The City of Decatur received congressionally directed funding under FRA’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) Grant Program for final design activities. Subsequently, FRA selected the City of Decatur to receive additional funding under the FY 2022 Railroad Crossing Elimination (RCE) Program for final design activities and construction of the Brush College Road – Faries Parkway Project (Project).

Project activities include improvements to a 1.21-mile-long section of Brush College Road in Decatur, Illinois. Major project components include adding two lanes to Brush College Road between Williams Street and Faries Parkway; replacing the existing underpass at the Norfolk Southern (NS) railroad yard with an overpass; constructing a grade-separated interchange at Faries Parkway, to include a crossing of the existing NS rail line at that intersection; adding additional turn lanes at the Williams Street intersection; and adding a traffic signal and turn lanes at the entrance to the Archer Daniels Midland Company James Randall Research Center.  

Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact 

In 2014, Illinois Department of Transportation (DOT), in coordination with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), prepared an Environmental Assessment (EA) for the City of Decatur Brush College Road – Faries Parkway Grade Separation Project (Project) to evaluate potential impacts to the human and natural environment, in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). FHWA issued a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) for the Project’s EA on October 2, 2014, and subsequently approved two NEPA re-evaluations for the Project on February 4, 2019, and July 19, 2023.

To satisfy its NEPA obligations for the provision of CRISI and RCE grant funds to the City of Decatur for the Project, FRA adopted FHWA’s EA and NEPA re-evaluations, which are available on the City of Decatur’s Project webpage. FRA approved its own FONSI for the Project on October 19, 2023.  

FRA Point of Contact

Environmental Review Process Contact:
Jamie Larkin
Environmental Protection Specialist
Federal Railroad Administration
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20590
jamie.larkin@dot.gov                               

Media Queries Contact:
Phone: 202-493-6024
Email: FRAPA@dot.gov