A four-decade-old plan to construct a building to house the University of Illinois' electrical and computer engineering programs is finally moving ahead.

The university's Urbana-Champaign campus says it plans to call for bids on the $95 million Electrical and Computer Engineering Building in October. The building would house programs that are now scattered across several buildings.

Half of the project will be paid for with state money. The rest is being covered with private donations.

The building will have about 230,000 square feet.

Timothy Trick is a professor emeritus in electrical engineering. He says the project has been discussed at least since he came to the university in 1965.

The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering is among the top programs on campus.