A 5.5-mile coal conveyor belt is nearly finished and soon will be operating next to Route 66 between Williamsville and Elkhart, Ill., reported the Springfield State Journal-Register.
The newspaper reported:
Arch Coal Co. of St. Louis is completing a $20 million project, begun two years ago, that includes a new portal for the Viper Mine near Williamsville and the conveyor belt, which will carry the coal to the processing plant at Elkhart. […]
The conveyor belt, which runs parallel to Old Route 66 and is easily visible from Interstate 55, will have capacity to carry up to 18,000 tons of raw coal daily from mine portal to preparation plant.
Construction is on schedule and coal should begin moving between Williamsville and Elkhart in the spring, she said.
This is where Route 66 runs on the eastern side of Interstate 55.
The article says that such above-ground conveyors now are unusual in Illinois. I do remember a conveyor that ran over Illinois Highway 13 near Marissa, and another over Illinois 104 near Kincaid. There may have been others I’ve forgotten. But I’m also certain these conveyors are fewer in number since the decline of the Illinois coal industry starting in the 1980s.
Such a pity, to ruin one of your most famous landmarks. I’m 55, I live in South Wales, UK. I’ve been looking forward to riding this route for as long as I can remember, and want to do it before my BIG 60 in 2015.It’s things like this that can put tourists off.
South Wales was known for it’s coal industry, and I’ve seen the effects these structures can bring to such a landmark. Most of our coal industry has gone now and the country side is returning to it’s former glory.
Industrial activity has always occurred along Route 66, and always will. You have oil refineries in Tulsa, wind farms in Oklahoma, solar farms in Arizona and California, cattle feed lots in Texas, and zillions of car salvage lots everywhere along the route.
And I don’t think a mere 5 1/2 miles of a conveyor will “ruin” 2,400 miles of national landmark. Not by a long shot.
I bet someone said the same thing when they first started, building along route 66 “oh a little bit can’t hurt.,and it’s not the main highway now after all” but Ay, that’s your opinion and I’ve always been brought up to respect all opinions, I was just voicing mine. After all I don’t even live in the country :O)
The conveyor is located along a major interstate highway, alongside grain elevators and railroad tracks. Kind of blends in with the agricultural, transport, mining landscape