State Will Halt Road Projects Without Stopgap Budget, IDOT Director Warns
(CBS) -- Illinois' transportation secretary is warning that major road construction projects will come to a screeching halt in two weeks, unless the legislature approves Gov. Bruce Rauner's stop-gap spending plan.
Transportation Secretary Randy Blankenhorn said the Byrne Circle interchange and the Stevenson-Lake Shore Drive ramp projects are just two of the 19 major road repair contracts that would have to be mothballed.
Blankenhorn said that would take several weeks, cost 25,000 construction workers their jobs and would run up millions of dollars in avoidable expenditures.
The threat is the latest attempt to win support for the stop-gap GOP-sponsored budget pan introduced May 31.
The Illinois Department of Transportation chief spoke with WBBM hours after the governor's office announced that the state has borrowed more than $500 million for road and transit projects at a rate of 3.7 percent interest, a rate lower than it obtained in January.
Blankenhorn said he needs legislative approval before he can spend a dime of it.
