State House Transportation committee hears testimony on problems and potential of $8 billion freight industry
Waiting for what seems like forever for the freight train to pass. Crawling along the expressway, surrounded on all sides by semis, with one inching ever so close to your rear bumper. Sitting in traffic, watching just one car make it through the intersection behind a line of trucks before the light changes.
Anyone who has spent time traveling through metropolitan Chicago knows that freight system delays are a major contributor to the region's congestion headache. In response, Business Leaders for Transportation, a coalition representing more than 10,000 employers across the region, has prepared Critical Cargo: A Regional Freight Action Agenda.
In addition to evaluating the current state of the region's freight transportation system, Critical Cargo presents three near-term recommendations:
- Organize public/private support for a package of priority capital improvements to the region's freight network that will expand capacity, lessen gridlock and support job expansion.
- Establish a joint-use freight corridor, after investigating the now underutilized Elgin, Joliet and Eastern (EJ&E) Railway and other corridors prioritized by the industry.
- Replace with grade separations the 40 worst at-grade crossings in the region.
- Upgrade the region's 55 miles of crucial intermodal connector highways.
- Secure $20 million in federal funding support over the next year to cover the public portion of planning the above freight investments and position the region for a significant public investment.
- Establish, by state legislative action, a public/private regional freight entity to plan, coordinate and help finance improvements to the region's freight transportation system.
"The Chicago region is the world's third largest intermodal port, and rail freight volume is projected to increase 80 percent by 2020. Unless capacity is added, truck and rail congestion will choke our communities, with major economic consequences for the region and nation," said Jim LaBelle, senior advisor for Chicago Metropolis 2020, and one of the authors of Critical Cargo. "Just as the Toll Authority plans to add lanes on 294 from I-80 to 95th Street — part of the region's busiest truck corridor — so too do we need to add capacity to our rail system." Chicago Metropolis 2020, along with the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce and Metropolitan Planning Council, co-lead Business Leaders for Transportation.
On Wednesday, April 10, LaBelle, MPC President MarySue Barrett, and Jerry Roper, president and CEO of the Chicagoland Chamber will present the report's findings and recommendations to a House Transportation Committee in Springfield convened by Rep. Julie Hamos (D-18th District).
Said Hamos, "the freight industry is an important part of our economy, and the State should take an active interest in enhancing the potential for economic development that a viable freight system would bring to our residents."
Others testifying at the hearing, which is scheduled from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m., are Brenda Russell, resident vice president-state relations, CSX Transportation; Mayor Don Peloquin, Blue Island; and Miguel d'Escoto, commissioner, Chicago Department of Transportation.
In February of 2000, Business Leaders hosted a daylong conference of public sector, community and civic leaders and other experts on the surface freight industry to explore its problems and potential. This led to the formation of a Freight Transportation Working Group. The Regional Freight Action Agenda is based on that working group's research, deliberations and findings.
"We simply cannot afford for our transportation systems to be slow and inefficient," said MarySue Barrett. "Each year, the freight industry generates $8 billion in economic activity for the region and $3.2 billion in payroll for more than 117,000 workers. One recent study showed that not fixing rail industry congestion could cost us $1 billion and 10,000 jobs by 2010. If we don't fix what's wrong right now, we won't capture anticipated growth."
Added Jerry Roper, "With the changing nature of manufacturing, which has become more dependent on 'just-in-time' delivery, there is increased demand for freight services that are reliable, flexible, cost-effective and timely. This forces the transportation system to be more efficient, but also a lot more fragile. If there's congestion at just one point along the way, the entire delivery process can be disrupted."
In releasing this report, Business Leaders for Transportation hopes to raise awareness of the issue, build consensus on needed investments, and put the recommendations into action. Engaging policy makers is critical, and progress is already being made. In addition to Rep. Hamos' hearings in Springfield, Allan Rutter, administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration will be in Chicago next week for two days of meetings on and tours of rail freight congestion. Rutter's visit came at the request of Sen. Dick Durbin, who wrote language on the importance of Chicago's role in the national movement of freight into the 2002 Transportation Appropriations bill.
Business Leaders for Transportation was formed in 1997 to act as a collective voice for Chicago-area employers on policy and funding issues concerning surface transportation in the region. Led by the Metropolitan Planning Council, Chicago Metropolis 2020 and Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, it is a growing coalition of 80 business organizations representing more than 10,000 regional employers. Its efforts helped win passage by Congress of the Federal Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) in 1998, and the Illinois legislature's enactment of the Illinois FIRST infrastructure program in 1999.
Freight Action Agenda Contact List
Metropolitan Planning Council
MarySue Barrett
President
312/863-6001
Chicago Metropolis 2020
Jim LaBelle
Senior Advisor
312/332-8130
CSX Transportation, Inc.
Brenda Russell
Vice President - Community Relations
Co-chair, Transportation Committee of the Metropolitan Planning Council
708/832-2169
Illinois House of Representatives
Rep. Julie Hamos (D-Evanston)
217/782-8052
Office of U.S. Senator Richard J. Durbin (D-Illinois)
Patrick Souders
Illinois Liaison/Projects Director
312/353-4952 (Chicago)
202/224-2152 (Washington, D.C.)
CenterPoint Properties Trust
John Gates
President & CEO
Co-chair, Transportation Committee of the Metropolitan Planning Council
630/586-8198
City of Blue Island
Hon. Don Peloquin
Mayor
708/597-8600