Bridges

New Funding to Boost Infrastructure Work

By Paula Widholm

The disastrous collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis in fall 2007 forced government officials to focus much more on the need to care for the nation’s infrastructure.

Illinois’ aging bridges are expected to get rebuilt with some of the economic stimulus money coming to the state. (Photo courtesy of the Illinois Tollway)

And even though the Minnesota bridge was rebuilt, other infrastructure projects have been put on hold over the last few years because of a shortage of funds.

Now that may be changing under the $787-billion federal stimulus package President Obama signed in February. The stimulus has slated $27.1 billion for highway/bridge projects.

Illinois’ share is estimated at $941 million and is split at $706 million for the Illinois Department of Transportation and $325 million for local transportation departments, according to IDOT.

In addition to this influx of federal funds, some states are also seeking to increase their gasoline tax to fund billions of dollars in highway and mass-transit projects.

An 8-cent-per-gallon gas hike is under review in the Illinois Legislature, which would raise the existing 19-cent-per-gallon motor fuel tax to 27 cents. House Speaker Michael Madigan supports the proposal, and his office claims the boost could raise $500 million a year to fund bond payments on a $5.9 billion transportation repair plan.

Iowa’s legislators are also considering an 8-cent-per-gallon gas hike, which would move their rate from 21 cents to 29 cents. Nationally, the gasoline-tax rate averages 18.4 cents per gallon. Its 18 cents per gallon in Indiana and 32.1 cents in Wisconsin.

Gas Tax Increase?

The gas tax increase in Illinois could be approved by April and would allow the state to implement a large infrastructure improvement plan.

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“Illinois has been without a major transportation infrastructure plan since 1999’s Illinois First under George Ryan,” says Michael Meagher, vice president of marketing for Chicago-based McHugh Construction. “It’s high time to get it going.”

Money from the proposed gas-tax hike and from the federal stimulus package will drive highway and bridge work this year, he adds.

“We’re preparing ourselves to compete intensively on those projects,” Meagher says. “The city of Chicago is going to have quite a few infrastructure projects and is contemplating different delivery methods, like design-build, to get things going quicker.”

Meagher says he expects the Chicago Department of Transportation, IDOT and the Illinois Tollway to all be awarding a lot of work in the Chicago area in the next three to six months.

“There will be intense competition,” he says. “They are generally required to take the lowest bid. Design-build may be the best value solution. If someone has a design that has a longer lifespan than another but costs a little more, it gives the authorizing agency something that provides the best value to the taxpayer.”

Meagher adds that commercial and residential contractors looking for work may not be able to easily switch over to the coming abundance of infrastructure projects.

“You have to be prequalified to go after some work,” he says. “You have to have adequate bonding capacity and you have to be financially strong. I don’t anticipate a lot of new players. Chicago is home to some qualified, longstanding firms that we have been competing with for a long time.”

$505-Million Interchange Project

Perhaps the largest bridge construction on the drawing board is the $505-million interchange planned for Interstate 57 and Illinois Tollway 294. The bulk of the work will be in repairing and rebuilding bridges, rather than creating them.

The project has not yet started because an environmental-impact assessment is under way. However, the Illinois Dept of Transportation has identified seven smaller projects—mostly, new decks and engineering—on the I-57/Illinois Tollway 294 project that are ready to be awarded as part of the federal stimulus package.

Meanwhile, the Illinois Tollway will spend $1 billion this year, its third and final year of a $6.3 billion congestion relief program that includes major widening and reconstruction.

“The system is 50 years old, and the reconstruction and widening is taking the roads back to their base,” says Joelle McGinnis, spokesperson for the Illinois Tollway. “In many instances we are lengthening bridges that are not our jurisdiction because we’re adding lanes underneath bridges.”

Other than infrastructure, Meagher says he doesn’t see many other segments of the construction market heating up.

“There was talk at the beginning of the year that health care and institutional work would be strong; however, because of economy the endowments that operate these facilities have suffered greatly,” he says. “There’s still a fair amount of health-care work, but it’s not a continued boom.”

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