Obama Secures Funding to Fix Roads, Reduce Congestion, and Support Youth Development Programs
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Printable FormatFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Ben LaBolt
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) today announced that the Senate Appropriations Committee approved his funding requests for strengthening Illinois’ transportation infrastructure and expanding community center services.
“Illinois is one step closer to the funding it needs to fix our roads, fight congestion, and restore hiking and biking trails across the state,” said Senator Obama. “Metra is the largest commuter rail system in the country, and this will help to make up for the funding shortfalls which have threatened to limit service around Chicago. This bill will also fund a frontline health care program that will bring treatment directly to children in underserved communities who suffer from asthma. I am also pleased to have secured funding to modernize Rock Island’s Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center to expand peer counseling and educational programs, which will give children in the Quad Cities an extra boost on their path to succeed tomorrow.”
Fiscal Year 2008 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations:
$2,000,000 to Franklin Park, IL, for construction of the Grand Avenue Underpass in Chicago, IL to ease congestion and increase traffic safety
Grand Avenue, a major arterial street that extends from the edge of Chicago's Central Business District through Franklin Park and other western suburbs, was named by a Federal Railroad Administration/Illinois Commerce Commission study as home of the fourth-worst railroad crossing in the state of Illinois. The construction of the Grand Avenue Underpass allows for the constant flow of traffic under the new combined rail line.
$3,000,000 to the Illinois Department of Transportation to improve trails across Illinois
Senator Obama worked with Senator Durbin to provide $3,000,000 to the Illinois Department of Transportation to improve trails across the state of Illinois. This funding will be used to improve bike and pedestrian-friendly trails across the state of Illinois. These trails will benefit our communities and individuals by reducing harmful emissions, reducing congestion, reducing petroleum consumption, and promoting personal health. Included in this amount is funding for Senator Obama’s request to connect existing and proposed parks in Kankakee County as part of the Manteno Greenways Trail System.
$1,000,000 to Lewis University Airport in Romeoville, for the extension of its primary runway
The runway extension is to allow existing based and visiting corporate aircraft to safely and efficiently operate at Will County's Airport. Senator Obama secured these funds with Senator Durbin.
$1,000,000 to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center in Rock Island, for the renovation and expansion of the Center
Expansion would include a technology center, training room, improved space for after school programming, and private counseling rooms.
$3,750,000 to Metra, to expand and improve service
Metra is the largest commuter rail system in the country in terms of number of lines, total track miles, and numbers of cars and locomotives. Funding will support environmental assessments and preliminary engineering which will establish a key rail connection throughout the northwest, west, and southwest suburbs and also offer the basis for expanded suburban rail service in the future and provide new service and stations for Chicago's south suburbs. Senator Obama secured these funds with Senator Durbin.
$300,000 to the Mobile C.A.R.E. Foundation in Chicago, for the acquisition and operation of Asthma Vans
Mobile C.A.R.E. provides free and comprehensive asthma care and health education to children in Chicago's underserved communities via mobile medical clinics, the Asthma Vans. Asthma is a growing burden on Chicago. A recent study by the University of Illinois at Chicago reports that 16% of non-Hispanic Black children and 20% of Puerto Rican children in Chicago have asthma while another 16% of each ethnicity exhibit symptoms of asthma without a diagnosis, compared to only 11% with asthma in the general U.S. population. Chicago also has the unwanted distinction of having one of the highest death rates from asthma in the entire nation.
$1,500,000 to Moline, IL, for the design and construction of River Tech Boulevard Road
This road will provide vital access to this state supported joint economic development initiative at River Tech and higher education opportunity at Western Illinois University. Senator Obama secured these funds with Senator Durbin.
$150,000 to the Ogle County Highway Department, for the Southwest Rochelle Truck Loop
Funding will be used to begin the engineering process on transportation infrastructure improvements. The improvements will include the upgrading of Intermodal Drive, Bush Grove Road, Gurler Road , Thorpe Road, Titus Road, and Center Road to Class II, 80,000 pound truck routes and the construction of a new bridge over the Kyte River. This project will construct designated truck loop around the Southwest Sides of the Union Pacific's Global III Intermodal Facility.