@RayLaHood Blogs about critical Chicago rail project

Posted by: Alex Perry Posted date: October 13, 2011 In: Infrastructure | comment : 0

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 Actaddresses 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.