By plane
Willard Airport airport code:CMI (http://www.flycmi.com), is a regional airport operated by the University of Illinois and located roughly 20 minutes south of downtown Champaign. As of 2011, the only commercial flights to Willard Airport are on American Eagle, which flies to and from Willard Airport to Chicago and Dallas.
The airport is served by a municipal bus line, the CUMTD No. 27 "Air Bus". This makes for a cheap and convenient option to campus or the downtown Champaign transit center. Fare is $1 each way and it operates 5 am to 6 pm daily except University breaks and major holidays. The "Air Bus" service maintains a very precise schedule, usually arriving at the airport at the bottom of the hour without delay.
A typical taxi fare between the airport and Urbana west of Vine Street is $14 for the first person and $10 for each additional person not including tip.
Car parking at Willard Airport short- or long-term costs a maximum of $5 a day. In contrast, all parking at nearby 45 mins away Central Illinois Regional Airport (http://www.cira.com/) airport code:BMI in Bloomington, Illinois is free. This is due to land ownership differences BMI is municipally owned and subsidized, whereas CMI is owned by the university and can not be crossed-subsidized by others. Passengers with car problems should contact the parking booth attendant for free assistance provided by Crash and Rescue for example, jump starting a dead car battery.
It is possible to bicycle to Willard Airport from Champaign-Urbana via country roads. One can bike south on First Street in Champaign or Race Street in Urbana and then head west on County Road 1100 N which runs directly into the airport. The distance is 8.4 miles from downtown Urbana and 7.0 miles from downtown Champaign. There is an outside bicycle rack in front of the terminal.
The nearest major airports are in Chicago O'Hare (ORD and Midway MDW), Indianapolis, and Saint Louis. Land carriers such as Illini Shuttle, Greyhound, Burlington Trailways, and Amtrak connect Champaign-Urbana to these other cities and airports.
By train
Champaign-Urbana is on the Amtrak system, and is served by three regularly-scheduled train routes, the 58/59 City of New Orleans, the 390/391 Saluki and the 392/393 Illini. All trains run Chicago to Carbondale and the 58/59 continues southward to Memphis, Jackson, and New Orleans. Here are the daily arrival/departure times:
Northbound: 6:10 am train 58, 10:14 am, 6:49 pm
Southbound: 11:25 am, 6:15 pm, 10:34 pm train 59
The train is an excellent option for traveling between Champaign-Urbana and downtown Chicago, with tickets costing as little as $15 each way if booked far enough in advance. Trip time to Chicago is about 2h 50m, and one can connect to the Amtrak national network there. Amtrak, the commercial bus lines Greyhound, Burlington Trailways, LEX, Illini Shuttle and the municipal bus system CUMTD, DMT all arrive and depart from Illinois Terminal in downtown Champaign. However, it should be noted that there is only one set of tracks along much if not most of the route between New Orleans and Chicago and freight trains are given priority. This can result in long delays, particularly toward the Chicago and New Orleans ends of the City of New Orleans train service.
By car
Interstate 74 runs east-west. 120 miles east is Indianapolis and continues to Cincinnati. To the west are the cities of Bloomington-Normal and continues to Peoria, Galesburg, and the Quad Cities of Davenport/Moline/Rock Island/Bettendorf. Interstate 57 runs north to Chicago and south into Southern Illinois, joining up with I-55 to Memphis. Interstate 72 runs east from Hannibal/Quincy,Springfield Illinois and Decatur Illinois, terminating in Champaign.