Tasked with finding the common ground between the House and Senate versions of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) recently announced the bipartisan compromise to FAST.
Illinois transportation and infrastructure projects will be protected under the FAST Act, Durbin said.
“This is a good bipartisan bill that reauthorizes our nation's transportation programs and gives state and local agencies certainty in planning for the next five years,” Durbin said. “As a member of the House-Senate Conference Committee, I was glad to be at the table working to protect Illinois’ important, job-creating infrastructure priorities.”
FAST authorizes and funds transportation projects for five years, allowing state governments to plan and implement infrastructure improvements. Under FAST, more rail projects are eligible for long-term, low interest loans using the Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing (RRIF) Program.
In addition to streamlining the RRIF process, the FAST Act includes funding for a variety of programs. The five-year program funds highway programs, grants to improve the freight infrastructure, improvements to bus systems and facilities, improvements in rail safety with Positive Train Control systems, studies and improvements on tank car safety and reauthorizes the Amtrak passenger system, which operates 56 trains daily in Illinois.
It also allows states and communities to seek additional funding for national and regional priority infrastructure projects and increases the State of Good Repair program to nearly $2.7 billion in order to improve aging mass transit programs, such as the Chicago Transit Authority.
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