Illinois Department Of Transportation

Illinois Department of Transportation, a division of the State of Illinois, is the federally designated state transportation agency administering formula grants and project grants from multiple federal sources as prime recipient—100% of its recent federal award footprint is prime (42,980 grants), with minimal sub-award activity (8 awards). The agency does not hold federal contracts; its role is exclusive to federal grant administration across highway safety, infrastructure, transit, and aviation programs.

IDOT's federal footprint is dominated by the Federal Highway Administration, which issued 42,204 awards (98% of total award count) spanning highway planning and construction, bridge replacement and rehabilitation, highway safety improvement, surface transportation block grants, and specialized programs including the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program, Bridge Formula Program, Promoting Resilient Operations for Transformative, Efficient, and Cost-Saving Transportation (PROTECT), and Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement. Secondary customers include the Federal Aviation Administration Great Lakes Region (227 awards for airport infrastructure administration), Federal Transit Administration (157 awards), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (153 awards), and the Federal Aviation Administration (152 awards). A single Transportation Security Administration award carries $1.1 million in potential value. The dollar concentration is inverted from count concentration: 42,204 FHWA awards obligate most of the $49.5 billion across the portfolio, while the single TSA award represents the largest potential-value item at $1.1 million, reflecting that IDOT's FHWA work is formula-driven with statutory apportionments rather than competitive selections.

Representative work includes $53.897 billion in Highway Planning and Construction funding for bridge replacement on new alignment over the Des Plaines River on I-80 in Joliet (awarded January 13, 2026); $16.622 million under the Nationally Significant Multimodal Freight and Highway Projects program for reconstruction of a 3-mile elevated rail corridor on Chicago's South Side with track reconfiguration, third track addition, and bridge restoration (awarded March 13, 2026); $14.558 million under PROTECT for water main replacement, storm sewers, traffic signal modernization, lighting, drainage, and ADA improvements on I-290 from 22nd Street to the Des Plaines River (awarded August 14, 2026); and $7.823 million under the Highway Safety Improvement Program for emergency vehicle operation course expansion at the Illinois State Police Training Facility (awarded March 4, 2026). IDOT also received a $5.344 million project grant for highway construction careers training statewide (awarded December 22, 2025) and administers metropolitan transportation planning funds flowing to regional planning organizations across Illinois under the Metropolitan Transportation Planning and State and Non-Metropolitan Planning and Research program (CFDA 20.505), with the Chicago CMAP allocation alone totaling $7.545 million (awarded July 1, 2026). Ferry operations receive dedicated funding: $393,395 for the Brussels and Kampsville Ferry operational expenses and $348,029 for the same ferries under the Construction of Ferry Boats and Ferry Terminal Facilities Program (CFDA 20.270), both awarded August 31, 2026.

Activity has declined modestly year over year—1,810 awards in 2022 to 1,579 in 2025—with 105 awards recorded in 2026 (through August 31). The recompete cliff signals 531 awards reaching ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, representing substantial pass-through obligation exposure tied to sub-recipient project lifecycles across municipalities and county highway departments. IDOT operates as a pure pass-through intermediary for federal transportation dollars; the agency receives formula allocations and project grants from FHWA, NHTSA, FAA, and FTA, then sub-awards to cities, villages, county highway departments, airport authorities, regional planning organizations, and specialized service providers. The source provides no direct-award or sub-subcontract engagement with commercial vendors; IDOT's federal role is administrative and fiduciary, not operational delivery.