| Responsibility for the development of
multi-year programs rests with IDOT's Bureau of Statewide
Program Planning (SPP) in the Office of Planning and
Programming. The Bureau of SPP works with program planning staff
in each of the nine highway districts to develop priorities for
specific improvement projects in each district that meet IDOT's
overall accomplishment goals. This collective set of candidate
projects from throughout the state is then analyzed further by
the Bureau of SPP and the central bureaus of the Division of
Highways to develop multi-year programs within the fiscal
limitations of projected revenues and which best meet IDOT's
goals.
The multi-year program typically includes a mix of projects
ranging from repair and rehabilitation of existing roads and
bridges to major reconstruction and expansion of new
highways. A more fiscally constrained program will have a
higher percentage of projects that preserve and maintain the
existing system. However, some high-cost projects are
included even at lower program funding levels due to their
importance in decreasing congestion and accidents or in
providing economic development stimulus. The contribution a
project makes to preserve or enhance overall economic
development opportunities is a major factor in funding
expansion projects.
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Multi-Year
Highway Improvement Program. Each year, IDOT develops an
updated Proposed Highway Improvement Program. This is
released in the spring and distributed to each member of the
General Assembly and to any interested public group or
individual. This program specifically identifies the projects
that are tentatively scheduled to be accomplished in the
upcoming fiscal year. For example, the program released in the
spring of 2007 identifies projects scheduled to be accomplished
during FY 2008, which begins July 1, 2007, and ends June 30,
2008. The projects for the remaining years are not identified
for each subsequent year.
Release of the multi-year highway program in the spring
serves as a point of discussion with members of the General
Assembly and the general public. The program also receives
extensive media scrutiny. As discussions continue, remaining
issues of the first year element of the program are resolved
and project cost data are updated as engineering studies are
completed. The detailed first-year element is then published
in the summer as a separate document.
Statewide
Transportation Improvement Program (STIP). The 2005
federal "Safe Accountable Flexible Efficient Transportation
Equity Act: A Legacy for Users"(SAFETEA-LU), requires each
state to prepare a four-year STIP for federal highway and
transit projects. The basis for the STIP is the multi-year
highway improvement program described above, the five-year
public transportation improvement program developed by IDOT,
as well as the transportation improvement programs developed
by the metropolitan areas of Illinois. The STIP is submitted
to the Federal Highway Administration and the Federal
Transit Administration.
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