11/05/2025
NEW TONIGHT: Governor JB Pritzker stopped in Carbondale today to highlight new infrastructure investments headed to Southern Illinois, including $2 million to upgrade several key roads in the city’s downtown area.
The funding will help reconstruct Poplar, West Cherry, and West College streets, improving access to major local destinations like Southern Illinois University, SIH Memorial Hospital, and the new multimodal transit station near downtown.
“This project will help strengthen the heart of Carbondale and make it safer and easier to get around,” Pritzker said. “Rebuild Illinois isn’t just fixing old roads — it’s about investing in our future and creating good jobs in every corner of the state.”
The upgrades will include resurfacing, new curbs and gutters, sidewalk improvements with ramps for people with disabilities, and new striping to add bike lanes where space allows. Construction is expected to begin within the next year.
Carbondale Mayor Carolin Harvey said the project will have a major impact on everyday travel and the local economy.
“Poplar, Cherry, and College are right in the middle of town. These are streets people drive every day to work, school, and the hospital,” Harvey said. “When they’re safer and easier to travel, that benefits the entire community. This is the kind of progress that shows what’s possible when state and local leaders work together.”
The Carbondale improvements are part of a much larger $400 million package being distributed to communities across Illinois for 223 local projects. Of that total, more than $1.1 billion in state and local transportation work is planned for Southern Illinois through the Illinois Department of Transportation’s latest multi-year improvement program.
Union labor leaders also praised the announcement, saying the work will help provide good-paying construction jobs for local workers.
“When labor, community leaders, and the state come together, things get done,” said Tate Wright, Secretary-Treasurer of Egyptian Building Trades. “These projects mean safer streets and more local paychecks for working families.”
Other projects planned across Southern Illinois include:
• $22 million to rebuild one mile and resurface more than 13 miles of Illinois 34 in Franklin County.
• $14.5 million to resurface and build new shoulders on nearly 7 miles of Illinois 152 in Perry County.
• $14 million to reconstruct portions of Illinois 146 in Union County.
• $918,000 to repair the Pittsburg Road bridge in Williamson County.
• $2.2 million to complete the third and final phase of the Union Hill Road project in Jackson County.
The six-year Rebuild Illinois plan now totals $50.6 billion the largest infrastructure investment in state history. It includes $32.5 billion for roads and bridges and another $18.1 billion for rail, transit, aviation, ports, and bike and pedestrian projects.
Since the plan launched in 2019, IDOT says more than $20 billion in improvements have already been completed across Illinois, covering more than 21,000 lane miles of highway and 800 bridges.
