We do not usually cover Springfield road extensions and City Council settlements on our site, but a recent article in Springfield paper The State Journal Register caught our attention. The article is on an 11th street extension in Springfield- which is being voted on in a City Council meeting today. Check out the full article right here. From the article:

The 11th Street extension would complete a corridor from Stevenson Drive to the University of Illinois Springfield begun nearly two decades ago. The final section between Stevenson and Lincolnshire Boulevard also would open a new route into the retail-commercial development anchored by the Wal-Mart off South Sixth Street.

Plans are for four traffic lanes and a turn lane, new intersections, a 10-foot-wide bike path on the west side of the extension, sidewalks, curbs and gutters, and other improvements. The approximately half-mile section of construction begins at Cottonwood Street, just north of Stevenson, and extends to Lincolnshire.

Why is this big news for Black Sheep and Southtown? If everything goes as proposed, 11th street (running along the front side of Black Sheep) will become a straight shot to the college campuses in Springfield sometime by early 2016. This means Southtown will be an even shorter drive or bus/bike ride for all of the college students in Springfield once the extension is in effect, which of course is good news for all of us in Southtown.