Blagojevich lengthens road project period 2 years

By JOHN O'CONNOR

Sunday, Mar. 14 2004

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who has been criticized for taking money from the state's road building fund to balance the budget, now plans to stretch Illinois' five-year road construction and repair program over seven years to save money, officials said Friday.

Transportation Department planners expecting a five-year plan had been cutting some already announced projects because of a funding shortage, according to an e-mail sent to district offices around the state and obtained by The Associated Press.

By stretching the spending over seven years instead, Blagojevich can keep most of those projects, Transportation Secretary Timothy Martin said Friday. But at the same time, some road and bridge work probably will be delayed, because projects that were restored by the extended time frame would be added to the sixth and seventh years - 2010 and 2011.

Martin said the governor is extending the program over two more years because of uncertain federal funding, not because of a state cash shortage. To meet a deadline for delivering the road program to the Legislature, Martin said he is preparing a cautious plan that assumes federal funding will remain at $3.7 billion, the same as in the last six-year round.

Blagojevich plans to announce his capital program, including building and repairing roads and bridges, on March 23.

"It assumes no projects will be dropped, but it also assumes no projects will be added," Martin said.

Critics say the extension is just a way for Blagojevich to claim he's not cutting any road projects while transferring $751 million from the road fund to the general fund, which finances operational expenses.

"The diversions have gotten to such a high level, we're not able to do as much as we were able to do in five years, so let's put it on the book over seven so it doesn't look so bad," said Sen. Dale Righter of Mattoon, one of the Senate Republicans calling for a constitutional amendment to end transfers from the road fund.

The road fund, set up for construction and rehabilitation of highways and bridges, brings in about $2.75 billion from a 19-cent-a-gallon gasoline tax and vehicle registration fees.

It had been supplemented until last year by former Gov. George Ryan's five-year, $12 billion Illinois FIRST program, through which the state borrowed money to help pay for roadwork.

But the Illinois FIRST money is now depleted, and the Transportation Department has said that the 1,470 miles of roads and 580 bridges that need repair this year will grow to 3,150 miles of highway and 760 bridges by 2008 if no funding is added.

Blagojevich's diversion last year of $751 million from the road fund helped fill a $5 billion budget gap. He has predicted a $1.7 billion deficit in the upcoming budget year, which begins July 1.