Years of neglect have done incredible harm to highways and municipal streets in northern Illinois. The four highways that go into and out of Dixon, and the streets that weave among those highways, paint a dreary picture of the condition of roadways throughout northern Illinois.
If there were a watch-dog organization that gave ribbons to Illinois communities with the worst streets, Dixon would certainly get at least a shiny red second-place ribbon with a bell. It doesn’t matter where the street is -- upscale neighborhoods or lower middle class -- the streets are in serious decay.
And the highways under the authority of the Illinois Department of Transportation District 2 headquarters in Dixon also are rotting into gravel.
A drive on Illinois 2 from Dixon to Rockford is nothing but a series of potholes and crumbles, pavement heaves and buckles. Similarly, taking Illinois 26 north from Dixon to Freeport is a game of rapid pothole dodging among intervals of bouncing feet after feet on pavement like an old wash board. And, then there is Illinois 38 from Dixon to Rochelle, where there are stretches of wasting asphalt and concrete.
The City Of Dixon, likely in similar company with many of the towns in northern Illinois, is a place where streets are in such disrepair and the highways showing years and years of abandonment that it’s frankly a mess -- a mess which the municipal and state governmental bodies seem to care so little about.
I’m Phillip Lefevre, and that’s my perspective.
