ILLINOIS TOLL ROAD STUDY INCLUDED IN HIGHWAY BILL

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- A revised highway bill includes funding for a feasibility study for a toll road from Carbondale to East St. Louis.

Over $22 million in road and bridge improvements in Southern Illinois won approval recently in the U.S. House of Representatives. A number of projects are included in the highway authorization bill.

Among other projects included are continued upgrading of Route 13 in Williamson and Saline counties that will help complete the Murphysboro-Carbondale-Marion-Harrisburg corridor, and funding for reconstruction of Feather Trail Road in Pulaski County, which is vital to the construction of the $800 million Olmsted Locks and Dam project.

"This bill will help our area tremendously," said U.S. Rep. Glenn Poshard, D-Carterville, a member of the Public Works and Transportation Committee who helped write the bill.

Poshard included $30 million in highway projects for Southern Illinois in the original bill, which depended on a new 5-cent gasoline tax.

As a result of some objections to the new tax, a compromise was reached to extend through 1999 half of the 5-cent gasoline tax passed in last year's budget agreement. The revised gas-tax proposal means the bill is now a six-year, $151 reauthorization of highway programs. With a longer timeframe and slightly less revenue available, important projects across the country, including some in Southern Illinois, had to be taken out of the bill.

"It's less than what we started with, but we still have a strong list of projects that will have meaningful impact on the economy of Southern Illinois," said Poshard.

The projects in the revised bill are:

Illinois tollway feasibility study, $.32 million; 34th street extension at Mount Vernon, $.96 million; Feather Trail Road, $1.32 million; Route 1, $2.16 million; Route 13, $9.2 million; Route 13 improvements, $4.68 million; DuQuoin highway bridge, $3.12 million; and I-245 interchange, $0.40 million.

"I worked with state and local officials to determine which projects would most help Southern Illinois," said Poshard. "We had extremely good projects, and unfortunately not all of them made it, but the ones that did will have a positive economic impact on Southern Illinois."

The bill now goes to a conference committee, said Dave Strickland of Poshard's office.

"The House and Senate have passed different highway bills," said Strickland. "Members of both groups will go to conference in the near future to hammer things out."

Poshard said he would continue to work for the projects in the House bill.

"We know that unless we invest in the infrastructure of this country and of our area, we will continue to fall behind our competitors," said Poshard. "This is vitally important legislation."