Governor has plan to fix bridges and roads
SPRINGFIELD -- Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Thursday announced a $10.9 billion plan to fix bridges and roads over the next six years, but said lawmakers must do more to address broader statewide construction needs.
The annual announcement of the multiyear schedule for road maintenance and improvement -- usually made weeks earlier in the spring -- came just days after two former congressmen asked legislators to consider a $31 billion "capital construction" program for roads, school and other government projects.
"Send me a capital investment plan that I can sign and let's get to work expanding and improving our transportation infrastructure, our schools and our economy," Blagojevich said in a statement accompanying the announcement.
The roads-and-bridges plan announced Thursday will be funded by the state gas tax, licensing fees and federal money. It puts a new emphasis on bridges, in response to last year's interstate collapse in Minneapolis that killed 13 people.
"That caused every state, including Illinois, to reevaluate their bridges," Illinois Department of Transportation Secretary Milton Sees said. "Our bridges are in good shape, but that's not to say there are not serious needs on our system."
Nearly half of the proposed funds will go to resurfacing and widening roads and safety improvements, while another 24 percent will be used to maintaining bridges. The remaining 28 percent will help ease traffic congestion and build new roads and access points and aid economic development.
The plans include adding lanes and noise walls along Interstate 55 from Interstate 80 to Weber Road, providing $477 million for construction of a New Mississippi River Bridge in the Metro East area and sending $431 million to local governments to care for roads and support economic development.
Sees said those needs will be taken care of regardless of whether a statewide construction plan is approved.
Lawmakers haven't approved a major new program in nine years because of disagreements about how to pay for it and how to ensure projects are funded as promised. Some lawmakers predict it will wait until at least the fall because of the rush to get a main state budget approved by May 31.
IDOT planning director Dick Smith said legislative gridlock has made it difficult to ensure that all the state's transportation obligations are covered.
"There's no question that the multiyear program doesn't address all of our needs. We really have less money coming in today than we thought we were going to have even a couple of years ago," Smith said.
"We are addressing the most serious problems on the system and the worst bridges. That's the priority -- to get to the worst first."
Sees said a construction program would provide much-needed revenue for the agency dealing with rising prices for materials and could help ease traffic gridlock in Chicago and the suburbs, where road expansion plans have been on hold.