A six-year, $11.05 billion road and bridge plan for Illinois got the green light from Gov. Bruce Rauner on May 29; a plan that includes $2.2 billion of state and federal funding for the upcoming fiscal year.

The Fiscal Year 2019-2024 Proposed Highway Improvement Program aims to improve a total of 1,945 miles of miles of road and 525 bridges maintained by the Illinois Department of Transportation, along with upgrades to more than 750 miles of local roads and 922,933 square feet of local bridges. 

"Investing in transportation creates jobs and economic opportunity, improves safety and makes Illinois a better place to raise a family," Gov. Rauner said in a statement. "This plan will make Illinois more competitive while protecting the interests of the taxpayers."

Illinois Transportation Secretary Randy Blankenhorn added that this multiyear plan is IDOT's first to "embrace asset management strategies that commit to smaller repairs avoiding the higher costs of deferred maintenance."

Using this approach, he said IDOT will realize savings "over multiple years" to eventually invest in other projects throughout the state. "This is a plan that gets the state on the right track toward truly meeting the needs of our communities and building a 21st century system of transportation," Blankenhorn explained.

Highlights of the plan include:

• $205 million to replace Peoria's McClugage Bridge at eastbound U.S. 150 in 2019
• $26 million toward the reconstruction of U.S. 20/Rockford Bypass in Rockford
• $36 million to replace and repair the Third Street exit and ramps to Martin Luther King Drive in East St. Louis
• $12.7 million for additional lanes on 4.5 miles of Interstate 57 from Johnson City to West Frankfort 
• $148.4 million for bridge work and other improvements on Interstate 80 through Will County