"It feeds into supporting the mission of the base because the base doesn't have a hospital anymore," St. Clair County Highway Engineer Norm Etling told KSDK when he described plans to push Frank Scott Parkway east to Scott Air Force Base. "It will be the fastest way for people to get from the base to either hospital."
If you drive Frank Scott Parkway East this fall, you go through construction at both ends of Shiloh. On the west end, crews are widening the road between North Green Mount Road and Cross Street, and traffic has been moved north. On the east end, an entirely new road is going in around the village toward Route 158. They are two contracts on two schedules. They are also the final two pieces of the same corridor, and once both are done, Frank Scott Parkway will work as a hospital route for the base as much as a shopping road for Shiloh.
A Road Built One Segment at a Time
Frank Scott Parkway East has been under construction in pieces for about a decade. The Belleville News-Democrat has tracked the progression:
- 2016: The county widened the intersections at Old Collinsville Road, Hartman Lane and North Green Mount Road.
- 2018: Lanes were added between Illinois 159 and Old Collinsville Road.
- 2021: The widening continued from Old Collinsville Road to North Green Mount Road.
- August 2026: Widening began on the final stretch that isn't five lanes yet, between North Green Mount Road and Cross Street.
- January 2025 to now: A new two-lane extension from Cross Street to Maple Street and Route 158 is being built.
The effort goes back even further than that list. When the St. Clair County Board approved funding for the extension in 2024, Chairman Mark Kern pointed out that the first federal money for Frank Scott Parkway came from former Congressman Jerry Costello, who left office in 2013, as the BND reported. The county's own funding request on Congressman Mike Bost's project page calls the extension "the final segment of a multi-phased endeavor to improve Frank Scott Parkway from IL Route 159 to a logical connection with Air Mobility Drive and Scott Air Force Base."
The East End Is 1.7 Miles of Brand-New Road
The extension is the half that changes how Shiloh connects to the base. According to the county's funding request, it will add about 1.7 miles of new road. It starts at the existing Cross Street and Frank Scott Parkway East intersection, runs east to meet North Main Street, and then turns southeast to the existing intersection of Maple Street and Illinois 158. The project includes a signalized intersection at Main Street in Shiloh, along with storm sewer, curb and gutter, new pavement and shoulders.
The same request projects that the new section would carry about 13,000 vehicles a day. It also explains why the county pursued it: the base has neither a hospital nor an emergency room, and a more direct route to Memorial Hospital East on Cross Street "could save critical response minutes."
Here is how the funding came together:
- In September 2024, the County Board signed a $13.8 million cost-sharing agreement: $11.04 million federal, $2.36 million local and $400,000 state.
- Congressman Bost secured $4 million in federal money for the extension, according to KSDK.
- The county hired engineers to design the road in early 2023, then shelved the project for lack of funding until federal money came through in 2024, the BND reported.
DMS Contracting of Mascoutah won the contract, and work started January 27, 2025. The project has already caused one closure on Shiloh's east side. Beginning May 18, 2026, Maple Street was shut from about 1,500 feet west of Route 158 east to Route 158, a closure the county estimated would last about 12 weeks. "Road Closed Ahead" signs were posted at the Main Street and Route 158 intersections.
The latest progress report is in the county Transportation Committee minutes from August 17, 2026: "FSP Extension proceeding. Setting dowel baskets next week." Dowel baskets hold the steel bars that tie concrete pavement slabs together, and they go down before the concrete is poured. That puts the extension in the paving stage as of late summer. The county has not announced an opening date.
The West End Fills the Last Gap in the Five-Lane Road
The widening on the west end is the one most Shiloh drivers deal with every day. It covers the last section of Frank Scott Parkway East that still isn't five lanes. That's the stretch between North Green Mount Road, near HSHS St. Elizabeth's Hospital, and Cross Street, where Memorial Hospital Shiloh sits. Etling put it plainly to KSDK: "There are pieces of Frank Scott Parkway that are not five lanes between Green Mount Rd. and Cross St. We're going to widen those."
The county's road notices called for a June 1, 2026 start, but the Transportation Committee minutes confirm work actually began the week of August 10, 2026. The county expects it to continue through June 2027. DMS Contracting is the widening contractor too. In the first phase, traffic shifts north while crews widen the south side, and the county warns drivers to expect lane shifts and flaggers. Box culvert sections for the widening were expected the second week of July, according to the committee's July 6 minutes.
The widening is also where Shiloh is putting in its own money. In August 2024, the County Board signed an $8.1 million state and federal cost-sharing agreement for the widening. At its August 17, 2026 meeting, the Transportation Committee unanimously approved an agreement with the Village of Shiloh for TIF funds "to be used on the Frank Scott Parkway Widening Project." In practice, the village is helping pay for the stretch that runs past its own commercial corridor.
| East Extension | West Widening | |
|---|---|---|
| Where | Cross Street to North Main Street to Maple Street and Route 158 | North Green Mount Road to Cross Street |
| What | About 1.7 miles of new two-lane road with a signal at Main Street | Widening the existing road to five lanes |
| Contractor | DMS Contracting | DMS Contracting |
| Funding | $13.8 million cost-share, including $4 million secured by Rep. Bost | $8.1 million cost-share plus Village of Shiloh TIF funds |
| Started | January 27, 2025 | Week of August 10, 2026 |
| Latest status | Setting dowel baskets for paving, per August 17, 2026 minutes | Traffic shifted north; expected through June 2027 |
What the Finished Corridor Connects
Taken together, the two projects create a continuous route with a hospital at each end of the stretch now being widened and Scott Air Force Base past the end of the extension. Coming from the base, a driver would take Illinois 158 to Maple Street, follow the new extension around Shiloh to Cross Street and Memorial Hospital Shiloh, and then continue on the widened five lanes to North Green Mount Road and St. Elizabeth's. Etling told the BND the widened road links the community to "a large shopping center, restaurants, doctors offices and hospitals."
Three Springs Park, at 2250 Frank Scott Parkway, sits on the same road, so trips to its walking trails, ballfields and playground use the corridor too.
North Green Mount Road is next. The county plans to widen a little over a mile of it, from just north of Lebanon Avenue in Belleville to just south of Frank Scott Parkway East. That design was later amended to add a signalized intersection at Cascade Lake Drive and a retaining wall to limit impacts on Richland Creek. As of the August 17, 2026 Engineer's Report, the county was "working on acquiring Right of Way for Greenmount Road widening north." That project would put more capacity on the road leading into St. Elizabeth's, at the western end of the same corridor.
Through June 2027, the westbound drive past the hospital stretch means lane shifts and flaggers, and the county advises taking an alternate route when you can. Etling's message to drivers in the BND was simple: "We're getting there."
If you have PCS orders to Scott AFB and want to understand how commute routes like this one affect your options around Shiloh, Veterans PCS Group can connect you with a veteran or military-spouse agent who drives these roads every day. Find an Agent and get answers from someone who knows the area.
