GOVERNOR ANNOUNCES $118 MILLION SPRING ROAD REPAIR PROGRAM

SPRINGFIELD -- Gov. George H. Ryan today announced a $118 million spring construction program to repair road damage caused by winter weather across the state, including $14 million to resurface the Dan Ryan Expressway in Chicago.

"The unusually harsh winter weather this year has taken a heavy toll on Illinois roads and bridges," Ryan said. "This funding will provide for needed long-term repairs along more than 200 important traffic routes throughout Illinois, making our roads and bridges smoother and safer for motorists."

The planned construction work will address winter damage at 225 project sites throughout the state, and will be done on an accelerated schedule to assure completion by summer.

Much of the construction work planned under the winter repair program is needed because of damage from extreme freeze-thaw action of soil beneath roadways that caused some pavement surfaces to crack, buckle and deteriorate. January 1999 saw record one-day snowfall amounts in many Illinois counties, record cold temperatures during the first 10 days of the month, and the highest precipitation levels for the month in more than a century.

The spring construction program will utilize appropriations earmarked for emergency repairs in Fiscal Year 1999.