$1.7 billion to removing lead from water lines.
$616 million to improve airports.
$100 million to bring high-speed internet to rural communities.
Those are just some of the Illinois-specific budgets at stake if the $1.2 trillion federal infrastructure bill does not pass out of the U.S. House of Representatives next week.
The U.S. Senate passed the bipartisan infrastructure bill this week. Before the bill lands on President Joe Biden's desk, it must pass the House.
But last-minute fights over additional proposed $3.5 trillion proposed in spending for social services, such as child care and climate change, may put the separate infrastructure bill's success in jeopardy.
If Congress cannot come to an agreement and pass the bill, critical pieces of needed infrastructure — such as lead remediation — will not be funded, Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth (D-Peoria) said.
"One of the things that we cannot do, is we cannot tackle the issue of lead," she said. "That is going to be federal infrastructure resources."
Gordon-Booth joined Sen. Dave Koehler (D-Peoria), union leaders, local construction workers and Metropolitan Airport Authority of Peoria director Gene Olson Friday outside the airport to urge federal lawmakers to pass the bill.
Clean drinking water
Research shows lead exposure can affect physical and intellectual development in children.
Up to 10 millions American households and 400,000 schools and child care centers lack safe drinking water, according to the Laborers' International Union of North America.
The pending infrastructure bill sets aside $55 billion to invest in clean drinking water. Of that, Illinois is due to receive $1.7 billion.
Gordon-Booth said the money can't come fast enough.
In Peoria, 17 percent of water lines — that's 10,576 lines — have lead, Gordon-Booth said. This data was collected recently after the state enacted a policy requiring the inspection of local water lines.
Gordon-Booth said Pekin has 2,135 water lines with lead, while East Peoria has 246 and Peoria Heights has 116.
"Once it enters a person's human body, the lifelong impacts that lead has on people, particularly small children ... [this] issue will absolutely have a demonstrable impact on the next generation of this community," she said.
Airport improvements
Gene Olson, director of the Peoria International Airport, said he looks forward to using federal funds to bring a 1959-era Federal Aviation Authority-operated air traffic control tower up to code.
The building currently requires a $12.8 million repair, Olson said. The only tenant in the building — which is owned by the Peoria airport — is the FAA.
"We're required to maintain that whole building, just so the FAA can lease 10 percent of the space," he said. "When we make that investment, that's all gonna be local money ... taxpayer money, from Peoria County, that's going to develop a federal asset."
Once the building is "brought up to code," however, it still will not meet FAA standards, Olson said.
Instead of repairing the 1959 building, Olson said it makes far more sense for the Peoria airport to simply build a new building — a cost he projects to be around $20 million.
But that idea is tied up in red tape; it is illegal for airports to pursue projects that benefit the FAA, as this would, Olson said.
The Senate infrastructure bill contains a provision that would allow airport leaders to reconstruct, renovate and relocate control towers.
In other words, the infrastructure bill will save Peorians nearly $13 million in tax dollars, while also allowing a much-needed project to be created on behalf of both the FAA and the local airport, Olson said.
"We're sort of caught between a rock and a hard place ," he said. "[The bill is] our only hope for resolving this issue. This building is falling apart. it's not going to last forever."
Improved roads today, private business tomorrow
Illinois is projected to receive the following from the pending bill over five years:
- $9.8 billion for federal-aid highway programs
- $1.4 billion for bridge replacement and repairs
- $4 billion to improve public transportation
- $149 million to expand the state's electric vehicle charging network
- $100 million to provide broadband coverage to at least 228,000 Illinoisans who lack high-speed internet connection
- $27 million to protect against wildfires, $22 million to protect against cyberattacks
Koehler said he's seen how the private sector responds to infrastructure repair work.
After the financial crisis of 2008, the state of Illinois passed funding for infrastructure projects — two of which were in the Peoria area.
Local leaders spent $26 million improving roads and the sewer system in East Peoria. In Pekin, they invested $30 million to create the Veterans Drive bypass in Pekin.
"Look at what's happened," Koehler said. "The private sector has come in, and we have all kinds of stores and shopping, and now we have hotels, and even residential areas, in East Peoria. We have businesses that have located to the business park in Pekin."
Koehler said the government has "one job," and that it is to make sure communities have good jobs.
"This is is the lifeblood of communities and how communities thrive and survive," he said. "Let's fund our roads and our bridges, and let's get it done now."
Lawmakers are expected to discuss the bill on Monday.
