Legislation provides $1.6 billion in federal funding for critical road, freight, and transit projects in Illinois. The state will leave these funds in Washington unless it passes a new capital package to replace Illinois FIRST.
Business Leaders for Transportation lauded Congress for
its efforts to finalize the long awaited federal transportation bill that will
earmark federal funds for surface projects to attack traffic gridlock. The Safe,
Accountable, Flexible, and Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for
Users or SAFETEA-LU is a $286.4 billion, multi-year road, bridge and mass transit package
that is being hailed as first steps toward upgrading the nation’s transportation
infrastructure.
SAFETEA-LU promises
each state at least a 19 percent increase in funds over what they received under
TEA-21, and guarantees that by 2008 every state will get back at least 92
percent of what it contributes through federal gasoline taxes to the Highway
Trust Fund. Under TEA-21, the minimum return guarantee was 90.5 percent.
The bill contains more than $50 billion
for transit programs, mainly bus and train projects, and $6 billion for
transportation safety.
Illinois
is slated to
receive about $1.2 billion a year in federal highway funds through 2009, an
increase of $309 million annually. The state's annual increase of 33 percent
would place
Illinois
in the top 10 states for percentage
increases. Over the five-year life of the bill, public transit agencies in
Illinois will collectively receive a 28 percent hike in federal dollars,
totaling about $500 million, not counting money appropriated for particular
long-term projects. And, under a new provision of this legislation,
Illinois
will receive
close to $400 million in funds earmarked for projects of national and regional
significance.
“Transportation investments
in
northeastern
Illinois and around the state have been
on hold for more than two years as federal legislators have debated a new
surface transportation bill,”
said
MarySue
Barrett, president of the Metropolitan Planning Council, one of
the three organizations that co-lead the
Business
Leaders
coalition. “While we await President Bush’s signature
on the bill, our state leaders and transportation decision makers must move
quickly to create a package to replace the expired Illinois FIRST and maintain
our state’s competitive edge in securing federal dollars.”
Since Illinois FIRST expired in
2004 (and actually depleted most of its resources in 2003), the state has been
without a capital investment package. Rapid growth has increased the demand for
public transit not only in the
Chicago
region but in metropolitan areas across
the country. Competition for federal transit dollars will be fierce,
intensifying the need for
Illinois
decision makers to work diligently
toward a new state capital investment package.
Business
Leaders for Transportation ardently
supports a strong regional transportation network that efficiently moves people and
goods and aids in a healthy quality of life for the region’s
residents. Barrett noted that “as the
transportation hub of the nation, it is critical that state leaders make creating a new
state funding package a priority in the next legislative session otherwise, we
are doomed to leave federal funds
in
Washington.”
Click here to view the full text
of SAFETEA-LU.