By CAPITOL NEWS ILLINOIS

SPRINGFIELD – Nearly 100 airports across Illinois will receive state funding in the coming months for projects ranging from new runways and road relocations to the purchase of mowers and snow removal equipment.

The money comes from the $45 billion Rebuild Illinois capital infrastructure plan which passed the General Assembly and the governor signed into law in 2019. Another $11.5 million for the projects will be contributed by local sources.

Gov. JB Pritzker was in Moline Wednesday to publicize the funding for 96 airports around the state, including $5.6 million for the Quad Cities International Airport. The Quad Cities funding will go toward entrance road realignment and parking expansion.

The state grants range from $36,000 for the Illinois Valley Regional Airport in LaSalle County to acquire a tractor with a flex wing mower to nearly $11.8 million for the Morris Municipal Airport in Grundy County for a crosswinds runway.

St. Louis Downtown Airport in St. Clair County is slated to receive $5 million for ramp and taxiway access from the airfield, including a jetblast noise mitigation barrier.

St. Louis Downtown Airport is the third busiest airport in Illinois and was recognized by the IDOT Division of Aeronautics as the 2021 Reliever Airport of the Year.

The project has been in the planning stages for several years, and construction is anticipated to begin in 2022.

The Cairo Regional Airport near the state’s southern tip will receive $309,000 from the state, including $72,000 to acquire snow removal equipment and $237,033 to replace airport lighting.

The Tri-Township Airport in Carroll County will receive $171,000 to install new electric airfield security gates.

The Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport in Springfield will see more than $3 million to rehabilitate its north airport’s public parking lot and roadways.

Bolingbrook’s Clow International Airport will receive $2.8 million, $67,500 of which will help replace its rotating beacon, while more than $2.1 million will go toward the construction of a replacement parallel taxiway.

Southern Illinois Airport in Jackson County will see over $1 million, with $252,000 going toward the relocation of Fox Farm Road and $751,000 going to expand the southeast aircraft parking apron.

The Rebuild Illinois plan is a multimodal infrastructure package covering roads, bridges, waterways, air travel and rail, as well as bike and pedestrian pathways.

The transportation projects in the 2019 plan are largely funded through a doubling of the motor fuel tax to 38 cents, a rate that now goes up annually at the inflation rate. The measure also increased several fees motorists pay to the secretary of state, including registration fees.

A full list of projects can be viewed here.

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HARRIS TO RETIRE: Illinois House Democratic Leader Greg Harris said Monday he will not seek reelection in 2022 and will step down from the General Assembly after eight terms in office.

Harris, 66, of Chicago, is the first openly LGBTQ legislative leader in Illinois history who spent much of his time in office advancing gay rights, health care reform and social service funding.

“I think it was just, it was just time. At the end of this term, I’ll have been there in the General Assembly, 16 years. And that just seemed to be a good amount of time,” Harris said during a phone interview.

Harris said he would finish the rest of his term and would continue to lead the Democratic caucus through the annual budget process in the upcoming 2022 session.

He said he chose to make the announcement now so other potential candidates in the 13th District would have time to decide if they want to run for the office. Candidates in the 2022 election will begin circulating nominating petitions in mid-January.

Harris was first elected in 2006, succeeding former Rep. Larry McKeon who, like Harris, was both openly gay and HIV-positive. He was reelected seven more times and did not face a challenger in any of those elections.

In 2010, Harris was the lead House sponsor of a bill, Senate Bill 1716, establishing the Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act, which recognized civil unions of same-sex couples in Illinois.

In 2013, he was the lead House sponsor of another bill legalizing same-sex marriage in Illinois. Then-Gov. Pat Quinn signed it into law in November that year, nearly two years before the U.S. Supreme Court declared same-sex marriages legal nationwide.

Other legislative accomplishments during his tenure include reducing economic disparities in accessing mammograms and breast cancer treatment, cutting red tape in the state’s health care system and lowering the costs of prescription drugs.

In 2019, Harris was named House Majority Leader. From that position, he was able to help steer many of Gov. JB Pritzker’s policy initiatives through the House, including state budgets and the $45 billion capital improvements plan, “Rebuild Illinois.”

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government and distributed to more than 400 newspapers statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.