Infrastructure needs I am encouraged by the leadership and vision Mayor Rahm Emanuel has shown in announcing his plans to establish a private infrastructure fund for the city of Chicago ("Emanuel's rebuilding plan price: $7 billion; Mayor's public-private rent-to-own proposal still short on the details," Page 1, March 30). The Illinois Chamber of Commerce has advocated tirelessly in Washington for long-term ...

NOTE: This is a press release from USDOT Overwhelming Demand for TIGER Grants Highlights Need for More Investment in an America Built to Last WASHINGTON – U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today announced that the overwhelming demand for TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) grants has once again far surpassed the available funding.  Applications to the U.S. Department of Tra ...

This week the Transportation for Illinois Coalition sent a letter to Illinois Congressmen urging quick passage of the bipartisan Senate Transportation Bill (MAP-21) which recently passed. Federal transportation funding expires on March 31st at which point federal dollars will stop flowing to states and parts of the US DOT will have to shut down. The Transportation for Illinois Coalition was founded by the I ...

The US Senate this week passed a long(ish) term (two-year) federal transportation bill which is being heralded by many in the transportation industry as a major milestone for Congress and industry. The bipartisan legislation passed the Senate with a vote of 74-22 in favor. The US Chamber's Janet Kavinocky has a nice, top-level assessment of the legislation, titled MAP-21 at the Free Enterprise blog. The leg ...

The Senate has been working its way through 30 amendments since last Thursday and should be ready for a final vote on long(ish)-term transportation legislation today in the Senate in the form of MAP-21. The two-year bill will extend transportation funding at roughly current levels and provide some sense of certainty to the transportation industry which is facing another funding expiration on March 31st. MAP ...

BNSF Railroad hired 608 new employees in Illinois last year, despite the tough economy. Adams County, IL has the fourth lowest unemployment rate in the state due in part to rail served industries. Prince AgriProducts invested $18 million and added 50 new jobs in Quincy, IL because it could ship product via the Burlington Junction Railroad. These are just a few of the Illinois-specific examples of the impact ...

Last week, Illiana stake-holders were invited to an unveiling of the preferred corridor for the proposed highway connecting Interstate 65 in Indiana to Intersate 55 in Illinois. Anyone who has traveled Interstate 80 during lake-effect snow knows why this connection is oh-so-necessary. The preferred corridor is the central one that crosses primarily through Southern Will County in IL, just North of Kankakee ...

This morning, February 13th 2012, a broad group of business, labor and transportation leaders joined Congressmen Dan Lipinski (D-IL) and Robert Dold (R-IL) to ask House leaders to work with them to fix the transportation reauthorization before it comes up for a vote in the House this week. According to a press release from Lipinski's office, the bill, HR 7 - The American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act o ...