SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WJPF) — Governor JB Pritzker announced on Friday the largest multi-year program infrastructure project in in state history.
Over the next six years, $40.99 billion will be invested in all modes of transportation. The Fiscal Year 2024-29 Proposed Highway and Multimodal Improvement Program aims to invest $27.03 billion in roads and bridges, with $4.6 billion identified for the current fiscal year. A total of $13.96 billion is programmed for other modes, which includes $9.85 billion for transit, $2.67 billion for freight and passenger rail, $1.25 billion for aviation and $190 million for ports and waterways. Projects are spread out across state and local transportation systems, touching each of the 102 counties in Illinois.
“Over the next six years, we’re investing over $40 billion to improve all modes of transportation across our great state. That means better roads and bridges, modernized transit and aviation, and expanded and faster passenger rail service,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “Rebuild Illinois has increased safety, efficiency, and opportunities for residents all over the state — and over the next few years, we will keep building on that progress, with all 102 counties of Illinois included in the multi-year program.”
For highways, the program aims to improve 3,006 miles of roads and just over 9.8 million square feet of bridge deck on the state system, with anticipated funding maintaining 738 miles of roads and 1.1 million square feet of bridge deck for infrastructure overseen by local governments. Overall, state officials say the new program will increase the investment in Illinois roads and bridges by $2.43 billion over six years, due in part to engineering and planning efforts in the early years of Rebuild Illinois starting to result in more construction activity. Entering Year Five of Rebuild Illinois, IDOT has made approximately $12.1 billion of improvements statewide on 5,339 miles of highway, 533 bridges, and 762 additional safety improvements through Fiscal Year 2023.