Village of Rantoul attracts local leader support for Illinois Automated and Connected Track

A magnet entices nearby metals to cling to it using its magnetic pull. That’s how ICT Director Imad Al-Qadi sees the proposed Illinois Automated and Connected Track (I-ACT) ― a high-speed connected and autonomous freight and multimodal mobility track ― once constructed on Rantoul’s decommissioned Chanute Air Force Base. 

“(It) will be a magnet bringing industry, academia, and agencies to develop and advance the next generation of mobility,” Al-Qadi said.

The ICT director and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering professor shared his vision for I-ACT during the Village of Rantoul’s special board meeting earlier in April.

Discussions drew more than two dozen local leaders, including representatives from the Bank of Rantoul, CERL, Champaign County Economic Development Corporation, Champaign County Forest Preserve District, Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District, Edward Jones, Lincoln’s Challenge Academy, Rantoul Area Chamber of Commerce, Rantoul City Schools, Rantoul Township High School, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the Village of Rantoul.

I-ACT will be a “multiplatform testing arena” testing autonomous and connected vehicles for safe integration in Illinois, nationally, and eventually even globally.

The Smart Transportation Infrastructure Initiative ― a coalition of three leading universities in transportation research, including Northwestern University, the University of Illinois-Chicago, and UIUC along with the Illinois Automated Vehicle Association and the Illinois Department of Transportation ― has already begun to champion the project to key state officials and leaders in the transportation industry.

“The idea is that this is not good for just the Village of Rantoul, this is good for the county, this is good for the University of Illinois,” Rantoul Mayor Charles Smith said. “I can tell you this is going to be so important for the state of Illinois because we are the hub of transportation.”

The Village of Rantoul is committed to donating 250 acres of land to UIUC for the development of such a leading transportation hub.

“In our test sections here, there will be multimodal transportation options,” Al-Qadi said. “The plan is build a monitoring tower, drones testing facility, vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communications, smart suburban city energy harvesting ― collecting energy from pavements while driving ― climate control, smart urban city, and autonomous agriculture testing area.”

And while the project likely won’t break ground for facility construction until 2021, it’s already gaining much excitement in the Village of Rantoul.

“There is no question that this will transform the entire area,” Village Administrator Scott Eisenhauer said. “The project is going to attract high-tech industry to the area. There is no question that taking that step forward puts us in a position for great long-term success.”

Smith couldn’t be more “excited” for the Village of Rantoul’s collaborative relationship with ICT to bring such a transportation hub to the area.

“We’re all excited about being a part of it and being a part of future growth,” Smith said. “Transportation is a primary element in the economic system in the United States, and to have the University of Illinois be the leader of that is tremendous for growth and our revenue and our expansion for the entire state. We’ve got a lot to be proud of.”