State to distribute $94M to nearly 100 airports through Rebuild Illinois plan
SPRINGFIELD — Nearly 100 airports across Illinois will receive state funding in the coming months for projects ranging from new runways and road relocations to the purchase of mowers and snow removal equipment.
The money comes from the $45 billion Rebuild Illinois capital infrastructure plan which passed the General Assembly and the governor signed into law in 2019. Another $11.5 million for the projects will be contributed by local sources.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker was in Moline Dec. 1 to publicize the funding for 96 airports around the state, including $5.6 million for the Quad Cities International Airport. The Quad Cities funding will go toward entrance road realignment and parking expansion.
“Crucially, these dollars are going first and foremost to projects that might not otherwise be eligible for the full federal funding that they need to finish,” Pritzker said of the Rebuild Illinois funding.
The new expenditures will be used for large, small, rural and urban airports, the governor noted.
The state grants range in price from $36,000 for the Illinois Valley Regional Airport in LaSalle County to acquire a tractor with a flex wing mower to nearly $11.8 million for the Morris Municipal Airport in Grundy County for a crosswinds runway.
Stan Knudson, a public information officer for the city of Morris, said in a phone call the funding will allow the airport to expand its operations. It currently has a single north-south runway which means certain aircraft can’t land there if the wind is blowing unfavorably. Adding an east-west runway would accommodate more aircraft, he said.
Knudson said that funding would go toward the entire process from engineering to construction, and he was unsure on a timeline for construction. The project is also slated to receive just under $3 million in local funding, according to the governor’s office.
Knudson said funding requests go through the Illinois Department of Transportation Division of Aeronautics.
Sen. Sue Rezin, R-Morris, was a supporter for the capital plan when it passed in 2019 and she called the airport an “economic driver within our region.” The project had been in the works since 2003 but was made possible by the 2019 capital bill funding.
“Projects like this are critical for the betterment of our state,” Rezin said. “I would like to thank former Morris Mayor Dick Koczick and Morris Municipal Airport Manager Jeff Bogen for years of hard work and planning they put in to make this new crossroad runway a reality.”
St. Louis Downtown Airport in St. Clair County is slated to receive $5 million for ramp and taxiway access from the airfield, including a jetblast noise mitigation barrier.
The funding will provide improvements that will benefit four aircraft maintenance providers operating at St. Louis Downtown Airport. The project will support more than 450 aerospace manufacturing jobs by improving production safety, reliability and efficiency, improving airport businesses and increasing global competitiveness for southwestern Illinois and the state of Illinois, according to Sen. Christopher Belt, D-East St. Louis.
“St. Louis Downtown Airport is a vital economic engine in the Metro East,” Belt said in a news release. “I will continue working with Rep. Latoya Greenwood to bring our tax money home from Springfield in order to maintain and create jobs in our area.”
St. Louis Downtown Airport is the third busiest airport in Illinois and was recognized by the IDOT Division of Aeronautics as the 2021 Reliever Airport of the Year.
The project has been in the planning stages for several years, Belt stated. Construction is anticipated to begin in 2022.
Airports in the Chicago suburbs are also among those set to receive funds.
Aurora Municipal Airport is receiving just under $1.6 million in state funds to rehabilitate a parking lot and the entrance road and other roadways.
Bolingbrook’s Clow International Airport will receive $2.8 million, $67,500 of which will help replace its rotating beacon, while more than $2.1 million will go toward the construction of a replacement parallel taxiway.
The Tinley Park Helistop is receiving $1.44 million for pavement improvements.
Schaumburg Regional Airport will receive $94,500 for a self-service fuel pump and $63,000 for security gate modifications. DuPage Airport in West Chicago is getting about $1 million in funding for road resurfacing and parking lot construction.
Chicago Executive Airport in Prospect Heights and Wheeling is also receiving around $1 million for road work and a parking apron. Lansing Municipal Airport will get $445,000 for snow removal equipment.
The Rebuild Illinois plan is a multimodal infrastructure package covering roads, bridges, waterways, air travel and rail, as well as bike and pedestrian pathways. Of the funding
for the Rebuild Illinois plan, $33.2 billion is slated to go directly toward transportation in accordance with the state’s 2016 “lock box” amendment that requires the state to use transportation related funds for their stated purpose.
The 2019 plan was largely funded through a doubling of the motor fuel
tax to 38 cents, a rate that now goes up annually at the inflation rate. The measure also increased several fees motorists pay to the secretary of state, including registration fees.
The vertical infrastructure component of the bill, which provides for infrastructure improvements on state buildings, is funded through revenues resulting from a massive 2019 gambling expansion and an increase
to taxes on cigarettes and e-cigarettes.