Riverside President Ben Sells said on Wednesday that he has authorized additional workers and overtime in order to finish as much work as possible on East Burlington Street before June 30.
After that date, the Illinois Department of Transportation has threatened to shut down all of its road projects unless the Illinois General Assembly passes authority to fund the work.
The state of Illinois has been operating without a budget for almost an entire year, and the General Assembly has failed to agree on a budget for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins July 1.
Republican lawmakers have proposed a stop-gap funding bill, House Bill 6585/Senate Bill 3435 to fund schools and road projects.
“We have started to inform our industry partners that all of our projects in both construction and engineering phases will be shutting down starting June 30 due to the majority party in the legislature’s failure to pass a balanced budget,” IDOT officials said in a state emailed to the Landmark on Wednesday. “The conversation about how individual projects will wind down is continuing.
“The stopgap proposal is a fiscally responsible solution proposed by the Republican leaders that can be voted on today. There will be no interruption in our projects and programs if the General Assembly returns to Springfield and passes HB 6585/SB 3435.”
In the meantime, Sells said the goal is to get all of the brick pavers laid for sidewalks on the south side of East Burlington Street and on Longcommon Road by the end of next week.
Sells said he also hoped concrete driveway aprons on the north side of East Burlington Street can be poured before the June 30 deadline.
“We want to get it to a place where, if we have to stop, it’ll have the least impact possible,” Sell said. “It’s hard for me to imagine our legislators can let this happen.”
