Mayors, Congressmen, State Representatives and plenty of contractors were in Jacksonville on Friday to go over the latest updates and plans for U.S. Corridor 67.
Corridor 67 extends nearly 220 miles throughout Illinois, from Interstate 280 at Rock Island to I-270 south of Alton and along a north south alignment in West Central Illinois. Around 123 miles of that roadway has been completed.
Corridor 67 is predominately two lanes with the exception of a few multi-lane divided high sections.
Assistant Secretary for the Illinois Department of Transportation Rich Brauer opened the annual Corridor 67 meeting with some insight on the project.
Brauer explained that construction on Corridor 67 started in the earlier 1990’s, with the goal to make transportation easier across the state.
The project was given an estimated price tag of over three-billion-dollars and more than a third of that work is already complete.
Brauer says the problem is that IDOT is having a difficult time fulfilling that goal, due to funding problems associated with the motor fuel tax and capital bills.
Brauer provided statistics showing around 73 percent of the budget had gone towards maintenance in recent years. That number jumped to around 90 percent this last year.
Congressman Rodney Davis was one of many elected officials that praised the growth of Corridor 67. Davis never thought he would have dedicated more than a decade of his life towards Corridor 67, but that is what infrastructure is all about.
Davis is especially passionate about Route 29 from Taylorville to Rochester.
Roger Driskell, Director of the Office of Innovative Project Delivery for IDOT, says Corridor 67 is in good shape compared to similar projects around the nation.
A similar facility on the east coast is averaging only a mile a year.
Coming up this afternoon we will recap the latest developments on the proposed bridge over the Illinois River at Beardstown and the proposed Jerseyville bypass and Extension of Corridor 67 North through Greene County.
Click below for audio.