Illinois road
The six year plan will improve 3,356 miles of roads and 8.4 million square feet of bridge deck. Credit: Joshua Woroniecki from Pixabay.

The US state of Illinois is set to invest $21.3bn over the next six years to improve road and bridge infrastructure.

The multibillion-dollar plan was unveiled by Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT).

The proposed FY2021-26 Multi-Year Plan is expected to improve 3,356 miles of roads and 8.4 million square feet of bridge deck. It is also expected to support the state economy by creating hundreds of jobs.

Governor Pritzker said: “We are the fifth-largest economy in the US, and the crossroads for national and international companies who need our roads and airports and rail and rivers and people to move their products.

“Even in a pandemic, especially in a pandemic, our transportation systems connect the lives of our residents and our communities. Our roads and bridges deliver Illinoisans to work and home again, to school, to the pharmacy, to the doctor’s office.

“The Multi-Year Plan we’re announcing today provides funding to reconstruct over 3,300 miles of roads and over eight million square feet of bridges, and, more importantly, create and support hundreds of thousands of jobs over the next six years for hardworking Illinoisans across our state.”

Under the six-year programme, the state is expected to invest $6.1bn for highway reconstruction and maintenance, $4.7bn for bridge improvements and $2.6bn for strategic expansion.

In addition, $1.8bn was allocated for system support and another $1.4bn to carry out safety and system upgrade works.

Of the total funding, $3.15bn is expected to be invested this year.

Last month, another US state Iowa announced nearly $3.6bn transportation improvement programme for next five years.