Replacement of Memorial Bridge part of $41 billion spending plan for Illinois Department of Transportation

SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Department of Transportation unveiled a plan on Friday for spending nearly $41 billion in federal, state and local funds over the next six years to repair and upgrade roads, bridges, airports, rail lines and other infrastructure throughout the state.

The latest version of the plan, which IDOT updates annually, is the largest multiyear plan in state history. It’s driven by the state’s 2019 Rebuild Illinois capital infrastructure program. The initial six-year Rebuild Illinois plan included $33.2 billion for transportation, funded largely by annualized increases to the state’s motor fuel tax and increases to driving-related licensing fees that took effect in 2020.

Major highway projects of interest in Highway District 6 that are tentatively scheduled during the Fiscal Year 2024-2029 timeframe are:

• U.S. 24 Quincy Memorial Bridge at the Mississippi River in Quincy. A bridge replacement and engineering for contract plans are programmed during Fiscal Year 2025-2029 at a cost of $156 million. Illinois is the lead agency. Missouri and Illinois will share the costs equally.
• U.S. 136/South Second Street from the Mississippi River to 0.1 mile east of Main Street in Hamilton in Hancock County. Vertical and horizontal realignment of 0.8 mile, bridge replacement, railroad crossing improvement, engineering for location, design and environmental studies, engineering for contract plans, land acquisition and utility adjustments are programmed during Fiscal Year 2024-2029 at a cost of $19.3 million. Engineering for location design and environmental studies and engineering for contract plans are programmed in Fiscal Year 2024 at a cost of $1.4 million.
• Illinois 104 (Broadway) from west of 12th Street to 0.4 mile east of Interstate 172 in Quincy. Resurfacing on 4.2 miles (including cold milling and patching), intersection improvement, traffic signal replacement, traffic signal modernization and ADA improvements are programmed during Fiscal Year 2025-2029 at a cost of $15.2 million.

Highway District 6 encompasses 15 counties in west central Illinois and includes Springfield, Quincy, Jacksonville, Lincoln and Taylor, plus many other smaller communities which serve as satellites for the larger employment areas or as focal points of this farming area. The state highway system in District 6 consists of 2,075 miles of highways and 853 bridges, supporting 10.5 million vehicle miles of travel daily.

“Over the next six years, we’re investing over $40 billion to improve all modes of transportation across our great state,” Gov. JB Pritzker said at a news conference in Springfield. “And that means better roads and bridges, modernized transit and aviation, and expanded and faster passenger rail service. It even extends to improved river ports, new sewers and water infrastructure and a huge upgrade to bicycle and pedestrian accommodations.”

All projects in District 6 are listed in the document below.

More than half of the plan, $27 billion, will go toward road and bridge projects, including $4.6 billion in the current fiscal year. That will fund repair and reconstruction of 2,866 miles of roadway and 9.8 million square feet of bridge deck on the state highway system, along with another 738 miles of roadway and 1.1 million square feet of bridge deck in systems maintained by local governments.

The project list includes $611.5 million for reconstruction and improvements to portions of Interstate 90 in Cook County that will include improving safety and access to O’Hare International Airport in Chicago. The plan also calls for spending $135.1 million to expand portions of U.S. Highway 24 to four lanes in Peoria and Fulton counties; and $116 million to replace a bridge over the Ohio River at Cairo.

The multiyear plan also earmarks $13.96 billion for other modes of transportation, including $9.85 billion for transit systems, $2.67 billion for freight and passenger rail, $1.25 billion for aviation projects, and $190 million for ports and waterways.

Among the intermodal projects in the plan are $100 million for safety and reliability improvements on Amtrak’s Saluki service between Chicago and Carbondale and runway improvements at municipal airports in Litchfield and Pontiac.

Transportation Secretary Omer Osman said the $41 billion six-year plan represents a 10 percent increase over the previous multiyear plan, and the money earmarked for the current fiscal year represents a 25 percent increase over the previous fiscal year.

“But that is due in large part to the engineering and planning effort in the early years of capital program (which) is starting to result in more construction activity on work on the street,” he said.

Pritzker and other officials at the news conference emphasized that the Rebuild Illinois program is meant to do more than improve safety and efficiency in transportation. The program is also supporting thousands of high-paying jobs in construction, engineering and other fields.

“This is more than just new rail. This is more than a runway at an airport,” said Illinois AFL-CIO President Tim Drea. “This is about opportunities. We can see all those physical infrastructure improvements, but what we don’t really see is the opportunities that this program creates for a diverse workforce with high wages, middle class wages, health care, and retirement security.”

Through four years of the Rebuild Illinois program, IDOT has completed $12.1 billion of improvements statewide, including 5,339 miles of highway, 533 bridges, and 762 other safety improvements.