County board members approve Perryville traffic light project, Embry-Riddle pledge drive approaches $550k

By Jim Hagerty
Staff Writer

Board members approved a grant-funded traffic signal installation project at the Thursday, Jan. 13, meeting of the Winnebago County Board.

The project will include synchronized signals on Perryville Road from East State Street, north to Nimtz Road.

The project, complete with LED lighting, will come with a $497,000 price tag. The entire cost of the installation will be covered by a federal grant, County Highway Engineer Joe Vanderhoff said.

Lights are expected to be installed this summer.

In Thursday’s abbreviated, 20-minute meeting, Linda Sandquist and Gloria Lundin provided board members with pledge sheets to help raise money for a $1 million scholarship drive.

The drive is aimed at solidifying Rockford as a site for an Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University campus.

Part of the Rock the Air campaign, the drive has already notched almost $550,000 in pledges.

Board members also briefly mulled recent state income tax increases.

Thursday, Jan. 13, Gov. Pat Quinn (D) signed into a law the bill that will raise personal and corporate business taxes to 5 percent and 7 percent, respectively.

District 2 board member Jim Webster called the increase “nonsense,” and a way for Quinn’s administration “to pick our pockets.”

The Winnebago County Board meets in an open meeting every second and fourth Thursday of each month at the Winnebago County Administration Building, 404 Elm St., downtown.