West Central Illinois roads are set to see more improvements attributed to Rebuild Illinois.
Governor J.B. Pritzker along with the Illinois Department of Transportation announced a new six-year $20.7 billion infrastructure construction plan today.
Pritzker says the statewide plan will reinforce Illinois’ leadership as a transportation hub and create thousands of jobs as the state seeks to spur economic growth following the COVID-19 pandemic.
He says this latest multi-year plan builds on significant infrastructure investment over the past two years.
“With all that’s been built over the last two years, even through a global pandemic, today we are announcing the new Multi-Year Plan for the next six years that will reconstruct over 2,700 more miles of roads and nearly 8 million square feet of bridges. And of course, the projects in this MYP will continue to create and support hundreds of thousands of jobs for hardworking Illinoisans across our state, bolstering our pandemic recovery in yet one more way,”
The plan runs from fiscal years 2022 through 2027, with projects earmarked for FY 2022 set to start this summer.
Locally some of those include $80.6 million for the Florence Bridge at Route 100 with engineering work set to begin soon. The IL Route 97 and Route 125 junction will see $86.5 million in work beginning this year and the US 67 bridge at Beardstown will be the center of a $67 million effort beginning next year.
Other listed repairs in the announcement are new bridge decking at I-72 and Old 36 at the Winchester interchange, I-72 bridge deck overlay at IL 104 and the B&N Railroad east of Jacksonville, and a replacement of the bridge over the Mauvisterre Creek on IL 267 beginning in 2023.
No mention of resuming stalled work on the expansion of US 67 was included in the announcement.
Pritzker also announced the return of full Amtrak service in Illinois will begin on July 19th. He says the full service is being made possible with Illinois currently having more than 4.9 million Illinoisans fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and 64% of residents age 18 and over receiving at least their first dose.
Pritzker says In accordance with CDC guidance, face masks are still required on public transit, including trains, to prevent community spread.