Gov. Pritzker Announces Agreement with Michigan and U.S. Corps of Engineers on Brandon Road Interbasin Project
After Negotiations to Protect Illinois Taxpayers and Ensure Shared Cost, Historic Agreement Reached on Brandon Road
July 1, 2024
SPRINGFIELD- After eluding prior administrations for years, Illinois has signed a long-anticipated project partnership agreement with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the State of Michigan allowing construction of the $1.15 billion Brandon Road Interbasin Project on the Illinois River near Joliet.
This milestone agreement allows $274 million in federal funding and $114 million in state funding from Illinois and Michigan to be used for the first of three construction increments. When completed, the project is designed to prevent the potential devastation of the Great Lakes ecosystem by invasive carp accessing the Great Lakes from the Illinois River.
Throughout negotiations, Governor Pritzker has balanced the need to preserve the Great Lakes ecosystem with the responsibility to carefully steward taxpayer dollars. The final agreement includes a $50 million investment from the State of Illinois that will bring in hundreds of millions in federal funding to ensure this federal project moves forward. Governor Pritzker also has called for and received a commitment from Illinois’ U.S. senators to continue advocating for full federal funding of the project and other financial concessions to help ease the long-term burden on Illinois taxpayers.
In addition, Illinois and Michigan have entered into a separate agreement to ensure any additional costs are shared and do not fall disproportionately on either state’s taxpayers as the project moves forward.
Brandon Road is a federal project, and together Illinois and Michigan serve as the non-federal sponsors. Because of the potential economic and ecological consequences of Invasive Carp in the Great Lakes, Michigan is joining Illinois as a full non-federal sponsor partner and has pledged considerable financial and technical support.
“Protecting the Great Lakes will always be a priority for the State of Illinois and after many years of this project eluding multiple administrations, I am thrilled to see it move forward. I want to thank our partners at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the State of Michigan as well as our team in the governor’s office and at DNR for their years of work on this extraordinarily complex endeavor,” said Illinois Governor JB Pritzker. “Protecting the Great Lakes is not an undertaking that any one state or city can tackle alone, and I’m thrilled that we were able to forge a path that protects both the Great Lakes and ensures Illinois taxpayers do not shoulder a disproportionate share of the burden.”
Illinois Department of Natural Resources Director Natalie Phelps Finnie, who signed the agreement on behalf of the state this week, thanked Governor Pritzker for his leadership and steadfast efforts to reach an agreement that works for the people of Illinois.
“We are grateful for the support and understanding of our partners at the State of Michigan and the Corps of Engineers that made the signing of this agreement possible,” Finnie said. “Complex agreements like this don’t happen in a vacuum, nor do they happen quickly. A tremendous amount of effort over many months went into hammering out the details of this agreement. I’m thrilled this consequential project will now be able to move forward.”
Brandon Road Lock and Dam near Joliet has been identified as the critical pinch point where layered technologies could be used to stop invasive carp populations from moving into the Great Lakes. The Brandon Road project will implement a complex series of innovative deterrents at the Brandon Rock Lock and Dam site to prevent upstream movement of invasive carp and other aquatic nuisance species on the Illinois Waterway.
Experts from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources’ Offices of Water Resources, capital planning, and fisheries have worked closely with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the preconstruction, engineering, and design phases of the project, which started in December 2020.
With the project partnership agreement signed, contracts for fabrication, continued design, leading edge deterrents, and bedrock removal are now slated for solicitation in the coming weeks. Interested contractors can visit www.mvr.usace.army.mil/BRIP for more information.
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