Kraft mulls expanding Granite City plant

BC-IL--Granite City-Kraft Expansion,128

Kraft mulls expanding Granite City plant

GRANITE CITY, Ill. (AP) — Kraft Foods is weighing whether to spend $40 million to expand a southwestern Illinois plant if the city and state provide about $400,000 to widen a road in front of the site.

The Suburban Journals of Greater St. Louis (http://bit.ly/WY2htr ) reports that the move would add 30 jobs to the 660,000-square-foot plant that now has more than 400 workers. The plant produces Capri Sun and Kool-Aid beverages.

As part of the project, the Illinois Department of Transportation would provide $300,000 for the road widening that Kraft calls necessary to allow trucks to turn into the plant.

Granite City Economic Development Director Jonathan Ferry says the matter may go before the city council sometime between April and June.

The Granite City facility became part of Kraft in 1991.