Nine local initiatives and activities have been given grants to support planning efforts and develop transportation improvements.

“We at (the Illinois Department of Transportation) 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 are:

• America’s Central Port District in Granite City for a Climate Action Plan — The project will get $280,000 in federal funding and $70,000 in state funding.
• Chicago Department of Transportation for Railroad-related Support Services –- The project will get $400,000 in federal funding and require $100,000 in local funding.
• Chicago Department of Transportation for The Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency Program Support Services – The project will get $400,000 in federal funding and require $100,000 in local funding.
• Cook County Department of Transportation and Highways for Overcoming the Expressways – Permeability Study of Nonmotorized Travel Across Controlled Access Facilities in Suburban Cook County – The project will evaluate new and modified grade-separated accessible crossings for pedestrians, bicyclists and transit passengers constrained by access-controlled roadways. The project will get $380,000 in federal funding and require $220,000 in local funding.
• LaGrange Park for the 31^st Street Corridor Transportation Plan—The project will get $180,000 in federal funding and require $45,000 in local funding.
• McHenry County Conservation District for the Prairie Trail Wayfinding Plan – The project will get $240,000 in federal funding and require $60,000 in local funding.
• Region 1 Planning Organization for a State of the Trails Report for the Rockford Region – The project will get $125,346 in federal funding and $31,336 in state funding.
• St. Louis Regional Freightway and the Bi-State Development Agency of the Missouri-Illinois Metropolitan District for the Freight Railroad Network Analysis and Improvements Program – The project will get $480,000 in federal funding and $120,000 in state funding.
• Tri-County Regional Planning Commission for the Peoria County Comprehensive and Multi-Modal Plan (Illinois 29 Corridor Study) – The project will get $240,000 in federal funding and $60,000 in state funding.

Passed in 2019, Gov. Pritzker’s bipartisan Rebuild Illinois is investing $33.2 billion into the state’s transportation system over six years. Rebuild Illinois is not only the largest capital program in state history, but also the first one that touches all modes of Illinois transportation: roads and bridges, transit, waterways, freight and passenger rail, aviation, and bicycle and pedestrian accommodations, while making investments in both local and state infrastructure.