* Some good news, finally…

Illinois Transportation Secretary Gary Hannig said highway and bridge projects valued at $5 billion will be launched in the state this year.

Speaking Tuesday at the annual meeting of Corridor 67 Inc., Hannig said a capital construction program approved last year will keep contractors and Illinois Department of Transportation crews busy for several years.

An adjustment made during last fall’s veto session will allow IDOT to get started on work, even though some parts of the capital program’s revenue package have been delayed by court challenges or administrative hurdles.

“The Legislature voted to let us use road fund dollars for bonds” and requires that the road fund be repaid, Hannig said.

The article is a bit misleading. That $5 billion includes projects which were started last year and will be continued this year, plus projects that start this year and won’t be finished this year. But next year there will be more contracts let.

The governor and Transportation Secretary Gary Hannig held a Statehouse press conference to announce the program today. Among other things, Quinn was asked how the local opt-out of video gaming would hurt the construction rollout. Here’s the Q&A…

* More details from a press release…

Governor Pat Quinn was joined by Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) officials today to unveil a $12.84 billion Multi-Year Highway Improvement Program for Fiscal Years 2011-2016. The proposed program aims to preserve and maintain the state’s highway system of roads and bridges, upgrade facilities for congestion mitigation and safety improvements and expand the system to help spur economic development in Illinois. The entire Multi-Year Plan (MYP) is expected to create an estimated 167,000 direct jobs over the next six years. […]

The $12.84 billion highway improvement program for FY 2011-2016 MYP is based upon conservative estimates of federal, state and local funding, with $7.292 billion in federal funds, $4.888 billion in state funds including $142 million in bonds from the Governor Quinn’s Illinois Jump Start Capital Plan, $2.49 billion for the Illinois Jobs Now! bond program and $660 million in local funds.

The six-year highway improvement program includes $10.103 billion for improvements to the state highway system with $2.737 billion available for local roads.

You can find lots more info here.