December 21, 2017

Duckworth, Durbin Announce Over $400,000 in Transportation Funding for Emergency Relief in Illinois

 

[WASHINGTON, DC] – U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) announced a total of $460,000 in federal grants today to help reconstruct federal highways and roads damaged by natural disasters. The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) will receive $410,000 in funding through the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHA) Emergency Relief (ER) program to address damage from severe storms that moved through Illinois in June of 2015. The U.S. Forest Service office in Jackson County will receive $50,000 in funding through the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHA) Emergency Relief for Federally Owned Roads (ERFO) program in response to severe flooding that occurred throughout 2017.

“These investments will go a long way to repair Illinois’s infrastructure and support communities devastated by severe weather, which is critical to working families and local economies,” said Duckworth. “As a member of two committees with jurisdiction over national infrastructure projects, I look forward to continuing my work to upgrade Illinois’s transportation systems and create good-paying jobs.”

“Well-maintained infrastructure is critical to our economy and safety. I’m pleased that this funding will help restore highways and federal lands that have been damaged by tornadoes and severe flooding,” Durbin said. “Senator Duckworth and I will continue fighting for investments in our transportation infrastructure that revitalizes communities and spurs growth.”

Today’s funding comes through the Federal Highway Administration (FHA), which is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation. The FHA’s Emergency Relief (ER) grant program allocates funding for repairs to Federal-aid highways and roads, roads on federal lands and tribal transportation facilities that have been damaged by natural disasters. Once a State of Emergency has been declared and the state has requested Emergency Relief funding, the program will help cover the cost of damages to eligible roadways. The FHA’s Emergency Relief for Federally Owned Roads (ERFO) grant program helps with the repair or reconstruction of Federal Lands Management Agencies transportation facilities to pre-disaster conditions. Agencies awarded funds through this program are in need of assistance due to the fact that the cost of repairs from these extraordinary conditions are unusually high.