* Press release…

Governor JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Transportation released the department’s annual Multi-Year Plan of road and bridge projects across the state, which is the first to capture the historic impact of the Rebuild Illinois capital plan.

Using rigorous and objective criteria, IDOT evaluated the condition, frequency of use, and crash and fatalities across the state’s transportation system in planning the historic improvements. Over the next six years, $23.5 billion will be invested in maintaining, preserving and expanding 4,212 miles of roadway and 9.2 million square feet of bridge deck statewide.

A full list of road and bridge projects coming across the state can be found here.

“All together, these road and bridge projects will create and support hundreds of thousands of jobs over the next five years for hardworking Illinoisans in every part of our state,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “Illinois has some of the most important roads in America – let’s make them outlast and outperform those across the nation.”

“In my nearly 30 years at this agency, today might be the most important day in our history,” said Omer Osman, Acting Secretary of the Illinois Department of Transportation. “This Multi-Year Plan gets us on the path to fixing our roads and bridges, putting policies into action that ensure our transportation system in Illinois is reliable, safe and provides economic opportunity for generations to come. It is the blueprint for how we Rebuild Illinois.”

This new Multi-Year Plan represents a shift in Illinois’ approach to its roadways and bridges. Previously, the state waited to rebuild until projects had deteriorated so much that they presented safety hazards; under guidance from the Federal Highway Administration, Illinois will now prioritize maintaining its system over time, which is also a more cost-effective way to manage long-term capital needs. To achieve that, this plan dedicates more than 75% of the funds to reconstructing and preserving roadways and bridges, 16% to strategically expanding the system in areas where data have shown the investment will be highly effective and the remainder for necessary traffic and safety improvements.

Of the major categories of state investments in the plan, $7.58 billion will go toward roadway reconstruction and preservation, $4.99 billion for bridge replacements and repairs, $1.59 billion for safety and system modernizations like interchange reconstructions, $3.08 billion for strategic expansion of the system and $2.11 billion for system support like engineering and land acquisition.

The additional state investment in Rebuild Illinois has also allowed the department to maximize federal dollars, bringing in tens of millions annually that would have otherwise been left on the table each year.

The FY20-25 Multi-Year Plan serves as a baseline plan in the Rebuild Illinois capital program. Updated plans, based on revenue and evaluation metrics, will be released each year and adjustments to projects will be made on an annual basis through the MYP.

Needless to say, they’ll need to focus on that “rigorous and objective criteria” a lot in the coming years. It certainly hasn’t started out on a great foot.

* District 1…

Highway District 1 encompasses six counties in northeastern Illinois and includes the city of Chicago, suburban Cook County, and the five collar counties of DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will. The state highway system in District 1 consists of 2,720 miles of highways and 1,448bridges, supporting more than 76million miles of travel daily.

The program for state and local highways will average $3.91 billion annually for the FY 2020-2025 period. Approximately $6.63 billion will be provided during FY 2020-2025 for improvements to state highways in District 1.

…Adding… Gov. Pritzker was asked about this today…

Illinois Chamber of Commerce CEO Todd Maisch said state funding is there for five years under the Rebuild Illinois plan. However, he said the federal government, which sends tax dollars to Illinois for infrastructure, wants to see a ten-year infrastructure plan.

“We think there should be different options on the table other than just the gas tax,” Maisch said.

Pritzker joked that the reporter was announcing his bid for a second term while he was just in his first year in office. In other words, he didn’t answer the question. But the gas tax has now been indexed to inflation and not all of the money is being used to pay off bonds, so it does have some sustainability.