PEORIA (25News Now) – 2024 was one of Illinois’ busiest construction seasons ever.

With an increase in the state’s gas tax, Illinois spent $249.5 million for 10 major projects in IDOT’s District 4. The gas tax is at 47 cents per gallon for Fiscal Year 2024-2025.

The new eastbound McClugage Bridge is one of the major projects on the list.

“Once the deck is complete, then the contractor can focus on finishing the pavement approaching on the new bridge, installing all new fences and railings,” said IDOT spokesperson Paul Wappel. “There’s still a lot of work to complete, but we hope to open the bridge to vehicle traffic in early December.”

Weather pending, East Peoria’s Streets Department Supervisor Rick Semonski said the nearly $14 million Springfield Road project will finish before the end of October. He said it would not cause any issues for the annual Festival of Lights parade and the famous Winter Wonderland.

“Crews are milling and paving now, which is getting close to one of the final steps,” Semonski said. “The final steps, of course, would be cleanup, striping, and there’s some concrete work to wrap up.”

If all goes according to plan, the project from start to finish would only have lasted six months.

Below is a list of projects the Illinois Department of Transportation provided 25News, which outlines the statuses of the projects. Comments from IDOT spokesperson Paul Wappel are listed in bold.

Peoria County

• Eastbound War Memorial Drive (U.S. 150) at Adams Street (Illinois 29) in Peoria: The current extended lane closure is Illinois American Water. IDOT said they are not sure how long they will be there.
• Adams Street (Illinois 29) between Lorentz Avenue and Eureka Street in Peoria:  Will stay the same until the new McClugage opens to traffic.
• I-474 at Airport Road (exit 5) near Peoria:  Stage 1 of the project is complete, and the contractor is working on Stage 2 now. Weather permitting, they hope to get the Stage 2 deck poured this year, but the overall completion of the project is not until October 2025.  This project is currently well ahead of schedule.
• Illinois 8 just east of Oak Hill; closed:  The road is scheduled to reopen by early November.
• Illinois 91 north of Dunlap; closed: This reopened the Friday before Labor Day (Sept. 30).
• I-474 near the I-74/Illinois 6 interchange: The contractor is currently building crossover pavement that will be used over the next two years to reconstruct the bridges on I-474.  Traffic control is expected to remain in place until just before Thanksgiving.

Tazewell County

• Illinois 78 over I-74:  Currently finishing up stage 1 completing earthwork and Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) and will be switching to stage 2 in about 2 weeks which entails removing the second part of the bridge. The estimated project completion is the end of December, weather permitting.
• U.S. 24 between Cummings Lane and Main Street in Washington: On Monday, October 7th, we will have a traffic shift on US 24 in Washington from Cummins to Main. The road will still be down to one lane in each direction, but we will switch from traffic using the inside (passing) lanes to the outside (driving) lanes. Currently, we are down to one lane in each direction, with traffic using the inside (passing) lanes.
• Ongoing construction to realign the intersection of Nofsinger Road and U.S. 24 in Washington will require lane closures on U.S. 24 that started in May. This stage of the project will reduce U.S. 24 to one lane in each direction between Cummings Lane and Main Street. Work is expected to be completed in October.
• I-155 near Hopedale and at Queenswood Avenue, Broadway Road; Allentown Road, Illinois 122, and Armington Road: The Queenwood Road and Broadway Road bridges over Interstate 155 project in Morton began in August. The project involves replacing bridge joints and resurfacing the bridge decks, and will require lane closures on both bridges through the end of November.
• Cedar Street Extension (Illinois 116/8) in East Peoria: This is part of the ongoing overhaul of the Cedar Street Bridge (Illinois 8/116) across the Illinois River. A new traffic configuration began in August. This is the first of 3 adjacent consecutive projects over the next several years. Currently, we have 2 ramps closed, and we will be closing all 4 ramps on 10/14 for 2 weeks. Hopefully, by the end of November/early December, (weather permitting) we will reopen all traffic on Cedar Street. In Spring 2025, there will be minor closures to paint the bridge.

McLean County

• U.S. 24 2 miles east of Chenoa: Stage 2 is underway. The contractor has completed driving, piling, and currently pouring the abutments. Beams will be set once curing is complete. The project will be complete by the end of November.
• Illinois 9 east of I-55/74 in Bloomington: Contractor continues to replace PCC curb and gutter, driveway entrances, and side roads. The city of Bloomington is nearing completion of the water main relocation, so the contractor can begin the reconstruction of White Oak Road. A pre-pavement meeting is scheduled for next week, as the contractor plans to begin Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) surface removal next week on Market Street and pave new HMA the following week. The estimated completion date is June 2025.

Woodford County

• U.S. 24 west of Eureka: Work on the U.S. 24 bridge continues with two-way traffic shifting from the eastbound lane to the westbound lane, controlled by temporary signals. This configuration is expected to last through October.

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(WIFR) – With about a month left before the Nov. 5 general election, some northern Illinois voters have a chance to cast their ballot in the House of Representatives District 67 race. Incumbent Democrat Maurice West and Republican candidate Glen Oland will face off in a rematch.

In 2022, West beat the Republican challenger by 10% of the vote. As the two face off again, West believes he can build on his successes as he looks to win a fourth term.

“I want to ensure that the west side and south side of Rockford is getting the same opportunities as the east side of Rockford,” says West. “I want to make sure that Loves Park, Cherry Valley and New Milford know I’m not just not a Rockford rep, I’m a rep for even the smaller municipalities in my District.”

Oland believes it is time for change, specifically when it comes to the SAFE-T Act.

“We are the only state in the nation that has that law,” states Oland. “I want to repeal that, and it’s a terrible thing to have to repeal stuff but that’s kind of where I’m at right now.”

Both candidates also prioritize bringing jobs to the district but, they have much different ways going about it.

“Once we get more people in the work force, now there’s more income tax coming in, there’s more of a tax base, now we can talk about lowering our taxes, now we can talk about lowering crime, that’s how we flank these issues,” explains West.

“He is always tax and spend, that’s not going to be the answer. Lowering taxes makes more jobs happen, and lowering taxes makes it so companies can be more profitable and so they can hire more people, and that’s the way it works, it doesn’t work the other way,” says Oland.

Stateline residents are reminded to make sure they are registered to vote in the Nov. 5 election. If you are unsure whether you’re registered, the Illinois State Board of Elections has a Registration Lookup Tool on its website. If you’re registered, it will also tell you your Election Day polling place. If you need to register to vote, you can find more information here.

Early voting is underway in Illinois and continues through Monday, Nov. 4. For more information on early voting, click here.

Copyright 2024 WIFR. All rights reserved.

The Biden administration is asking a federal judge to halt Illinois’ first-in-the-nation law curtailing credit card “interchange fees” before it goes into effect next summer.

When fully implemented in July 2025, the law will curtail banks’ ability to charge those fees on the tax and tip portion of debit and credit card transactions.

After a coalition of financial institutions sued over the law in federal court this summer, federal officials this week sided with the banks. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency – an independent bureau within the U.S. Department of Treasury – wrote in a legal brief that Illinois’ law is both “bad policy” and in conflict with federal law.

The filing, published Wednesday, frames interchange fees as a “core feature of an intricately designed nationwide payments system.”

“The Illinois Interchange Fee Prohibition Act is an ill-conceived, highly unusual, and largely unworkable state law that threatens to fragment and disrupt this efficient and effective system,” the brief said. “Although the IFPA’s requirements are vague and ambiguous in many respects, this much is clear: the IFPA prevents or significantly interferes with federally-authorized banking powers that are fundamental to safe and sound banking and disrupts core functionalities that drive the Nation’s economy.”

The law, which Gov. JB Pritzker and Democrats in the General Assembly approved as part of the state’s budget process earlier this year, was a concession to the Illinois Retail Merchants Association. Retailers had been opposed to the governor’s proposed cap on a tax deduction historically granted to them for collecting the state sales tax.

IRMA leaders defended the law last week, while Pritzker on Thursday said the Biden administration’s filing was “not something that I’m deeply concerned about.”

“When things get brought to court, you never know how they’ll turn out,” he said at an unrelated event. “I think this one is one that can be defended well and we’ll end up with the law we have on the books being affirmed.”

Pritzker’s Japan trade mission

Pritzker is also set to join state legislative and business leaders on a trade mission to Japan next week to explore clean energy, manufacturing, life sciences, quantum, and other “key growth industries,” according to the governor’s office.

Members of the delegation will meet with their counterparts in Tokyo to discuss strengthening economic ties between the state and the island nation.

The delegation represents what the governor’s office calls “Team Illinois” – a group of government and business officials that work to secure business and economic development partnerships. While it started informally, it’s now a key element of the Pritzker administration’s five-year plan for attracting businesses to the state.

In total, about four dozen lawmakers, economic development officials, academics and businesspeople will join the governor on the trip. Among them are House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside, and Senate President Don Harmon, D-Oak Park.

Christy George, the CEO of Intersect Illinois, is also joining the delegation. Intersect Illinois is the private economic development organization started by then-Gov. Bruce Rauner that has since become a go-between for businesses looking to relocate to Illinois and state government. It works on marketing and site selection in partnership with the state’s Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.

George stepped into the role in mid-September after working as the executive director of the Democratic National Convention’s 2024 Host Committee. Prior to that, George worked in Pritzker’s administration as an assistant deputy governor and as the executive director of the Illinois Commerce Commission.

Others heading to Japan include representatives of PsiQuantum and TCCI, both of which have received multimillion-dollar tax incentives from DCEO since last summer. The heads of the state’s major utilities, representatives from the University of Illinois and University of Chicago, and heads of several business-related lobbying organizations are also set to join the delegation.

The Pritzker administration has led similar trade missions to the United Kingdom and Canada in recent years. The governor’s first trade mission, in 2019, was also in Japan.

Since then, Illinois exports to Japan have increased 31.7% while imports from Japan have fallen 22.4%, according to the governor’s office.

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.