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Most Illinois stimulus road project aimed at repairing state infrastructure

CHICAGO  — The vast majority of Illinois road and bridge projects that have won federal stimulus money to date focus on repairing crumbling infrastructure statewide — an approach many watchdog groups have praised as offering the best bang for the stimulus buck.

That's according to new data on how Illinois is spending the funds six months after President Barack Obama signed a $789 billion economic stimulus bill. In the bill $27 billion was set aside for road and bridge construction and repair nationwide with $935 million going to Illinois.

Out of around 340 Illinois projects that have received money so far, nearly 250 are devoted to road repaving and similar improvements, a recently released list from the U.S. Department of Transportation revealed.

Illinois also is using the stimulus cash to begin fixing some of the hundreds of aging bridges, with more than 30 projects on the federal list for bridge repair and upgrades. Six projects were categorized as "bridge replacement," and there was one project to build a new bridge.

Gov. Pat Quinn recently signed a five-year, $31 billion construction plan — the state's first capital bill in more than 10 years — that will expand infrastructure work paid for with federal stimulus money. The state bill includes more than $14 billion for roads and bridges.

A report released recently by the Illinois Public Interest Research Group, or Illinois PIRG, highlighted the need for repair work, noting that 54 percent of state roads are in poor condition and 822 bridges are deemed structurally deficient.

It also argues that repair work is better at stimulating growth, saying such projects generate 16 percent more jobs than new construction. It adds that shabby roads cost drivers an average of $335 a year in damaged tires and suspensions, as well as in reduced fuel efficiency.

The report contrasts Illinois' emphasis on repairs to other states that devote a far larger chunk of their federal money to new construction. Kentucky, for example, is spending the majority of its federal funds on new roads, according to the PIRG report.

Some of the Illinois projects are already under way, with many others set to begin soon.

It's too early, though, to assess whether the Illinois projects meet the stated goals of the federal stimulus plan. It'll take months to determine how many new jobs, if any, a project creates.

Among the notable Illinois projects is a $29 million reconstruction of an interchange just east of St. Louis — the single priciest project; $25,000 for a four-way stop signal along a Route 66 bike trial is also the smallest project to get federal stimulus cash.

The new data provide more detail than ever on how Illinois is putting the federal funds to use, but pledges to set new transparency standards still appear to fall short.

Project details can be hard to ferret out, including through a state Web site, Recovery.Illinois.Gov — billed as a one-stop shop for anyone trying to monitor how stimulus money's being spent.

"Transparency should be a priority given the skepticism of people in Illinois," said Brian Imus, director of Illinois PIRG. "We've had corruption scandal after scandal and leaders here should learn form that. It shouldn't be a struggle for the average citizen to find out how their tax money's being spent."

Contractors still haven't been selected for many projects tagged to receive federal money. But the IDOT list does include contractors selected for more than 200 of the projects.

Several companies that won contracts have contributed generously to political leaders over the years.

That includes suburban Chicago-based Albin Carlson & Co., which won more than $8 million in contracts. It gave several thousand dollars to disgraced former Gov. Rod Blagojevich's campaign fund between 2006 and 2007, according to state elections records.

The process of awarding contracts was open and competitive, with companies submitting the lowest bid nearly always getting the nod, according to state officials. They insist that precluded politically connected companies from exerting undue influence behind closed doors.

"Everything's out in the open. You can't short-circuit the process," said Eric Harm, an IDOT engineer who helped oversee the bidding. "In this process, there are too many checks and balances."

AP writer John O'Connor in Springfield also contributed to this report.

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