06.26.24

Durbin, Duckworth Announce $42.4 Million In DOT Raise Grant Funds for Illinois Projects

SPRINGFIELD – U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today announced that Illinois will receive $42,454,810 in U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grant funding for five Illinois-based transportation projects, ranging from planning freight rail connection to constructing electric vehicle charging stations and designing pedestrian trails.

“Today’s funding is a major investment in Illinois’ future.  Our state’s communities will be better connected because of these infrastructure projects that support Illinois’ rail industry, local bus service, roads, and pedestrian paths,” said Durbin. “Senator Duckworth and I will continue working to ensure our state has the federal resources to improve and expand Illinois’ infrastructure.”

“Improving our transportation systems and infrastructure means so much more than making it easier to get from one place to the next—it’s about the trains carrying essential goods to support our local economies, the sidewalks that our children use to get to school and the buses that help folks get to work every day,” Duckworth said. “I’m proud to see today’s funding go toward improving this critical infrastructure so many Illinoisans rely on every day. I will continue work alongside Senator Durbin and our local leaders to ensure that our communities are receiving the much-needed federal resources they deserve.”

DOT RAISE grants were awarded to the following Illinois-based projects:

  • Interconnect Track Planning Project, America’s Central Port: $550,000 to plan a freight rail connection for the Interconnect Track to link the Port’s Granite City Harbor, which is located north of Locks #27 on the Mississippi River, with the Madison Harbor, which is located south of the Locks. Activities will include public engagement, a feasibility study, review of any existing work, preliminary design, and a benefits cost analysis.
  • Cedar Lake Road Realignment and Mobility Improvement Project, Lake County: $18,788,080 to construct a new alignment for Cedar Lake Road from Hart Road to Nippersink Road. The project will also include approximately five new intersections, ADA sidewalks, shared-use path, bicycle path, sidewalks, and pedestrian crossings. In addition, the project will provide improvements to the Round Lake Metra Station with a platform extension and improvements, consolidation of commuter parking, warming shelters, bus stop shelters, and kiss and ride facilities on each side of the railroad tracks.
  • Historic Route 66 Bike/Pedestrian Trail Planning, McLean County: $675,000 to plan and design approximately 9-miles of the final three segments of the 47.2-mile Historic Route 66 Bike/Pedestrian Trail. The final three segments include approximately 2.9-miles from the northern terminus of the existing trail to Lexington, approximately 5.0-miles from Lexington to Chenoa, and approximately 1.2-miles from Chenoa to the Livingston County Line.
  • Goshen Road and Liberty Trail Multimodal Transportation Improvements, Edwardsville: $21,241,730 to reconstruct approximately 1.75-miles of Goshen Road and Old Troy Road with solar lightening and green medians, convert approximately three intersections to roundabouts, construct approximately 2.9-miles of shared-use path along Old Troy Road and Goshen Road, update a bus stop, add approximately 10 EV stations and three bicycle parking facilities, and rehabilitate approximately 0.6-miles Goshen Road due to stream related flooding.
  • Bloomington-Normal to Peoria Express Bus Feasibility Study, Illinois Department of Transportation: $1,200,000 to conduct a feasibility study for express bus service along an approximate 47 mile corridor between Bloomington-Normal and Peoria.

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