Nearly $450 million dollars in major road work is planned for the Peoria area over the next six years as part of a $20.7 billion dollar funding package announced last week by Gov. JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Transportation.
“We do have a lot of projects scheduled, some are ongoing in the Peoria area; some will be done this year, and some will be done in later years,” said IDOT District 4 spokesman Paul Wappel. “Obviously, everybody in the area knows about the Murray Baker Bridge and some other work that's going on, like Pinecrest Drive. There's a lot of projects going on in Peoria and in the Peoria area.”
Wappel said the funding package for District 4 that includes the Peoria area, features $77 million in projects that hadn't previously been announced.
“One of those projects is on Adams Street: $29 million for bridge replacements and other improvements over the BNSF and Union Pacific railroads in the western corporate limits of Peoria,” he said. The project has been approved by the Illinois Special Bridge Program funding, with $1 million for engineering work slated for the 2022 fiscal year.
One of the more visible projects included in the package is resurfacing 14 miles of Interstate 474 between I-74 and the Illinois River at a cost of $22 million. Another $111 million will go toward widening U.S. Route 24 with additional lanes between Banner and Kingston Mines.
Other prominent projects around Peoria include: Replacing a portion of the Cedar Street Bridge in East Peoria ($49.5 million); rebuilding three miles of Galena Road along the Illinois River ($65.5 million); and replacing the I-74 bridge over the Mackinaw River in Woodford County ($16.5 million).
Wappel said the funding emphasizes the state's renewed commitment to infrastructure improvements.
“We're entering Year 3 of Rebuild Illinois, and a lot of projects have been completed while a lot of them are ongoing, and that will continue to happen,” he said. “It's been a long time since in Illinois, you know, that transportation has been a priority and a lot of things are getting done.”
