Manzullo Hails Next Step for Algonquin's Western Bypass, Urges Governor to Restore State Funds Stripped from Project
Washington,
Oct 17 -
Congressman Don Manzullo (R-Egan) today hailed the news that the Illinois Department of Transportation has approved the next step for the vital Algonquin Western Bypass project and design plans can proceed for the new road that will divert tens of thousands of vehicles around the clogged Routes 31 and 62 intersection.
The $2.9 million Phase II Engineering Study is expected to take 18 months to complete, but excavators could begin to do some preliminary earthwork next year. The major hurdle standing in front of the project is whether the Governor and General Assembly will restore the tens of millions of dollars in state and federal road funding it stripped from the project over the last several years.
In 1998, Manzullo secured $9 million in federal funding and designated the Western Bypass as a “High Priority Project” in the federal transportation bill. The State of Illinois followed his lead and added the Western Bypass to the state transportation plan in 1999. At that time, the state allocated $35 million in state funds (under the Illinois First program) to the project, bringing total funding to $44 million – which was enough to build the road at that time.
Over the last several years, the state has consistently scaled back its funding support for the Western Bypass, even though the federal government continued to make it a priority. In addition to the $9 million federal earmark in 1998, Congressman Manzullo and U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Barack Obama (D-IL) secured another $10 million for a northern extension of the project in 2005. In addition, Congress gave Illinois another $6.2 billion in federal gas tax receipts to use at the state’s discretion to fix Illinois roads. Despite this significant federal commitment, the Illinois Department of Transportation eliminated the remaining state funding for the Western Bypass project in last year’s state road plan.
In a letter sent to the Governor last year, Manzullo and many other local officials called on Blagojevich to restore all the state funding for the project and add whatever is necessary – using some of the federal gas tax monies and the $22 million McHenry County motorists pay annually in state gasoline taxes – to build the Western Bypass. McHenry County officials estimate the cost of the Western Bypass, without the northern extension, at about $67 million.
“This approval for the next engineering phase of Algonquin’s Western Bypass allows engineers to proceed in designing the exact path for the road and puts us another step closer toward ending the massive gridlock in downtown Algonquin, which has gone on way too long,” Manzullo said. “I will continue to work closely with State Rep. Mike Tryon and State Senator Pam Althoff to pressure the Governor and state legislative leaders to restore the state and federal funding they stripped from this needed project last year and build this road.”
The new Western Bypass road would start at Route 31 near Virginia Road in Crystal Lake, veer southwest into the gravel pit, cross Algonquin Road near the Algonquin post office, veer southeast and connect back with Route 31 near Huntington Drive.
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