WASHINGTON (WAND) — On Friday, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) announced that nearly $20 million would be going toward two infrastructure projects locally.
The funds are just a portion of $115 million overall procured from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grant program.
“Investments in rebuilding and modernizing Illinois’ infrastructure are critical to improving residents’ quality of life,” said Durbin. “These federal grants will allow communities across our state to make improvements that meet the demands of the 21st century. Senator Duckworth and I will continue working to ensure our state has the federal resources to improve and expand Illinois’ infrastructure.”
A little under $10 million will be going toward the Jasper Street Corridor in Decatur. The funds will be used for planning, designing, and constructing complete street enhancements along approximately 3.5 miles of Jasper Street from E. Pershing Street to E. Lake Shore Drive.
Improvements will include traffic calming, lane reduction, enhanced lighting, bicycle and pedestrian facilities, and solar powered transit shelters with benches. The project will also pilot micro transit solutions and eliminate confusion associated with one-way streets.
Champaign-Urbana is also getting nearly $10 million to put toward the Florida Avenue Multimodal Corridor Reconstruction project. Around 1.3 miles of Florida Avenue from South Wright Street to Hillcrest Avenue will receive complete street enhancements. Improvements will include ADA-accessible sidewalks, an off-street shared use path, transit pull-outs, transit shelters, pavement reconstruction, intersection improvements, and traffic signal modernization with accessible pedestrian signals and bicycle detection.
“Investing in our transportation infrastructure is about more than just improving our roads, bridges and rail lines, it’s about making getting to work, school and throughout our communities faster, safer and more efficient,” Duckworth said. “I’m proud to see this federal funding coming to Illinois to help make critical upgrades to our rail infrastructure and keep pedestrians safe across Illinois. I will continue to work alongside Senator Durbin to help ensure our state has the support it needs to improve and strengthen our infrastructure for generations to come.”
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