Speaker J. Dennis Hastert speech to the Metropolitan Planning Council Annual Meeting Luncheon
It’s good to join you this afternoon. This is the Annual Meeting of the Metropolitan Planning Council and for nearly 70 years this organization has brought together business and civic leaders to analyze the issues related to growth and to provide a nonpartisan perspective to planning. What an exciting thing to be able to do! You know, to think that 100 years ago there were people like Burnham who tried to think beyond the horizon. To have vision to say “How can we make this a better place?” “How can we take all the problems of society and the growth and the social problems that we try to work through, and do things physically that make this city, this area, northern Illinois, a better place to live and a better place to work?” That perspective is vital because it comes from a regional point of view. Too often our communities struggle to look beyond their borders when weighing the value of a particular project or proposal. The MPC serves a reminder that our communities are undeniably connected, and we must work together to ensure smart growth in the Chicago area.
I thank you for having me here this afternoon, for providing me with the opportunity to share of my thoughts about what must be done, from a transportation perspective, to address the needs of our state and its residents. It’s been a busy time for Congress; we’ve had to work to address challenges that we’ve never expected would be facing us. In the span of just a couple of years, our county and its people have been tested time and again by terrorists, by other nations and by our economy. We responded – and we responded, I think, in certainly a very positive way.
Even as we focus on issues of national and economic security, we continue to address legislation that is vital to day-to-day operations of the country – and for Illinois there is perhaps no current legislation that is more important than the re-authorization of the federal transportation bill, which we are here to talk about this afternoon.
Renewed every six years, the legislation funds vital transportation initiatives throughout the country and dictates each state’s return rate on the federal gas dollars that are sent to Washington. The exact scope of the legislation is still being determined by Congress, and we would like to complete that re-authorization process by the end of the year. So, it really comes down to “are we going to have a gas tax, are we going to have a user tax, are we going to have user fees, are we going to do bonding”? All those flexible issues are still out there to be decided, but whatever that number is really determines what kind of a bill that we can put together.
As you know, there is a lot at stake in this bill for Illinois, and especially for northern Illinois. Our state is centrally located, it has the fifth largest population in the United States and serves as the transportation hub of the country. It has seven major interstates and has enough public highways to circle the world twelve times. Our airport system is the largest in the nation and O’Hare remains the world’s busiest airport. Chicago is the only American city served by six major freight railroads and one of every four railroad cars either is going to, is there, or is coming from Chicago every day. Our state’s economy and the quality of life of its residents relies on this transportation, particularly in the Chicago metropolitan area, which is home to 75 percent of the state’s 12.5 million residents. We know that we must maintain existing roads and bridges and rail lines in order to continue to attract new business and grow our economy. Just as important, we must look to expand our transportation network and find new ways to move people from place to place in order to address growth. That requires investment. Unfortunately, our state currently faces a $5 billion deficit and we will soon see the Illinois FIRST road program, which invested millions of dollars into road repair, expire. Given these realities, the top priority of the Illinois congressional delegation for this transportation cycle will be to improve our state’s rate of return on tax dollars that are sent to Washington. We call that “the formula”.
Illinois did not do very well when Congress reauthorized the transportation legislation in 1998, and for the first time we became a donor state, meaning we paid more in gas tax than we received. Specifically, the state currently receives just 92 cents for every dollar it sends to Washington in federal fuel taxes. That is unacceptable. It is essential that we improve that rate of return. Given our transportation network and needs, there is no excuse for Illinois not to receive a minimum of what it provides in fuel taxes.
Fortunately, every member of our delegation understands the importance of this task. It’s an issue that speaks to the future of Illinois. And, we must rise above partisan politics to make sure that our state can get the return back that it should have. This united front can only help our delegation’s chance as we work to gain support of others in Congress.
We are also fortunate to have Bill Lipinski serving as the ranking Democrat on the House Transportation Committee. It’s never safe to predict the outcome of legislation and we are still early in the process, but I believe the Illinois delegation has a strong case to make and the team in place to get it done.
Beyond determining the gas tax rate of return, the legislation will fund valuable transportation projects throughout the nation. In fact, the Transportation Committee currently is sorting out more than 5,300 funding requests from members of Congress. Among those requests are a series of initiatives that are vital to Chicago’s regional transportation planning, that would bolster the economic viability of the metropolitan area and, indeed, the state for years to come. Perhaps, no single initiative is more important to our state’s long-term economic health than improving the efficiencies at O’Hare Airport and providing western access to the airport. By making this investment, we will limit flight delays and congestion at the airport and guarantee that O’Hare remains the state’s economic engine for years to come. The numbers speak for themselves. Modernization of the airport is expected to created an estimated 195,000 new jobs and bring $16.4 billion in economic benefits to this state. Just as important, it will put Chicago in a position to compete economically with other metropolitan areas for decades for come. Western access to the airport remains a vital component, making O’Hare more efficient. Increased access to the airport will both improve ground transportation around O’Hare and serve as an economic asset for communities west of the airport.
Critics of modernization point out recent financial troubles within the airline industry as a reason to delay action on O’Hare. They fail to understand that we have an opportunity right now to prepare for that future; to wait until the airlines return to full strength is to miss that opportunity.
It is also important to note that even in this difficult time for the airline industry, O’Hare handled a record number of flights last year. Those flights brought millions of people to Chicago each day. They brought them from Asia, they brought them from Europe, they brought them from South America and they brought them from every point in this nation. They did business here. They vacationed here and they bolstered our economy, and we cannot lose that opportunity. We now must ensure that O’Hare continues to thrive and implement this modernization plan.
But, O’Hare is only part of the equation. We must also seize opportunities to deal with inevitable growth in the region and to more efficiently move people throughout the Chicago metropolitan area. That’s why I support the bold initiative proposed by Metra – to build a new rail service line that would connect nearly 100 communities in suburban Chicago. Specifically, the proposed Suburban Transit Access Route, or STAR Line, would provide a needed link from western and southern suburban communities to O’Hare Airport. The STAR Line would offer a public transportation option to suburban residents who currently must fight through traffic, go through the gridlock to get from place to place, and provide a more efficient access to the airport. Ultimately, it would ease traffic congestion in the growing suburbs and provide additional transportation services to the area’s employees, employers, and business.
But, an expansion of rail service is not the sole answer to meeting the transportation needs of our growing communities. We also must look for new ways to move traffic through the region, and to plan for increases in population before it arrives. It is a reality that residents of my congressional district know well, the 14 th Congressional District, which includes all of Kane and Kendall Counties, both of which are expected to experience tremendous growth in coming years. In fact, Kane County already is the second fastest growing county in the state and the combined population of Kane and Kendall Counties is expected to grow from more than just 462,000 people in the 2000 census to nearly 700,000 people by the year 2005. Even before that growth occurs, parts of those communities already are experiencing traffic congestion problems. Making matters worse, there is not an efficient way for motorists to move north and south through the area. As a young man, I told you I delivered milk, and one of my first jobs was to deliver milk in Naperville, Warrenville and Plainfield, Illinois. You would drive from Warrenville to Plainfield on Route 59 in about 25 minutes. Today, Route 59 is six times wider than it was back then; it is a very nice express-type highway, but it also has a stop light every quarter-mile and it probably takes you at least an hour and a half in busy traffic to travail from one town to another. The old infrastructure just doesn’t work anymore.
With that in mind, there has been talk since I have been elected to Congress about building a limited-access 33-mile north/south parkway through Kane and Kendall County, now dubbed the Prairie Parkway, a road which would connect Interstate 80 and 88. Quite frankly, I see, if you look to the future, a vision of connecting from the Indiana border to the Elgin area in Illinois. That gives us the old circular way to move people north and south. When I was a kid, the old EJ & E Railroad connected Elgin to Joliet, and people could go up Route 31 and Route 25, along the Fox River Valley. That’s how they went north and south. Today, the spokes are east and west and you can’t go north and south. We need to find a new way to do that, to keep all our communities economically viable and to move people on a basis of where need is and where jobs are and where housing is.
The Illinois Department of Transportation last year recorded and protected the corridor for the Prairie Parkway. By doing that, IDOT allows residents and developers to plan the roadway and limits disruption caused by the construction project. Critics of the project say it will cause growth, create sprawl and lessen the quality of life for residents. Just the opposite. I believe the Prairie Parkway allows our region to prepare for growth that is going to occur. It will more efficiently move people from place to place, bolster the region’s economic viability and take cars off the local roadways. In essence, it will protect our quality of life. It is an example of what’s possible when we take a proactive approach to growth, and I look forward to supporting efforts to secure funding for this important project.
I want to thank you again for having me here today and allowing me to visit with you about these vital issues for our state. I look forward to working with the entire Illinois delegation to do what we can to meet Illinois’ transportation needs for years to come.
KEVIN RICHARDSON (Senior Vice President - Government Affairs, the ServiceMaster Company and member, MPC Board of Governors)
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for your insightful remarks. We all look forward to working with you in assuring that Illinois gets its fair share of federal transportation resources and we’re delighted you’ve agreed to take a few questions.
The first question comes from MPC’s Board and touches on something you discussed earlier in your remarks about rail and intermodal freight. As you mentioned, Mayor Daley and Congressman Lipinski recently joined with rail industry execs and other key elected officials in announcing an historic $1.5 billion Chicago rail freight investment strategy. What are the prospects for securing a new dedicated federal funding source for intermodal freight improvements in coming transportation bill?
SPEAKER HASTERT
Well, first of all, I want to salute Congressman Lipinski for vision. Vision is something that’s important and if you don’t try to think beyond what the normal situation or the square of thinking is, you never get new things done. Chicago is an area that has six major freight lines that serve the country. If you try to travel the byroads of northern Illinois and the Chicago metropolitan region, you will find viaducts that were built in the 1890s, you’ll find bridges that have been there for 70 years, and you’ll find that what worked very well to access traffic in 1923 doesn’t work in the year 2003. So, we need to find new ways of doing things. We need to be able to put railway corridors together, we need to be able to build the overpasses, we need to be able to expedite travel through this area so that both motor traffic and rail traffic can move without being at loggerheads with each other. I think this is a good idea. I think it’s an idea whose time has come. I also think that we need to follow through and see — again that’s about a billion and a half-dollar project — how we fund it. There’s a couple ideas on the table. We’re going to look at that. Obviously, funding is an important piece in how this works. If we can get that piece of the question, I think we can move forward on that legislation.
KEVIN RICHARDSON
The second question concerns the need to improve the rate of return for Illinois on gas tax dollars. You also mentioned this. One of the priorities championed by this organization and Business Leaders for Transportation is a return to a needs-based formula for distributing limited funds. What’s the likelihood of such a change, and can we expect Congress to act on transportation legislation this year?
SPEAKER HASTERT
Well, let me take the last part of that question first. We will move on that legislation this year. And again, right now, what we’re trying to do is put together the funding. It is projected that we probably will need between $350 to $375 billion over a six-year period to make this a viable bill. I think we’re trying to put the pieces together — although the President does not support an increase in the gas tax or a user fee — I think that there are ways to do this and that’s what we’re pursuing at this time. Obviously, checking all the bases before we make it public. But, we’re well down the road into making this thing happen. What we also need to do in that project, is make sure that we address the needs. I remember the highway bill that we passed in, I think it was 1996. In that bill, when it left the House of Representatives, we had a $1.06 return for every dollar’s worth of gas tax that we sent to the federal government. When it got to the Senate, it got mixed up with a CTA piece of legislation and I don’t think the Brown Line has ever been built, but that was trade-off and we ended up with a 92-cent return. That’s not acceptable. It’s not good for the state, and I think our whole delegation understands that we’re going to work diligently to make sure that that number approaches exactly what we sent back. So, that’s our job, and however we put it together, whether it’s a flat dollar return on the formula (which we think we can make much higher than it is for other dedicated projects), we want that formula to reflect what’s the best thing we can do for the state: to get that formula up as high as we can.
KEVIN RICHARDSON
The final question concerns traffic and congestion. Clearly, one way in which to deal with growth is to build new surface roads and highways. What other options do you see available for relieving congestion while still accommodating economic growth.
SPEAKER HASTERT
Well, obviously, if an area is going to be viable….now I look at northern Illinois, you know, I don’t represent Chicago. … but a lot of my folks work in Chicago, a lot of our business benefit from Chicago and vice-versa, and if we can work together, if we have the transportation that can get people back and forth and north and south, then this whole area can be an economic engine and the city benefits the metropolitan area. It’s always been my view and I feel very strongly about that. How do you get people back and forth? Well, you know Metra has been very efficient over the years. We talk about the STAR Route, but we also have five spikes out into the suburbs. We’re expanding three of those right now, to Antioch, Illinois, out to Elburn, Illinois in my district, and then down to Manhattan, I think in Jerry’s district. So, you know, we’re expanding that. I think that’s the right thing to do. We’re looking at other expansions that we can do, starting with the Park and Ride and then developing into full-length spurs. So, the more folks that we can put on an express train that gets into Chicago in 45 minutes, both relieves people on the tollway. … You know, my ride in this morning in rush hour is about an hour and a half. If you get in there in 45 minutes, that’s better. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure that out. You also save fuel and there are all kinds of economic things that accrue because of that. So, we need to make sure that rail transportation is viable; along with that is efficient bus transportation to get people back and forth from communities to the rail heads, and those are things that we all want to take a look at. We need to make sure that our transportation, whether it is RTA or the CTA or PACE or Metra, all works together and there’s an efficient way of doing it. And that’s why we rely on some of you, the experts out there, to make all that happen. But it has to be funded, we’ve done a very good job in Illinois delegation to make sure that the funding is there and then to tie that in with the additional highway transportation, so you’re moving people around, and that takes some vision.
One unique situation, I had almost the whole Fox Valley in my district from Algonquin, Illinois just a little north of Ottawa, Illinois. There are 24 bridge crossings across the Fox River, and that’s how you get east and west. All but five of them have been sited for 70 years. Think of the problems that creates. And that’s where the growth is. We need to do a better job. We need to be able to get the funds there to do that type of transportation. You know, we don’t use ferries across the river much in Illinois anymore, and so the bridges and the infrastructure, viable airports, good rail lines are all part of how we get our work done and how we get to work. Thank you. (applause).