The state of Illinois has approved $224 million to pay for street and transportation projects in Chicago's South Side neighborhood around the Obama Presidential Center site, $199 million of which will fall directly on the shoulders of Illinois taxpayers.

Gov. Bruce Rauner signed into law the legislature's budget on June 4, which included $174 million for road work in and around Jackson Park — where the 235-foot-tall building would be located — and another $50 million to renovate an above-ground rail stop two miles away.

“Bringing the Obama Presidential Center to Chicago took leadership and vision, and we are gratified that our partners in Springfield also saw the potential for what this means for all of Illinois. The state’s $174 million investment in infrastructure improvements near the Obama Center on the South Side of Chicago is money well spent,” Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said in a statement about the groundbreaking ceremony for the metro stop Friday.

Half of the $50 million Garfield Gateway rail project is funded through a 2016 Transportation Department grant, which provides for rail platform canopies, art, and new elevators and escalators at the station. However, Chicago and other Illinois state residents will still be on the hook for the remaining $199 million to improve infrastructure next to the privately owned Center.

The Obama Center project is still in the process of getting approvals, and a federal review is ongoing. A major local controversy has been over the proposed closing of Cornell Drive as it runs through Jackson Park.

[Previous coverage: First lawsuit filed against Obama Presidential Center in Chicago]

Federal agencies have also not approved the proposal nor issued permits allowing its construction on free parkland. Some local and national conservation and historical groups oppose the project because it is being proposed at Jackson Park, a park that's almost as old as New York City's Central Park and could be built on private land.

Local residents have repeatedly told city officials at town halls and press briefings they worry about being pushed out of their lower-income community because of the gentrification the center will undoubtedly bring.

The Obama Foundation originally said it would house a presidential library on the property and vowed to have the National Archives oversee the facility because of its placement on public land. But that's no longer the case, and some are balking at the change in plans.

The Obama Foundation will also have to get approval from the Environmental Protection Agency under the National Environmental Policy Act and Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act.

The first verification process will determine if the Obama Presidential Center would have "adverse effects" on Jackson Park. The State Historic Preservation Office will ask "official consulting parties" to provide opinions.

The last decision regarding Jackson Park land took place in 2012, when federal officials decided the land should not be touched.