Recent Streetsblog CHICAGO posts about CMAP

CNT: Funding Not Spent According to Community Plans Has Less Impact

By Steven Vance | Dec 4, 2015 | 1 Comment

The Center for Neighborhood Technology, a local community planning think tank, said that municipalities and public agencies are failing to follow their own plans. They’re investing public funds for the region in economic development and transportation projects in undeveloped areas or away from train stations. CNT wrote in their new report, “Putting Places First,” that money is instead spent […]

Federal Funds Shifting To More Active Transportation Projects This Year

By Steven Vance | Oct 20, 2015 | 13 Comments

The next group of transportation projects that aim to improve air quality or reduce congestion and should receive federal funding has been approved by Chicagoland’s regional planning organization. The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning evaluates requests for the funding from the federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement program. CMAQ has ensured for nearly two […]

The Illiana’s Latest Death Blow: Feds Dropping Their Appeal of Court Ruling

By Steven Vance | Sep 23, 2015 | 3 Comments

A new legal development may represent the final nail in the coffin for the wasteful, destructive Illiana Tollway project. Yesterday, the Federal Highway Administration dropped its appeal of the court ruling that invalidated the Illiana’s key supporting document. Back in June, U.S. District Court Judge Jorge Alonso invalidated the tollway’s Environmental Impact Statement, calling it “arbitrary and capricious.” […]

Will the Return of the Ashland Express Bus Lay the Groundwork for Full BRT?

By Steven Vance | Aug 18, 2015 | 58 Comments

This morning Mayor Rahm Emanuel and CTA President Dorval Carter announced the return of the #X9 Ashland Express and #X49 Western Express buses. These limited-stop, morning through evening routes formerly paralleled the #9 Ashland and #49 Western local bus lines. While the stops for the local routes are generally spaced a mere one-eighth of a […]

Rauner Authorizes More Illiana Spending to “Wind Down” Project

By Steven Vance | Jul 10, 2015 | 4 Comments

Governor Bruce Rauner signed a bill last week that authorizes spending $5.5 million more on the Illiana Tollway, a month after he announced he was suspending the project. The Illiana would have been a new highway a couple miles south of the existing Chicago metropolitan region that would have encouraged suburban sprawl. Tolls would have been […]

MPC’s Skosey Wants to Help Spur Economic Growth as a CMAP Board Member

By John Greenfield | Jul 10, 2015 | No Comments

I’m glad to share the news that Peter Skosey, executive vice president of the Metropolitan Planning Council and a key player in the local transportation advocacy scene, has joined the board of the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning. Earlier this week, Mayor Rahm Emanuel appointed him earlier this week to replace outgoing CMAP board member […]

Rauner Takes a Second, Hopefully Final, Step to Kill the Illiana

By Steven Vance | Jun 3, 2015 | 14 Comments

Yesterday, Governor Bruce Rauner drove a second stake into the heart of the Illiana Tollway, a sprawl-inducing highway proposed for rural Illinois and Indiana, just south of metropolitan Chicago. Rauner’s office issued a press release slamming a new state budget passed by Democratic leaders as fiscally irresponsible. In response to the budget, the Republican governor announced he will […]

Three Transit Campaigns: Do They Compete or Complement Each Other?

By Steven Vance | Apr 23, 2015 | 8 Comments

As the Chicago region grows in population, we’re going to need to provide efficient and affordable transportation options in order to compete in the global economy, and that’s going to require more and better transit. People who live near transit pay less in transportation costs as a portion of their household income, and have better access […]

Could Rauner Stop the Illiana Boondoggle? Sure. But Will He?

By Steven Vance | Dec 12, 2014 | 7 Comments

The Illiana Tollway, a joint proposal by the Illinois and Indiana departments of transportation to build a 47-mile highway through thinly populated farmland about 40 miles south of Chicago, rolled over another hurdle yesterday when the Federal Highway Administration approved the project’s environmental impact study. FHWA’s approval allows IDOT and InDOT to proceed with soliciting bids for […]

CMAP Seeks Its Own Dedicated Tax For Transit, Green Infrastructure

By Steven Vance | Nov 19, 2014 | 18 Comments

The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning last week floated its own proposal to fix the region’s shortfall in transportation funding. It launched FUND 2040, a campaign calling upon the Illinois legislature to fund sustainable infrastructure through a quarter-cent sales tax across the Chicagoland region. CMAP says this increase would generate $300 million annually, which it […]

Seven Ways to Stop The Illiana Boondoggle

By Steven Vance | Oct 10, 2014 | No Comments

Two votes yesterday by a committee of the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, Chicagoland’s federally-designated regional planning organization, have cemented CMAP’s approval of the sprawl-inducing, budget-busting Illiana Tollway. Since federal transportation dollars can only be spent on projects included in an adopted regional plan, this gives Governor Pat Quinn and the Illinois Department of Transportation the consent […]

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