Illinois Governor JB Pritzker has announced the state’s largest-ever infrastructure program of $50.6 billion over six years.
The upcoming funding for the Illinois Department of Transportation eclipses the $41.4 billion devoted to the previous program and covers roads, bridges, aviation, transit, freight and passenger rail, waterways, and bicycle and pedestrian accommodations.
Illinois’ roads and bridges will get $32.5 billion, including $5.5 billion for the current fiscal year. The six-year plan promises to build or improve 7,107 lane miles of state roads and 8.4 million square feet of state bridge deck. It will also devote $6.8 billion to working on another 1,654 miles of local roads and over 1.3 million square feet of local bridges.
Some of the key projects include:
- I-290, $1.3 billion: bridge replacement, rehabilitation, interchange reconstruction and drainage from Mannheim Road to Racine Avenue.
- I-190 at Bessie Coleman Drive to I-90 (Kennedy Expressway) and I-294, $761 million: new interchange, new bridge, bridge replacements, reconstruction and construction of auxiliary lanes, and additional ramps in Chicago and Rosemont.
- I-80 from Ridge Road to U.S. 30, $610.8 million: multiple bridge replacements, including outdated structures over the Des Plaines River; interchange reconstruction and bridge replacements at both the Center Street interchange and Chicago Street; and capacity enhancements such as auxiliary lanes and shoulders in Joliet, New Lenox and Minooka.
- I-80, $441.5 million: replace the bridge over the Mississippi River, with Illinois to lead the project and Iowa sharing equally in the cost
The remaining $18.1 billion will go to other transportation categories including $13.8 billion for transit, $2.9 billion for freight and passenger rail, $1.2 billion for aviation, and $200 million for ports and waterways.
The DBE Factor
The presence of Disadvantaged Business Enterprise goals in this new Illinois program runs counter to the Trump administration, which has actively worked against such requirements.
This new package contains $400 million – made available through special legislative appropriation – specifically devoted to supporting 223 local projects, among which 177 are for roads.
Illinois DOT will require all 223 projects include a DBE goal “to uplift small, local minority- and women-owned firms.”
Two days after Illinois unveiled the new infrastructure program, the USDOT filed an interim ruling dismantling DBE and Airport Concession Disadvantaged Business Enterprise programs, which the agency says will now be operated “in a nondiscriminatory fashion – in line with law and the U.S. Constitution.” The ruling specifically removes “race- and sex-based presumptions of social and economic disadvantage.”
In a press release, USDOT said it had alerted the Chicago Transit Authority that the CTA Red Line Extension and the CTA Red and Purple Modernization Program (with a combined $2.1 billion in federal funding remaining) are now under administrative review related to DBE requirements.
