The Four-County Highway Coalition recently announced small developments toward the Southwest Illinois Connector, marking slow but steady progress toward a project that’s been in the works for decades.

Murphysboro Mayor Will Stephens, who also serves as chairman for the coalition, offered some insight into what’s been going on with the project over the past few months.

The primary item of progress Stephens noted related to $15 million in funding he said has been part of several state budgets since 2019, with he and colleagues working to get that money released.

He explained that talks with the Illinois Department of Transportation as well as the Illinois House Speaker’s staff seem to indicate that the funds will be available sometime soon, though a coming meeting will shed further light on the situation.

“We have worked hard to get that money released, and on (Nov. 28), we’re supposed to get some clarity as to if IDOT has officially been allocated those funds,” Stephens said.

Stephens also spoke about support among local and state organizations, a vital part of the coalition’s efforts as it has pushed to see the highway realized since it was first conceived in the 1950s.

While he said that there haven’t been any major new supporters in the past few months, he did note Gov. JB Pritzker, Sen. Dick Durbin and Sen. Tammy Duckworth as some of the big names who have expressed support in the past.

“The list of supporters that we were able to put together earlier this year, everybody from the St. Louis Cardinals to Worldwide Technology Speedway to the Murphysboro Apple Festival Committee is pretty impressive, and I think that that has helped us spur these conversations forward,” Stephens said.

Stephens offered his thoughts on the impact of the project in general. Having spoken previously about the benefits it could provide in the way of economic activity and simple ease of transportation, he also noted that some in the region might object to the addition of a major highway to the area.

“We’re aware that any time you expand a highway, it’s not all positives,” Stephens said. “We focus on the positives, and we’re willing to hear any of the negatives that people have because we want to try to help address those concerns.”

He emphasized the need to listen to anyone with concerns, adding that, should the project be fully funded sometime in the future, there would be a number of public hearings to discuss how the connector would move forward.

“I think it’s really important that we listen intently to folks that have concerns about it because we want to find a way to address those concerns if possible because we don’t succeed if we are creating detractors,” Stephens said.

The proposed connector would be a four-lane highway starting along Route 3 south of Waterloo, traveling just south of Red Bud and north of Sparta before rejoining Route 154, turning to avoid Pinckneyville and join Route 127 to Murphysboro.

For more information on the connector, visit siconnector.com.