Elgin-O’Hare Extension/O’Hare Bypass featured as case study in new report on how Partnerships would support needed projects.
As statewide growth pressures increase demand for
new transportation investments, Illinois' fiscal well is running dry – and with it,
the availability of funding to support new, carefully planned projects. To
preserve the Chicago-area's competitiveness by maintaining and expanding our
roads, rails and airways, Business Leaders for Transportation recommends that
the state should look to Public-Private Partnerships as an alternative funding
stream that can free up limited resources for other priorities.
"Public-Private Partnerships can help deliver quality multi-modal transportation infrastructure statewide,
while minimizing the state's need to raise additional public
revenue or take on hefty new debt," said John S. Gates, Jr., chair
of Business Leaders' Public-Private Partnerships Committee, and immediate past chair of the Metropolitan
Planning Council. "We recommend state leaders adopt legislation this
session to enable Partnerships to play a strong role in
transportation investments in Illinois."
The first section of the coalition's new report, "Making the Case for
Public-Private Partnerships in Illinois" outlines the need for a new way to fund
planned transportation projects in Illinois. The state has not dedicated funds
to invest in infrastructure since Illinois FIRST expired in 2004. The reason:
the state lacks sufficient resources to maintain the existing system, much less
pay for service expansion or match funding Congress authorized last summer for
many new projects through the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, and Efficient
Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU). Without state
dollars to match the federal earmarks, much-needed planned projects will
continue to be on the back burner – an unacceptable scenario, since the Chicago
region's continued competitiveness relies heavily upon steady investment in our
transportation systems, according to Business Leaders members.
"Chicago is what it is today – a global commerce center,
popular tourism destination, and one of the top three transportation hubs in the
world – in large part because we have prioritized investments in the
transportation systems that have made us so successful over the past century,"
said Gerald R. Roper, president and CEO of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce.
"Without money to nourish these systems, the entire region will suffer."
Continued investment in regionally significant projects –
such as the Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency plan
(CREATE), and Elgin-O'Hare Extension/O'Hare Bypass – is necessary to prevent the
Chicago area and Illinois from losing thousands of jobs and billions of dollars
in business to competing states.
To illustrate how Partnerships can help the region and state
avert such losses, the report features a case study illustrating the potential
and feasibility of financing construction of the Elgin-O'Hare Extension/O'Hare
Bypass with a Partnership. The Elgin-O'Hare Extension/O'Hare Bypass has been
widely supported for many years due to its more direct connection to O'Hare
International Airport and beyond, as well as its potential to improve freight
movement and support business development around the airport. In addition, the
construction, maintenance and management of the road would create jobs and
expand travel choices for Illinois residents.
"Though the Elgin-O'Hare Extension/O'Hare Bypass has been on
the region's wish list for many years, Illinois has been unable to afford to
build it using public money or current tolls – and we're unlikely to be able to
afford it in the future without the use of a Public-Private Partnership," said
Thomas H. Morsch, Jr., former director of the Illinois State Toll Highway
Authority and co-chair of the Metropolitan Planning Council's (MPC)
Transportation Committee. "Our study indicates that the project has the
potential to generate an estimated $905 million in private equity, freeing up
limited state resources that could be used as a match for other planned
improvements in Illinois."
Download a pdf of "
Making the Case for
Public-Private Partnerships in Illinois
" or contact Kim Grimshaw Bolton, MPC
communications director, at 312-863-6020 or kbolton@metroplanning.org, for more
information.
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Business Leaders for Transportation was created in 1997 to
operate as a collective voice for Chicago-area employers, providing advocacy for
policy and funding on surface transportation issues critical to the region. The
coalition is co-led by Chicago Metropolis 2020, the Chicagoland Chamber of
Commerce, and Metropolitan Planning Council.
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