Pritzker calls multi-year road construction plan 'historic improvement'
SPRINGFIELD Lawmakers and Illinois Department of Transportation officials released details of a new $23.5 billion multi-year plan for revamping the states roads and bridges Monday at a bipartisan event in Springfield.
Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker stood in front of two orange work trucks and a fleet of yellow-vested construction workers as he and speakers from both parties hailed the plan as one that would stimulate the states economy and usher in a new era of bipartisanship and effective government in Illinois.
Acting IDOT Secretary Omer Osman, a Pritzker appointee, said slightly more than $9 billion of the $23.5 billion that will be spent from fiscal years 2020-2025 will come from the federal government, about 39 percent of the total funding. He said the passage of the horizontal infrastructure bill this May upped the states contribution to the multi-year plan from 12 percent to 58 percent.
The money will go toward maintaining 4,212 miles of roadways and 9.2 million square feet of bridges, according to the governors office. The projects on the list were identified based on the principles of asset management to maximize system performance and minimize lifecycle costs.
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