City of Centralia, IL

City Receives $4.2 Million In Grant Funding For Roadway Project

The City of Centralia, in a joint application with the City of Wamac, has received $4.2 million in grant funding for the Wabash Avenue and East 17th Street road and drainage improvement project. $2.2 million of that funding has been awarded by the Illinois Department of Transportation Truck Access Route Program (TARP) combined with $2 million from the Economic Development Administration American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The money will be used to widen Wabash Avenue to a 3 lane road, two traffic lanes with a continuous turn lane to facilitate safe truck traffic turning radii, covered ditches with upgraded and upsized storm sewer inlets and piping as well as curb and guttering. The funding and slated road work all come at a time where both Wabash Avenue and East 17th Street will be receiving considerably heavier traffic due to an increasingly active Industrial Park, now welcoming new teneats, Hawkins Inc and American Machine & Equipment. Both companies combined, representing over an estimated 150 new jobs to the area.