Illinois will receive more than $16.9 million in federal grants for highway improvement and planning.

The awards from the U.S. Department of Transportation include $3.75 million toward reconstruction of Interstate 57 and $3.6 million to study the best route for Interstate 66 across southern Illinois between Paducah, Ky., and Interstate 55 in Missouri.

Another $2.7 million will pay for pedestrian safety devices at 78 locations along the Chicago-to-St. Louis high-speed rail corridor and $1.7 million will replace two pedestrian crossings and an underpass at the Lake-Cook Metra station in Deerfield.

More than 1,800 applications totaling $13 billion poured into the Federal Highway Administration in June - more than 30 times the funds available from 14 federal grant programs.