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FY 2024 Local Program Funding
LOCAL PROGRAM FUNDING
Public Act 103-0589 provided $400 million of state funding for local transportation priorities related to enhancing local assets, enhancing complete street initiatives and improving safety. The department announced the funding in May 2025 with a deadline in June of 2025. The department received over 1,900 applications requesting over $5 billion. There is wide eligibility of projects including eligibility for all modes. The projects were evaluated on three metrics: a readiness-based criteria, a mobility-based criteria and a place-based hardship index.
The readiness criteria was measured by the status of the project. Projects can take many years from conception to construction. IDOT staff who deliver projects of this nature evaluated the projects along the scale from conception to construction and determined a score. If a project requested funding for all phases of a project but had not yet started, funding for just the preliminary phase was considered.
The projects were evaluated based on the cost-effectiveness of the users of the facility, by user type. The mobility based criteria also looked at the users of the facility and their demographics to prioritize projects that have more disadvantaged users than other requested projects.
An index was developed based on three metrics – economic hardship, environmental factors and mobility factors for the location of the project. The data points are described below.
Economic Hardship
- Median Household Income: Income in the past 12 months.
- Housing Cost Burden: Households spending more than 30% of income on housing are considered housing cost-burdened. Includes both renters (rent) and owners (mortgage and other owner costs). For renters, costs include any utilities or fees that the renter must pay, but do not include insurance or building fees.
- Unemployment Rates: Percent of residents 16 and older in the civilian labor force who are actively seeking employment.
- Labor Force Participation: Percent of residents 16 and older who are currently employed, enlisted in the armed forces or actively seeking employment.
Environmental Factors
- Diesel particulate matter concentration: Average annual particulate matter from diesel engines, in micrograms per cubic meter.
- Particulate Matter Environmental Justice Index: Weighted index of vulnerability to particulate matter. Measures exposure to PM 2.5 in the air, weighted by population vulnerability and reported as a percentile nationally, where 0 = lowest exposure and 100 = highest exposure. Weighting by the vulnerability of residents can provide a better estimate of the disproportionate impact of environmental hazards.
- Traffic Environmental Justice Index: Weighted index of vulnerability to nearby traffic. Measures proximity to traffic, weighted by population vulnerability and reported as a percentile nationally, where 0 = lowest exposure and 100 = highest exposure. Weighting by the vulnerability of residents can provide a better estimate of the disproportionate impact of environmental hazards.
- Green space proximity: Proportion of a geography's area within 1 mile of green space.
Mobility Factors
- Mean Travel Time: Average time in minutes it takes to travel to work, regardless of transportation method, for workers 16 and over who do not work at home. The daily round-trip commute time would be roughly twice this number.
- No Vehicle Available: Percent of occupied households with no vehicles available.
- Traffic Intensity: A measure of proximity to vehicle traffic, defined as the annual average of the daily count of vehicles within 500 meters, divided by their distance in meters. Higher values indicate higher exposure to heavy traffic.
- Lack of Transportation: Percent of adults who reported a lack of reliable transportation keeping them from medical appointments, meetings, work, or from getting things needed for daily living in the past 12 months.
Based on the prioritization, we have identified 223 projects totaling $400 million. The awarded funding represents 80% for highway projects, of which 65% includes bicycle and pedestrian components; 11% for bike/ped standalone projects; 8.3% for transit projects; and 1% for ports projects. Of the 223 projects selected, 123 are in rural areas throughout the state.
A webinar is scheduled to provide an overview for grant implementation for selected grant recipients of the 2024 Local Project Funding (LPF). This webinar is for grantees whose projects will be delivered through IDOT’s Local Roads and Streets. It is highly encouraged that at least one representative for each selected project attend this meeting to receive necessary information.
October 17, 2025 10:30-11:30 AM Register Now