{"id":22454,"date":"2025-07-04T01:54:23","date_gmt":"2025-07-04T06:54:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/?page_id=22454"},"modified":"2025-07-04T01:54:24","modified_gmt":"2025-07-04T06:54:24","slug":"over-300m-diverted-from-road-fund-as-illinois-infrastructure-struggles","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/index.php\/over-300m-diverted-from-road-fund-as-illinois-infrastructure-struggles\/","title":{"rendered":"Over $300M Diverted From Road Fund as Illinois Infrastructure Struggles"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"fonts-plugin-block \" style=\"font-family: Lato;font-weight: normal;font-size: 21px;line-height: 1.4;text-align: center\"><strong>Over $300M Diverted From Road Fund as Illinois <\/strong><br><strong>Infrastructure Struggles<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"fonts-plugin-block \" style=\"font-weight: normal;font-size: 14px\"><em>GraniteCityGossip.com, July 4, 2025<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"622\" height=\"416\" data-id=\"22455\" src=\"https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Screenshot_4-7-2025_14418_1440wrok.com_.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-22455\" srcset=\"https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Screenshot_4-7-2025_14418_1440wrok.com_.jpeg 622w, https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Screenshot_4-7-2025_14418_1440wrok.com_-300x201.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 622px) 85vw, 622px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"619\" height=\"412\" data-id=\"22456\" src=\"https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Screenshot_4-7-2025_14328_1440wrok.com_.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-22456\" srcset=\"https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Screenshot_4-7-2025_14328_1440wrok.com_.jpeg 619w, https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Screenshot_4-7-2025_14328_1440wrok.com_-300x200.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 619px) 85vw, 619px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n<p class=\"fonts-plugin-block \" style=\"font-family: Lato;font-weight: normal;font-size: 17px\">Illinois\u2019 2026 budget will shift $308 million from its dedicated Road Fund\u2014a move that critics say puts the state\u2019s already subpar infrastructure at further risk.<br><br>Despite ranking just 31st in road quality nationwide, the state plans to divert $171 million in motor fuel tax revenues, originally slated for roads, to help close budget gaps. These funds were supposed to help complete Gov. J.B. Pritzker\u2019s $45 billion Rebuild Illinois plan, launched in 2019 to fix roads, bridges, railways, and airports.<br><br>Ironically, the same gas tax hikes used to fund that plan are now being redirected. The budget also includes $137 million from the Road Fund for state employee health costs\u2014justified under provisions tied to workers&#8217; compensation.<br><br>Meanwhile, lawmakers approved $237 million in new spending for politically directed projects, mostly benefiting Democrats. The state\u2019s roads? Still lagging. Just 80.4% were in acceptable condition as of 2023, compared to 90%+ in Indiana, Iowa, and Minnesota.<br><br>Voters tried to put a stop to this with the 2016 \u201clockbox\u201d amendment, intended to prevent transportation fund misuse. Yet state leaders continue to find work arounds, prompting watchdog groups to call for performance-based budgeting and long-term structural fixes.<br><br>Unless that happens, critics warn Illinois will keep trading economic growth and infrastructure stability for short-term budget tricks.<br><br><br><br><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-22454","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/22454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22454"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/22454\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22458,"href":"https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/22454\/revisions\/22458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}