Dear fellow road and transit warriors:
Every six or seven years, Congress enacts a sweeping surface transportation
bill that shapes choices for Chicago-area residents on how to get to work,
school and all the other destinations that make up our complicated lives. Public
opinion polls have consistently shown that we’re dissatisfied with those
choices, ranking traffic gridlock as a top concern. With the region forecasted
to add a million more people — and cars — over the next twenty years, we need
fresh approaches to taming traffic.
With intense competition for limited federal funds, U.S. House Speaker Dennis
Hastert (R-Ill.) and Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) have challenged transportation
agencies, mayors, employers and other leaders who care about our transit,
freight and road infrastructure to present a unified agenda to our Illinois
congressional delegation. This is a charge that Business Leaders for
Transportation — led by a unique collaboration between the Chicagoland Chamber
of Commerce, Chicago Metropolis 2020, the Metropolitan Planning Council and 100
business associations — has taken on as its highest priority. Not only do
we bring the unique voice of employers to this high stakes national debate, but
we know that a coordinated approach to growth and transportation investment will
make our region much more attractive as a place to live and to conduct
business.
When Congress moved away from a funding formula that gave more dollars to
states with more extensive transportation networks serving larger populations,
Illinois lost big — $100 million annually over the past six years. Transit
is another example. There are ten or more significant proposals to expand
service offered by the CTA and Metra. If we are to compete with other states
with big ticket projects and their own political power bases, this region needs
to come together around the top five regionally significant expansions.
Business Leaders for Transportation will step up its outreach to
transportation providers and advocates in 2003. In addition to Critical Cargo: A Regional Freight Action Agenda, we’ve
just published Getting the Chicago Region Moving: A Coordinated Agenda for
the 2003 Federal Transportation Debate, the definitive report on
northeastern Illinois’ federal transportation priorities and a report card on
the parallel state program, Illinois FIRST. We hope you’ll lend your support to
our aggressive agenda.
MarySue
Barrett
President