@RayLaHood Blogs about critical Chicago rail project

This repost from Secretary LaHood’s blog features information about an exciting and long-awaited rail project that will benefit commuters, freight rail and the construction industry. The project is a part of CREATE, an innovative public private partnership that seeks to untangle the Chicagoland’s rail network so people and freight can move more efficiently through the heart of the U.S.

REPOST: Englewood Flyover a real problem solver (click here for original)

The Englewood neighborhood of Chicago features one of the most hopelessly tangled railway bottlenecks in North America.  Hopeless, that is, until yesterday, when I paid a visit to my home state of Illinois to celebrate the groundbreaking of a rail project that will untangle that infamous bottleneck and quickly put 1,500 men and women to work.

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin, U.S. Congressmen Bobby Rush and Dan Lipinski, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn, and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel joined me in the honor of launching this project to improve performance and efficiency for the region’s freight, passenger, and commuter rail. 

The Englewood Flyover is part of a larger initiative, the Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency Program or CREATE.  Once finished, the Englewood Flyover will eliminate congestion and backups for the 78 daily Metra commuter trains, 14 Amtrak trains, and 46 freight trains that run through the corridor.  This will ease rail traffic to and from Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana, as well as other parts of Illinois.

And easing rail traffic means greater economic competitiveness.  We can move parts to factories faster.  We can move goods to market faster.  And we can move people to their jobs faster.  The new Englewood bridge will also expand capacity for future high-speed rail service.

But the part of this project I am most excited about is that it will immediately begin putting Americans to work.  A strict “Buy America” requirement ensures U.S. manufacturers and workers receive the maximum economic benefits from this federal investment.  This means that the Englewood flyover project will create nearly 1,500 jobs.

And these are jobs that could be multiplied, all across the country, just as soon as Congress passes the American Jobs Act.  We can put Americans back to work repairing 15,000 miles of road, replacing 4,000 miles of track, and restoring 150 miles of runways. There’s no two ways about it; we have roads and bridges that desperately need work, and we have people who desperately want to get back on the job.  The American Jobs Act addresses both of these challenges.

The Englewood Flyover solves a longstanding transportation problem while creating jobs in a tough economy.  It is a project I am proud of, and it is the sort of thing we can do all over the country once we pass the American Jobs Act.

@WTTW Chicago Tonight tackle @ChiCritMass: Liberating the streets or wreaking havoc?

WTTW’s Chicago Tonight opened this evening with a set of panelists debating the merits of Chicago’s Critical Mass - a leaderless, mass bike ride around Chicago that disregards traffic lights and overtakes the streets.

According to its website, the bicycle mass begins at Daley Plaza at 5:30pm on the last Friday of every month, rain or shine. The number of riders has ranged from a few dozen to thousands.

WTTW’s panelists ranged from a regular Critical Mass rider who strongly supports the right for cyclists to take over the streets to an avid cyclist and writer, Scott Rowan, who has come out strongly against the ride because, in his opinion, it sucks up tax-payer dollars, is unsafe and could be a revenue generator if it was managed. Walking the tightrope between the two sides was the Communications Director for Active Transportation Alliance, an advocacy group for better biking, walking and transit in Chicago.

I’d already planned to go for a bike ride after work tomorrow, so I may cruise by and see for myself how the ride plays out amongst participants and by-standers.

House GOPs okay additional transportation spending

In a move that surprised many, it is being reported by the Journal of Commerce and Streetsblog that the House GOP leadership has given the go-ahead to Transportation Chairman Mica (R-FL) to find an additional $15 billion per year.

Chairman Mica’s initial proposal was funded at $230 billion over six-years which represented a 35% cut from current transportation spending levels. Coupled with regulatory reforms and increased private investment, Mica tried making the case that the $230 billion would not feel like a cut. The proposal, however, landed with a “thud” (to quote one Republican Illinois Congressman).

Now Chairman Mica reportedly has the go-ahead to seek an additional $15 billion per year. This would still represent a cut from the Senate’s two-year proposal, but transportation advocates in Illinois are optimistic that the needle is moving in the right direction.

No news is yet available on where the $15 billion in additional revenues will be sought, but buzz has been increasing around Representative Tim Murphy‘s (R-PA) legislation (HR 1861) The Infrastructure Jobs and Energy Independence Act.

Infrastructure Council hits the airwaves with @WTADnews and #WCMY

I am a big fan of locally owned and operated radio. I’ve travelled all over Illinois and spent a lot of time working in rural areas and local radio stations are a great source of news and information.

Recently I had the immense pleasure of discussing the importance of funding transportation investment on two great radio shows. Jay Leseuer’s The Morning Meeting on WCMY in Ottawa, IL and Mary Griffith’s Morning Show on WTAD-AM in Quincy.

You can link to the interviews below – both asked pointed questions about the economic impact of transportation investment, the challenge of raising revenue in a tough economy as well as important local impacts and how their listeners can get involved.

Give a listen!

WTAD-AM – The Mary Griffith Show – (Click on the Sept. 7^th show – we’re at minute 28:30)

WCMY – Jay Leseuer’s Morning Meeting

IL Business and Labor leaders call on Congress to prevent transportation cuts

Illinois’ top business and labor leaders held a press conference this week to urge Congress to prevent transportation cuts and pass a long-term, fully funded transportation bill.

Doug Whitley, President of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce and Michael Carrigan, President of the Illinois AFL-CIO spoke about the economic impact of transportation investment. Outlining the progress being made with Illinois’ Congressional Delegation, Whitley stated, “We actually think we’re making progress with members of the Republican Party because fundamentally, they do understand commerce, part of our challenge is to get the members of Congress to distinguish between capital investments, such as the interstate highway system … and operating expenditures, which are, in many cases, social programs that they have to deal with.”

The two leaders were representing the Transportation for Illinois Coalition (TFIC) a rare collaboration between business and labor to jointly lobby Congress. TFIC was founded by the Illinois Chamber of Commerce and Illinois AFL-CIO a dozen years ago with the goal of increasing federal investment in Illinois’ transportation infrastructure.

Below is a full list of the coverage:

State Journal Register

Pantagraph

Rockford Register Star

CBS St. Louis

Cambridge Chronicle

Quad City Times

News Channel 20 – Springfield (Video)

IBM study finds Chicagoans numb to painful commutes

Thanks to Twitter, I stumbled across this interesting article outlining the IBM’s fourth annual Commuter Pain Survey results and offering some solutions to managing traffic flow.

One of the standout findings is that Chicago is ranked as one of the least painful commutes among 20 cities surveyed. The article points out that commuter pain is relative, and it must be, considering the Texas Transportation Institute ranked Chicago the most congested city earlier this year.

What can we derive from these findings which are seemingly at odds? My unscientific hypothesis is that commuters in the Chicagoland area are so used to sitting in traffic that they have become numb to the stress that should be induced by it.

@SenatorKirk @DanLipinski66 and @RepHultgren hold presser on transportation investment

Transportation investment was the subject of a joint press conference held by Senator Mark Kirk, Representative Randy Hultgren and Representative Dan Lipinski today.

Senator Kirk and Representative Hultgren called attention to declining revenues in the Highway Trust Fund and utilized the presser to bring attention to their legislation, the Lincoln Legacy Act (S. 1300). As I’ve written about here, the Lincoln Legacy Act would help encourage private investment in major transportation projects. The name is derived from President Lincoln’s work on the transcontinental railroad.

Representative Lipinski highlighted the good news (on measure) that leaders in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate agreed to a six-month extension of the current transportation authorization which was set to expire September 30th. Commenting on the President’s jobs proposal, Lipinski said that there were parts he liked, but that a fully-funded long-term transportation bill would be the sure-fire way to get our economy back on track (paraphrase).

For more photos from the event, check out @IL_InfraCouncil on twitter or our Facebook Page.