Ill. governor proposes 5-year highway improvement plan

Illinois Welcome SignIllinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has the FY 2020-2025 Proposed Highway Improvement Program report, which will put more than $3.7 billion into highway construction in 2020 and more than $23 billion by 2025 to fix and expand 4,200 miles of roadways and 9 million square feet of bridge decks, WIFR reports.

The spending plan is being funded, in part, by a tax hike on gasoline and cigarettes

“This is a grand slam for taxpayers because we are saving them billions of dollars while extending the life of our roads and our bridges and improving public safety,” Gov. Pritzker told reporters.

The highway improvement program is double what was expected due to the approval of the governor’s $45 billion Rebuild Illinois capital construction program, which reserves 75 percent of its funds for reconstruction and road preservation and prioritizes maintaining roads over time.

The FY 2020-2025 Proposed Highway Improvement Program report, click here.