Billions of dollars in funding will be released for construction projects across the state under a bipartisan package of bills approved by the Illinois Senate. The $45 billion construction package is the culmination of a three-month negotiation process led by State Senator Martin A. Sandoval (D-Chicago), who co-chaired a subcommittee that traveled the state this spring to learn about local infrastructure needs and potential revenue sources to pay for them. The construction plan is Illinois’ first in a decade. Since the last statewide construction plan in 2009, the condition of the state’s roads, bridges and public buildings have degraded, causing AAA to give Illinois’s infrastructure a grade of D. The plan includes a modernization of Illinois’ motor fuel tax, which has not seen an update since 1990. The motor fuel tax will also be indexed to inflation to ensure that the state will have a sustainable revenue source to maintain its roads and bridges far into the future. In addition to the improvements to Illinois’ public infrastructure, the program is also projected to bring over 500,000 new jobs to the state.