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Washington, D.C. - Congresswoman Melissa Bean (IL-08) announced that the House will vote on H.R. 2764, the FY 2008 Consolidated Appropriations bill. The bill includes $21,130,929 in funding Bean requested for the following projects in earlier versions of the bill:
Transportation and Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
Butterfield Rd., IL Rt. 60/ Canadian National Railroad Grade Separation: $245,000 to implement phase one of a project to add grade separations of the Canadian National Railroad at Route 60 and Butterfield Road at IL Route 60. Turn lane traffic at this intersection is very heavy during peak periods—especially when trains are using the rail crossing only 500 feet past the intersection. Grade separations will reduce delays on this critical east-west arterial highway, which has been designated part of the Strategic Regional Arterial highway system in northeastern Illinois.
Illinois Route 120 Corridor: $980,000 for phase one engineering of a section of the Illinois Route 120 corridor between U.S. Route 12 and Illinois Route 131. Creating the Illinois Route 120 Corridor will be a coordinated effort including several local municipalities, Lake County, and the state of Illinois in order to reduce congestion and increase traffic flow in this rapidly growing area.
Meacham Road Tollway Access Ramps: $245,000 for phase one engineering of a west-bound off ramp at Meacham Road from U.S. Interstate 90 to help reduce congestion in this busy office, retail, tourist and residential area.
Miller Road Widening: $245,000 to help widen Miller Road from Illinois Route 31 to River Road. This funding will compliment the $6,364,000 that was received in SAFETEA-LU for improvements to Miller Road. Widening Miller to four lanes will help ease traffic congestion on this heavily traveled north-south thoroughfare.
Metra Development of Suburban Transit Access Route Line: $7,227,500 requested with other Members of the Illinois Delegation for preliminary engineering and environmental assessment work for the Metra Suburban Transit Access Route Line (STAR) Line. This suburb to suburb commuter rail line, which was authorized under SAFETEA-LU, would link more than 100 Chicagoland communities and is vital to alleviating traffic congestion, providing new commuting opportunities, and linking communities and places of business, which promotes additional economic development.
Metra Expansion and Upgrade of Union Pacific Northwest Line: $7,227,500 requested in conjunction with other Members of the Illinois Delegation for preliminary engineering of upgrades to the Metra Union Pacific NorthWest Line (Metra’s second busiest line), including a new station, an extension of track, new facilities, and enhanced overall service.
Financial Services
Illinois Institute of Technology’s Innovating Manufacturing Education Project: $282,000 for an initiative to create and disseminate improved models for innovation among small and medium sized manufacturers. Funding for this project will help create curricula for innovation research and education of the next generation of U.S. engineers, scientists and industrial managers working in manufacturing. It will develop innovative research and development demonstration projects with small and medium-sized manufacturers that address issues of sustainability in both products and processes.
Labor, Health and Human Services, Education
Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital: $28,493 via the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion program for the Wauconda Obesity Prevention Project, which addresses the growing health problem of childhood obesity at elementary schools in Lake County. This funding will bring into the program all third, fourth and fifth graders at all three elementary schools in Wauconda Community School District 118 and deliver comprehensive health education, including nutrition education, physical activity and parental involvement.
Children's Memorial Hospital Intensive Care Unit Facilities: $502,072 (requested with other Members) to help build a new hospital that will allow Children’s Memorial to continue providing all children in the region with access to the best pediatric medicine and the most advanced cures, treatments and technology in a family-centered environment.
Kids Hope United Multi-Systemic Therapy Program: $258,405 for Kids Hope United to expand its Multi-Systemic Therapy (MST) Program to provide services to high-risk youth and their families. The MST program targets youth ages 10-17 who are at high risk of out-of-home placement. This funding allows Kids Hope United to expand its MST services to serve 46 additional high-risk youth annually.
McHenry County Community College: $383,186 for McHenry County Community College’s Employer Identified Occupational Training FAST Solutions program, which provides flexible and sustainable workforce training in a “boot camp” format that is designed to provide intensive, short-term occupational training in specific fields identified by employers through their participation on the McHenry County Workforce Investment Board (WIB).
Shedd Aquarium’s 8th Congressional District Education, Community Outreach and Mentoring Initiative: $143,449 for a project that highlights the Great Lakes aquatic ecosystem through an interactive, multifaceted program that also incorporates community outreach, teen mentor and stewardship programs at Illinois Beach State Park in Zion.
Commerce, Justice and Science
Firing Range Equipment for the Lake Zurich Police Department: $211,500 for the purchase of firing range equipment. The Lake Zurich Police Department offers on-site classroom training to area law-enforcement organizations, the Illinois State Police, the Suburban Law Enforcement Academy, the Lake County Emergency Management Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This facility has a built-in a firing range but lacks the equipment needed to operate it. Federal funds to purchase equipment like mechanical target tracks, shot traps and a control room will help the department include on-site firearms training and improve the firearms proficiency of area law enforcement personnel.
Interoperable Communications Equipment for Barrington Area First Responders: $493,500 for interoperable communications equipment – portable radios, mobile radios and consolettes – to the Barrington-Inverness Police Department, the Barrington Hills Police Department and the Barrington-Countryside Fire Department. Currently, these agencies have incompatible equipment, which prevents efficient communication with each other during emergencies. New interoperable communications equipment will allow seamless communication among area police and firefighters, and will allow the agencies to participate in the Illinois statewide first responder communications network Starcom21.
Lake County Integrated Criminal Justice Information System: $451,200 to assist with the integration of the computer networks of all individual police departments in Lake County with each of the County’s criminal justice departments and to provide a universal interface with the State of Illinois. Currently, the criminal justice systems in Lake County have no automated flow of information and are suffering from systematic redundancy. This funding will allow the County to continue implementation of its comprehensive integration and modernization program.
Public Law Enforcement Communication System for McHenry County: $540,500 for the planning and design of a new public law enforcement communication system in McHenry County. The McHenry County Sheriff’s Department’s radio system is currently operating all channels at capacity, which hinders the interoperability of public safety communications systems. A transition to an 800MHz public communications system will allow for full interoperability between ten McHenry County law enforcement agencies and the six counties participating in the regional public safety communications project “Prairie Shield.”
McHenry County Integrated Criminal Justice Information System: $94,000 to assist with the integration of the computer networks of all of the police departments in McHenry County with each of the County’s criminal justice departments. McHenry County is in the process of modernizing the computer technology of the Courts, State’s Attorney, Public Defender, Sheriff’s Office and Jail. This technology upgrade is a critical step toward integrating the County’s criminal justice information system, and this federal funding will help continue this project to allow McHenry County to completely utilize the benefits of a fully integrated criminal justice system.
Energy and Water
Des Plaines River (Phase II): $362,112 in Flood Damage Reduction and Ecosystem Restoration funding for the Des Plaines River (Phase II) project. The Des Plaines River is 67 miles long, flows through 33 municipalities and floods frequently. The communities along the Des Plaines River have suffered considerable flood damage in previous years. Flood damages currently average $25 million a year along the upper reaches of the Des Plaines River, and severe flooding in 1986 and 1987 caused over $100 million in damages. Phase II includes a comprehensive watershed plan and environmental restoration projects throughout the watershed to help control flooding.
Squaw Creek (Round Lake Drain): $718,312 in Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration funding for the Squaw Creek (Round Lake Drain). Rapid growth in this area of Lake County has led to increased storm-water runoff into Squaw Creek. This project specifically focuses on Round Lake Drain and includes funding to control and minimize the damage of storm water runoff.
Interior
Village of Johnsburg Wastewater Treatment Facility: $492,200 to assist the Village of Johnsburg with the construction of a centralized wastewater treatment and collection system. This project involves the elimination of an estimated 300,000,000 gallons of raw or partially treated wastewater that is being discharged from failed or failing septic tanks into the Fox River each year. The Village of Johnsburg is currently the largest municipality on the Illinois portion of the Fox River that lacks a sewer system.
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