JOLIET, IL - Will County Board member Ragan Freitag (R-Wilmington) will join an elite group of emerging leaders next week to participate in a forward-thinking public policy program led by former Gov. Jim Edgar. In its fourth year, the Edgar Fellows initiative seeks to inspire bipartisan, inter-regional cooperation in addressing major challenges for the state in the years and decades ahead.

"It's an honor to join the 2015 Edgar Fellows class that features a broad range of leaders from throughout Illinois," said Freitag. "I look forward to meeting and engaging with them next week and in the months and years to come. By forming these relationships, working together and finding common ground, I believe strongly we can help solve our state's problems and move it forward."

JOLIET, IL - Will County Board member Ragan Freitag (R-Wilmington) urged legislators in Springfield Wednesday to approve funding for the proposed Houbolt Road bridge, saying the project is needed to provide access to the county's growing intermodal facilities while also relieving wear and tear on local roads.

"Today, I am here to support the Houbolt Bridge project and to urge fast action from the legislature to get this project underway," Freitag said during testimony before the Illinois House Committee on Intermodal Infrastructure. "Big trucks are wearing down our local roads at an alarming pace. The local road infrastructure was not designed to accommodate the volume of intermodal truck traffic that we now experience."