Releases "Getting the Chicago Region Moving: A Coordinated Agenda for the 2003 Federal Transportation Debate"
TEA-3, the surface transportation legislation being
considered in Washington, D.C. this year, affects everything from sidewalks to
roadways to train tracks. It is critical for our regional leaders to reach
consensus on our most pressing needs, so we don't miss the opportunity for
Illinois to get its fair share of federal dollars.
Business Leaders, representing more than 10,000 regional employers, issued
its recommendations today for how the next federal legislation can better help
northeastern Illinois meet its surface transportation needs. Getting the
Chicago Region Moving: A Coordinated Agenda for the 2003 Federal Transportation
Debate, calls most urgently for a return to a needs-based funding formula,
so that regions like northeastern Illinois — with its rapidly growing population
of transit users, aging and overused highway network and position at the hub of
the intermodal freight industry — get the help they need to make traffic flow
more smoothly, for the good of the entire nation.
The Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) distributed $217
billion to the states in 1998 for highway and transit projects, providing
Illinois with funds for an unprecedented five New Start transit projects, and
doubling dollars which match the Illinois FIRST state infrastructure
program. TEA-21 expires on Sept. 30, 2003, however, and northeastern
Illinois remains the third worst congested region in the nation.
Although metropolitan Chicago projects funded by TEA-21 chipped away at the
list of projects necessary to alleviate congestion, Illinois actually fared
worse than neighboring states as compared to TEA-21's 1991 predecessor
bill. Because it replaced a needs-based formula with one that distributed
money to the 50 states by a predetermined percentage, Illinois' increase was
only 29 percent, in comparison to a 40 percent increase nationwide. This
shift amounted to a $600 million loss over the course of the six-year program,
despite the fact that Illinois' freeway congestion is 12 percent higher than the
national average and 20 percent higher than neighboring states.
Getting the Chicago Region Moving makes the following specific funding
recommendations:
- Highways:
At the crossroads of the nation, northeastern Illinois' highway system is
critical to its economic prosperity, but 80 percent of that system is over 30
years old. The 2003 bill should re-evaluate the federal funding
structure, which shortchanges densely populated areas, so that it places
greater value on needed projects of national significance;
- Transit:
The Chicago region boasts the second largest transit network in the
nation. As Chicago's Loop requires expanded transit options to support
its growth and suburbs with dramatic population growth look for better
solutions to traffic congestion, funding for transit projects must be
increased for both rehabilitation and expansion;
- Freight:
The Chicago region is the world's third largest intermodal port, but our
outdated railyards and highways not equipped for ever-expanding volumes have
slowed movement of freight traffic across the region to less than 15
m.p.h. Freight infrastructure improvements must be added to the next
legislation, with funding expanded and directed toward grade crossing
separations and joint-use corridors with broad, public benefits.
- Land Use: All transportation projects should be
considered within the framework of a regional land-use plan, to maximize the
impact of limited resources and improve air and water quality.
The employers' coalition has reason to be optimistic. Northeastern
Illinois' leaders in Washington, D.C. are already hard at work on the region's
transportation needs. U.S. Rep. William O. Lipinski (D-Ill.) is now
ranking minority leader for Highways and Transit on the House Transportation and
Infrastructure Committee. Rep. Lipinski has called for a federal Rail
Trust Fund to untangle inefficient rail infrastructure, and U.S. Sen. Richard
Durbin (D-Ill.) (citing findings from Critical Cargo: A Regional Freight Action Agenda, Business
Leaders' April 2002 report) made an appropriations request for $800,000 for rail
grade crossing safety initiatives in 2003. Both U.S. House Speaker Dennis
Hastert (R-Ill.) and Sen. Durbin have been working with transportation agencies,
mayors, employers and other leaders who care about our transit, freight and road
infrastructure to urge a unified agenda to our Illinois congressional
delegation.
Business Leaders for Transportation is seizing this challenge. The
coalition 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 100 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.
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