DECATUR — U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg will highlight federal infrastructure investments in a visit to central and southern Illinois on Monday.
Buttigieg will make two stops in the Champaign area and one in East St. Louis, according to a media advisory. He will be joined by U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and U.S. Rep. Nikki Budzinski, D-Springfield.
Budzinski, in a telephone town hall meeting with constituents last week, said she was “excited” to bring Buttigieg to her congressional district.
U.S. Rep. Nikki Budzinski, D-Springfield.
Buttigieg’s first stop will be a news conference in Savoy, where he will highlight a recent $22.6 million federal grant for a grade separation project on Curtis Road just east of U.S. 45. Funds for the grant came from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law signed by President Joe Biden in November 2021.
Next, Buttigieg, Durbin and Budzinski will hold a “fireside chat” with students at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign about the future of transportation infrastructure.
They will finish the day in East St. Louis touring a rail management facility operated by MetroLink, the mass transit system serving Greater St. Louis. Buttigieg is also expected to announce “major new funding” for the system.
Buttigieg, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate and the former two-term mayor of South Bend, Indiana, before being tapped to serve as Biden’s transportation secretary, last visited Central Illinois in February 2022.
During that trip, Buttigieg toured Heartland Community College’s advanced training academy in Bloomington. The facility is designed to train students in the manufacture, diagnosis, service and repair of electric vehicles.
U.S. Sec. of Transportation Pete Butigieg sees Normal and Rivian cooperation as being a standard for the U.S.
Photos: Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg visits Bloomington-Normal
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U.S. Secretary of Transpotration Pete Buttigieg listens to Rivian employee instructor Ted Foos, explain the operation of a steering rack at Heartland Community College’s Electric Vehicle – Energy Storage (EVES) Manufacturing Training Academy, 1103 Martin Luther King Drive., Bloomington, Saturday, Feb. 12, 2022.
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Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, left, Sen. Tammy Duckworth, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Dick Durbin, watch Rivian employee instructor Ted Foos, explain the operation of a steering rack at Heartland Community College’s Electric Vehicle – Energy Storage (EVES) Manufacturing Training Academy in Bloomington on Feb. 12.
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Matt Swaney, public information officer for the Normal Fire Department, left, explains some of the features of a child restraint seat to U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Tammy Duckworth, Saturday, Feb. 12, 2022, at the Main Street Headquarters Station. In the background are Lorraine Martin, CEO of the National Safety Council and Laura Dunn, highway safety specialist at the Occupant Protection Division of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
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Heartland Community College instructor Mike Deavers, second from right, and Heartland President Keith Cornille provide a tour of the school’s Electric Vehicle Energy Storage training program to Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, left, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, and Illinois Democratic Sens. Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin on Feb. 13, 2022.
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Heartland Community College instructor Mike Deavers gives U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Tammy Duckworth, and Sen. Dick Durbin a tour of Heartland Community College’s Electric Vehicle – Energy Storage (EVES) Manufacturing Training Academy, 1103 Martin Luther King Drive., Bloomington, on Saturday.
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The new Rivian Amazon delivery van is being studied by students at Heartland Community College’s Electric Vehicle – Energy Storage (EVES) Manufacturing Training Academy, 1103 Martin Luther King Drive., Bloomington.
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Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, left, Sen. Tammy Duckworth, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Dick Durbin listen to students explain operation of electrical vehicles at Heartland Community College in Bloomington on Feb. 12, 2022.
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Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, left, Sen. Tammy Duckworth, U.S. Secretary of Transporattion Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Dick Durbin examine some of the parts in an EV while touring Heartland Community College’s Electric Vehicle – Energy Storage (EVES) Manufacturing Training Academy, 1103 Martin Luther King Drive., Bloomington, Saturday, Feb. 12, 2022.
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U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg meets with Normal Fire Dept. Chief Mick Humer and Normal Mayor Chris Koos at the Main Street Headquarters Station, Saturday, Feb. 12, 2022.
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U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, left, and Sen. Tammy Duckworth, right, learn about the new features of child safety seats from Laura Dunn, highway safety specialist at the Occupant Protection Division of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Saturday. Duckworth is working with the administration to improve design and usage of child seats.
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