BLOOMINGTON - The final report on where a possible east-side highway should be built in the Bloomington-Normal area is completed, but more public hearings are anticipated.

The highway committee of the McLean County Board received its copy of the final report at its meeting Tuesday. The committee did not discuss the report.

County Highway Engineer Eric Schmitt said public hearings will be scheduled after committee members have a chance to read and consider the report.

Clark-Dietz, a Champaign engineering firm, was hired to conduct the $1.2 million study to help narrow a corridor defining possible routes for a highway that would run from Interstate 55 near Towanda to Interstate 74 near Downs.

After nearly two years of public hearings and meetings the corridor selected is about a half-mile east of Towanda Barnes Road.

The report also must go to the city of Bloomington and the town of Normal, the county's partners in paying for the study. McLean County, Bloomington and Normal shared the $400,000 local cost to pay for the study.

About $800,000 for the study came from federal highway money.

Schmitt said it is likely the report will go before planning commissions in Bloomington and Normal before it is sent on to the city councils.

Schmitt said he doesn't anticipate the County Board receiving the committee's recommendation on the report until July at the earliest.

If the highway is approved for construction, it likely would be completed in about 20 years and cost $260 million to $320 million, according to engineers' estimates.