clock Collectors. The group has been meeting in
El Paso for eight years, but about two
years ago considered moving because it
was outgrowing its meeting space in a
local restaurant.
The group conducted one meeting in
East Peoria. But members returned to
El Paso because 1-39 allows easy access
to a central location. "Most of our 125
members are from Wisconsin, Chicago,
Rockford and Moline and use 1-39
heavily," says Langston, a Peorian.
"One gentleman from Chicago said it's
only two hours from his front door."
Such access has spawned the building of motels, fast-food restaurants,
antique shops and homes in El Paso,
which has meant hundreds of thousands of dollars for the city. Sales tax
revenue jumped from $252,527 in fiscal
year 1991 to $567,235 in 1995.
The extra money is helping to pay
for infrastructure improvements — utilities, roads, water and sewer lines — that are being used to attract still more
business to the 1-39 interchange. The
city has been able to landscape a new
40-acre park with a swimming pool,
tennis courts, community center and
baseball diamonds. It has built a new
water plant and put up a new public
works building, which houses the local
police department.
The increase in sales tax revenue has
meant less reliance on taxpayers to run
this Woodford County community of
2,500, says city administrator Ted Gresham. He says the city's property tax
rate dropped from $1.33 per $100
assessed valuation in 1992 to $1.09
three years later.
Yet now El Paso must contend with
the growth that comes with being accessible. On the plus side, new homes and
businesses helped swell property tax
coffers. School Superintendent James
Miller says the extra property tax rev-
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28 * February 1996 Illinois Issues
enue has allowed the district to spend
$100,000 to renovate a science classroom and buy computers for local
schools.
But these schools must now contend
with overcrowding. Real estate agent
Don Sutton says easy access to 1-39 and
Bloomington, where many residents
work, has lured many homebuyers. All
59 lots in one subdivision were sold in a
five-month period. Growth like this has
caused the school district's enrollment
to jump an average of 7.5 percent yearly since 1987, Miller says. Enrollment is
at capacity now, with 970 students in
kindergarten through 12th grade.
But a referendum for more classroom space seems a remote possibility.
"The community is going to have to see
a larger need than now," says Miller.
"As we experience growth, which we
anticipate, space is going to become a
major issue."
Such potential problems seem
worthwhile, though, to towns that otherwise might have died without 1-39.
Consider Oglesby, a town of 3,700 residents about 40 miles north of El Paso.
If not for the interstate, says former
Mayor Gerald Scott, Oglesby could
have disappeared from the map. "We
had no way to support our police
force," he says. "And it's an older town.
All the young kids were leaving the area
because there were no jobs."
Since the completion of 1-39, four
restaurants, two motels and two gasoline station-convenience stores have
been built in Oglesby. The population
has stabilized. Much of the sales tax
revenue, which increased from $89,475
in 1986 to $330,159 in 1994, has been
used for street repairs. And in October
came announcement of an 800,000-square-foot distribution facility that
will employ more than 500 people. A
key reason it is locating in Oglesby is its
proximity to convenient transportation.
"1-39 has opened up this area as an
interesting location for warehousing
and transportation-related firms," says
Barb Koch, executive director of the
Illinois Valley Area Chamber of Commerce. "1-39 allows the area to be centrally located to any market."
Just north of El Paso is Minonk,
which has started to see benefits from I-39 but has yet to realize the largesse it
has supplied Oglesby and El Paso. Yet
such a future appears imminent. The
Woodford County community of 2,000
has seen its sales tax revenues rise by
more than $20,000 since fiscal year
1989, though downtown Minonk is
more than a mile from the interstate,
according to city administrator David
Shirley. "There are a lot of out-of-state
cars coming in," he says. "Restaurants
are benefitting, and I've noticed some
outdoorsmen shopping at the grocery
store."
At the same time, the city's property
tax rate has been lowered by almost 50
cents, primarily due to new residents
building or buying. To capitalize on the
potential growth, the city invested $1.18
million to buy and provide infrastructure for 26 acres northeast of 1-39.
James Letsos of Pontiac plans a sit-down restaurant with a minimum seating capacity of 175 in Minonk, plus a
truck stop-convenience store. He
expects to provide 50 to 70 full- and part-time jobs when the development is
completed this year.
In mid-October, Wenona began capitalizing on 1-39 when a fast-food/service station opened at its exit. A restaurant and motel are expected to open in
February or March, says Mayor Bill
Simmons.
So while an interstate can keep
groups like the clock collectors coming
to town for the sake of convenience, its
overall impact on a community can
expand well beyond a few extra fast-food meals purchased and motel rooms
rented. *
Pat Harrison is the city editor of the
Daily Times in Ottawa.
As for those who are bypassed:
'You could shoot a gun without hitting anything.'
Just as an interstate can breathe economic life into a community it
passes through, it can suck business away from others.
"Towns which interstates bypass tend to lose 25 to 30 percent of
their businesses in the first year," says author Tom Teague, who has
researched the history and impact of U.S. highways for his book
Searching for 66.. "Some old-timers tell me that when interstates bypass
them, it is like turning off the tap."
That's been the case in Lostant, about 40 miles north of Bloomington. After Interstate 39 was built, bypassing the village, a gas station-convenience store there closed, leading to a severe decline in sales tax
revenue.
Without the revenue, says village trustee Randy Freeman, Lostant
has no money to repair sidewalks and streets. Nor is there money to
install a sewer system that village officials need to attract business.
"People have said they missed the turnoff," says Freeman, who circulated petitions asking the state to erect a sign at the interstate exit
nearest Lostant.
A few miles north, the opening of 1-39 almost meant a death knell
for the Village Inn restaurant and truck stop in Tonica. It took some
creativity — and a bit of private investment — to pick things up there.
"Business went down 80 percent for about nine months," says Lois
Dellinger, a bookkeeper at the restaurant. "You could shoot a gun
without hitting anything. Truckers don't pay any attention to the exit
numbers."
Business improved, though, once the restaurant's owners convinced
state officials to put up a sign alerting motorists that food, gas and
diesel fuel were available at the exit nearest to Tonica. The Village Inn
pays $1,200 a year for the sign.
Pat Harrison
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Illinois Issues February 1996 * 29