Pat Quinn, the governor of Illinois, this week signed a $1bn spending plan to repair roads and bridges damaged by the the US’s severe winter.Â
The state capital construction bill will deliver 210 projects and create an estimated 14,300 jobs, according to the transportation officials. Work on some of the projects has already begun.Â
Erica Borggren, the acting head of the Illinois Department of Transportation, said: "After the historic winter we experienced, many of our roads and bridges are in desperate need of attention. This construction program is the shot in the arm that our transportation system and our economy needs."Â
Governor Quinn said: "With this investment in our state’s infrastructure, we are immediately putting people to work, making our world-class transportation system even stronger and generating economic development far into the future."Â
The repair plan will be financed by selling bonds.Â
Illinois Department of Transportation plans to give $100m to municipal and township governments to upgrade infrastructure at the local level.
