$9.5 million awarded to planning initiatives

The Illinois Department of Transportation announced today that nearly $9.5 million is being invested via 20 grants for local initiatives and activities to support their planning efforts and develop innovative and much-needed transportation improvements across the state.

“We at IDOT are thrilled to join with these communities to help them forge a more robust, inclusive and safe transportation system for the future,” said Illinois Transportation Secretary Omer Osman. “At IDOT, under the leadership of Gov. JB Pritzker, planning is at the core of everything we do. These grants will further those efforts with our local partners and support areas of Illinois where help is needed the most and can do the most good.”

Administered by IDOT using $7.5 million in federal funds, with matching funds of $1.25 million from the state and $741,000 from local governments, the grants are designed to advance the objectives of the agency’s Illinois Long-Range Transportation Plan. Among the criteria considered were projects that implement asset-management strategies and performance-based planning and programming, as well as activities that grow and support economically distressed areas.

Applicants included local and state agencies, universities, metropolitan planning organizations and regional planning commissions. Nonprofit entities with public sponsors also were eligible to apply.

Selected projects include:

Springfield-Sangamon County Regional Planning Commission, West Loop/South Growth Area Study Updates for Springfield and Sangamon County will allow the commission to develop data to modify their respective arterial road network plans for the appropriate allocation of road improvement funds.

Reagan Mass Transit District, Use of Hydrogen Fuel and Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles in Rural Public Transportation that will evaluate practicality of running hydrogen-fueled vehicles in the rural Dixon area.

Cook County Department of Transportation and Highways, Overcoming the Expressways – Permeability Study of Nonmotorized Travel Across Controlled Access Facilities in Suburban Cook County will evaluate new and modified grade-separated accessible crossings for pedestrians, bicyclists and transit passengers constrained by access-controlled roadways.

For the full list of awards and breakdown of funding sources, visit the department’s planning page.