Roadwork expected to put many back to work in 14th District
Maple Park's Josh Corn joined the International Union of Operating Engineers in 2005. Even then it had been a long time since Illinois saw a capital bill with enough funding for major road projects to keep his fellow Local 150 members off the unemployment line.
"Every year it seems to be a little worse," Corn said.
Funds dried up. Contractors went bankrupt. Jobs vanished. On Dec. 16, 2008, Corn found himself unemployed. He joined a list along with 7,000 of his colleagues, nearly one-third of his union local, who had no jobs.
Corn and several of his union members joined Congressman Bill Foster Friday to hear about how they might be put back to work by the stimulus package while private industry rebounds.
Illinois will receive about $1.5 billion for infrastructure improvements, primarily for highways and bridges. The state must allocate at least half of that money within 120 days or risk losing it to other states. That means projects that can begin immediately, such as road resurfacing and pothole patching, will be the first to get stimulus money. The Illinois Department of Transportation has about $8 million worth of the those projects in mind for Kane County so far.
The money is in addition to the road projects IDOT already had scheduled. Foster said the state still needs a capital bill to keep the jobs created by the stimulus alive in the long run.
Foster also responded to ongoing Republican criticism about the $1 trillion stimulus plunging the federal government further into debt. He said the plan is backed by many economists and is based on tactics used to help the country rebound in the past.
"If you're angry about the $1 trillion you should be 10 times more angry about the $10 trillion deficit we inherited from President (George W.) Bush. That doesn't mean you should go adding onto it forever."
Foster said he only supports more deficit spending right now because it comes with a promise from the White House that a budget is coming with a plan to start paying down the deficit and it creates jobs in the 14th District.
Kane County highway and bridge projects on IDOT's list for "shovel ready" stimulus funding:
• Resurfacing of 0.72 miles of Route 30/Route 56 from Route 47 to south of Prairie Street in Sugar Grove - $560,000
• Resurfacing of the Route 30/Route 56 westbound ramp to Route 47 in Sugar Grove - $100,000
• Resurfacing of Route 30/Route 47 from Prairie Street to Jericho Road in Sugar Grove - $750,000
• Resurfacing of Route 30/Route 47 from Jericho Road to the Kendall County Line in Sugar Grove - $175,000
• Resurfacing of Route 30 from Route 47 to Orchard Road in Montgomery/Yorkville - $1.4 million
• Bridge deck overlay of Route 30 at River Street in Montgomery - $560,000
• Resurfacing of Route 25/Dundee Avenue in East Dundee/Elgin from Route 72 to Interstate-90 - $2 million
• Bridge deck overlay of Route 72 over I-90 in Gilberts - $640,000
• Road patching at various locations in Kane County - $2 million