Despite state budget woes, the Illinois Department of Transportation is calling 2016 a year of progress. IDOT officials say new, innovative approaches to spur continued investment in infrastructure will make the state a better location to work and do business in 2017 and beyond. Secretary of Transportation Randy Blankenhorn says the transportation agency moved forward on key projects.

In 2016, IDOT wrapped up more than 700 highway projects. 
providing enhanced pedestrian, bicycling and transit options.

Downstate, the Interstate 57/70 expansion came to conclusion in Effingham, one of the biggest projects in eastern central Illinois in several years. A widening and reconstruction project on Interstate 74 in Morton and Tazewell County also finished. The project consisted of adding a lane in each direction, modernizing the interchange with I-155 into a safer configuration and improving the entrance and exit ramps at Morton Avenue. In 2017, IDOT is partnering with Iowa to start construction on the new I-74 bridge in the Quad Cities, one of the largest bridge projects in state history.