In December 2017, the city of Pekin and members of the Tri-County Regional Planning Committee collaborated with a community steering committee to generate a comprehensive study of Derby Street. The study, completed by Hanson Engineering of Peoria, is published on the city’s website, and the council will soon address its results and the variety of ways Derby Street can be improved. (Photo courtesy of city of Pekin)

In the late 1800s, Derby Street was the southernmost road in Pekin. Today, the bustling arterial route is showing its age, and the City of Pekin is hoping to gradually revitalize it.

Last year, the city and the Tri-County Regional Planning Commission launched the first comprehensive study of Derby Street.

Funded by a $25,000 planning commission grant, the Tazewell unit of University of Illinois Extension Service and the university’s Department of Urban and Regional Planning collaborated with the city and Hanson Engineering of Peoria to determine what must be done to transform Derby into a “Complete Street.”

A community steering committee of residents, business owners and local officials also participated in the study, which proved to be an excellent contribution to its overall results.

“I’ve lived here for 71 years, I know Pekin well and Derby is homes and mom and pop shops,” City of Pekin Councilman John Abel said. “People are really wanting to know about the study and we want them to know we haven’t forgotten them, that Derby isn’t the ‘red-headed stepchild’ of Pekin.”

Over the years, Derby has evolved into blocks of mixed use properties, with patches of homes separated by various businesses; hardware, thrift and grocery stores. Sprinkled among them sit a few empty lots and dilapidated buildings, hemmed with intermittent sidewalks and few curbs.

“It’s a very different and unique mile-and-a-half, but the width is in our favor,” Abel said of the bike paths that line both sides of Derby. “There are intersections that need some good old road work and paint, and curbs and parking all need help. I’m glad they laid the study out in sections.”

Funding challenges

Included in Hanson’s 65-page “Derby Street Corridor Plan and Revitalization Study”, are various probable cost breakdowns, beginning with three basic categories.

Full reconstruction, beautification included, will cost $18,396,000. Mill and overlay work with beautification is estimated at $7,954,000. Mill and overlay only, which is a basic form of street resurfacing and painting, will cost $5,560,000.

Being among the oldest roads in Pekin, Derby Street has evolved into a 1.5-mile mixed-use corridor. A recent comprehensive study evaluated street, curb and sidewalk conditions, beautification options, and means of improving intersections, crosswalks, parking and lighting. (Photo by Holly Eitenmiller / for Chronicle Media)

Those categories are then divided into several various probably cost breakdowns, so that work may be parceled out to leverage different funding opportunities, but there’s a hitch.

“We would love to be able to do all the things we have going on, and it was a very thorough study,” Pekin City Planner Tony Carson said. “It’s going to come down to funding and we have Front Street, and there’s a $14 million shortfall in the Court Street project. Those are the challenges.”

Due to failed property negotiations near Walmart on Court Street, the city lost $14 million of state funds allotted for the widening of Court Street.

On the west side of Pekin, Front Street continues to suffer the abuse of constant traffic from trucks hauling grain from the industries there. Pekin is eligible to receive more than $5 million in federal funding for Front Street, but certain criteria must be met, including a matching grant.

“We also had to front $3.7 million to finish Court Street, had to take it out of the piggy bank and we’re waiting for the state to reimburse us and put it back in the general fund,” Abel said. “Derby Street is important to people, and we’re going to take the study to council soon to see what we can do,” he said.

The city, Abel said, will look for grants tailored for specific projects, such as beautification, green space development, walkability and parking lot continuity, in hopes of gradually transforming Derby into a Complete Street.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, Complete Streets are “streets designed and operated to enable safe use and support mobility for all users. Those include people of all ages and abilities, regardless of whether they are travelling as drivers, pedestrians, bicyclists, or public transportation riders.”

The Hanson study may be viewed and downloaded at http://www.ci.pekin.il.us/departments/public_works/derby_street_improvements.php

—-  Study shows need, costs for rebuilding of Pekin’s Derby Street —-