Governor J.B. Pritzker announced it will put more than $3.7 billion into highway construction next year alone. The governor’s office released today a 1000 page report updating the state’s transportation improvement program. Pritzker says that the state will spend more than $23 billion by 2025 to fix and expand 4,200 miles (6,760 kilometers) of roadways and 9 million square feet (836,000 square meters) of bridge decks.
Pritzker says the highway improvement program is double its originally predicted size because of last summer’s approval of the governor’s $45 billion Rebuild Illinois capital construction program. Two major projects will concern bridges in this area over the next 5 years.
US 67/ Illinois Route 100’s bridge over the Illinois River at Beardstown will create 1.4 miles of new construction and replacement of the bridge at a cost of $65.9 million. Engineering, contract plans, and land acquisition next year will begin with $1.3 million of that total.
Illinois Route 100/ Illinois Route 106’s bridge over the Illinois river at Florence will also receive replacement at a cost of $84.2 million over the next five years. Engineering, contract plans, and land acquisition next year will begin at a cost of $4.6 million as a part of that total.
Both projects are also eligible for the Illinois Special Bridge funding program.
The I-72 Winchester interchange under old US 36 will be rehabbed for 3.2 million dollars beginning in 2021. The Illinois Route 104 Burlington Northern Railroad bridge east of Jacksonville will also receive a new bridge deck beginning in 2021 as well. I-72 business at Morton Avenue 1.1 miles north of I-72 will also receive a new design overlay beginning next year for $2.9 million. Bridge replacement will also take place at Mauvaisterre Creek seven-tenths of a mile east of Illinois 267 for $3.6 million in 2021. Markham Road 1.1 miles north of I-72 will receive pavement patching next year for $250,000. Pavement rehab will also take place on US 67 north of the Cass-Morgan county lines for 7.9 million in 2021. Illinois Route 267 from Interstate 72 to Woodson and Woodson to the Greene County Line will receive new shoulders and design overlay beginning in 2021 for the cost of 6.5 million dollars. These are just a sample of more than a dozen scheduled projects over the next 5 years to be completed under the plan by IDOT.
The plan represents a departure from past practice. Officials say it prioritizes maintaining roads over time. The plan reserves 75 percent of its funds for reconstruction and road preservation. You can visit the entire plan by clicking here.