State Representative Steve Reick Announces $10 Million Infrastructure Grant for Route 47 Widening Project

Woodstock, IL -State Representative Steve Reick (R-Woodstock) announced today that he has secured a $10 million grant under the Illinois Department of Transportation's Multi-Year Program to help defray the City of Woodstock's cost of relocating water and sewer lines as part of the Route 47 widening project through the city.

"When the Route 47 project was first announced in 2019, the city was told that the cost of relocating these lines would be $6 million. While the city prudently set aside the original $6 million, project delays and inflation have resulted in an increase from that original cost to $16 million and possibly more. The extent of the additional cost was totally unanticipated, and without this additional funding the cost increase would have been added to the water and sewer bills of Woodstock ratepayers."

In May, IDOT announced a program that provided $400 million of state funding for local transportation priorities related to enhancing local assets, completing street initiatives and improving safety, with a $10 million cap on any one project. By the deadline of June 2025, the Department had received over 1,900 applications with funding requests amounting to over $5 billion. Eight of the 223 projects chosen received the maximum level of funding, Woodstock being one of them.

"Route 47 is a vital artery for transportation through Woodstock and McHenry County. This grant recognizes the critical need for small communities to provide for improvements to their infrastructure, and it is also sensitive to the substantial burden that our residents would have borne without assistance." said Reick. "It took strong and persistent advocacy to get this done, and I'm happy to have played a part along with the City of Woodstock's team that worked so hard to make the case for this award."

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