$34.6 Billion For Highway Improvements in Illinois

What’s New?

Illinois Department of Transportation’s Data-Driven Decisions Tool has selected 13 projects for state investment improvements.

The analytics tool was used to assess current infrastructure projects adding highway capacity to a 6-year state program.

The tool was used to determine which projects would benefit the most under the state’s Multi-Year Program (fiscal years 2023 to 2028).

Increasing highway capacity refers to constructing new lanes on an existing road, building a new/expanded interchange, adding a road, new roadway alignment, or new/expanded bridge.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker said $20 billion (58% of the total) is allocated for transportation “including 2,500 miles of roads, nearly 10 million square feet of the bridge deck, and $10 billion going towards our state’s rail and transit systems, airports and ports.”

What are the criteria for selecting which project to reward?

There are 11 selection criteria within five goals the Data-Driven Decisions Tool uses to rank projects based on these criteria, the tool is constantly being refined.

Traffic Operations/Congestion – Annual average daily traffic, change in annual vehicle miles traveled, and travel time index.
Regional Rating – input for IDOT districts about the importance of a project.
Safety – Crash frequency.
Economic Impacts/Livability – Environmental justice, environmental impact level, and resiliency.
Economic Development – National Highway Freight Network, major development, and intermodal accessibility.

What is this money being used for?

Illinois Department of Transportation gets funded from many different sources: federal funding, a motor fuel tax, portions of motor vehicle registration fees, and allocations from Rebuild Illinois.

$6.4 billion will be used to improve bridges.
$6.3 billion for roadway maintenance.
$2 billion will be allocated for system support.
$1.6 billion will be used for safety and system modernization.

What projects are being funded?

13 of the 34 highway projects in Illinois were approved for state investments according to the Data-Driven Decisions Tool.

Interstate 90 Dan Ryan Expressway in Chicago
Interstate 55
Interstate 72 in Springfield
Interstate 74 in Champaign
Interstate 57 in Marion
Interstate 270 in Madison County
US Route 47 in Lake County
Illinois Route (IL) 47 in Pingree Grove
IL 13 in Williamson County
US 34 in Henderson County
IL 3 in Madison County
Interstate 74 and IL 5 intersection in Rock Island County
Interstate 57 and IL 17 interchange in Kankakee County

A passage in HB 253 requires IDOT to establish and implement a program that tracks performance to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the transportation system.

Conclusion

Illinois Department of Transportation’s Data-Driven Decisions Tool is a wonderful tool that is being used in multiple states and is highly backed by the US Department of Transportation. For more news like this, subscribe to our newsletter!