Illiana Tollway
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Seven Ways to Stop The Illiana Boondoggle
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 that they needed to continue preparations for the Illiana Tollway.
October 10, 2014
Illiana Forced Into CMAP Regional Plan By Springfield, Suburban Reps
The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning's MPO Policy committee today approved the Illiana Tollway, among other projects, as part of GO TO 2040, which the agency calls "the comprehensive regional plan... for sustainable prosperity through mid-century and beyond."
October 9, 2014
Illiana Spurned Again By CMAP Board, Faces Another Vote Tomorrow
The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning's board again passed on the Illiana Tollway, keeping the project in limbo until another meeting tomorrow morning. The board overwhelmingly voted, 10-4, to strip the Illiana from a broader package of updates to the GO TO 2040 regional plan, and then to veto those updates entirely. However, CMAP board votes require a 12-3 supermajority vote to pass, so both motions still failed. The plan updates, and the Illiana, remain outside GO TO 2040.
October 8, 2014
The Illiana Expressway Will Eat Itself
A recent report by U.S. PIRG and the Frontier Group, “Highway Boondoggles: Wasted Money and America’s Transportation Future,” examines 11 of the most wasteful, least justifiable road projects underway in America right now. This is the final installment in our series profiling the various bad decisions that funnel so much money to infrastructure that does no good.
October 1, 2014
Revolt Against Illiana Undeterred By IDOT’s Latest Scare Tactic
Local advocates are scoffing at the suggestion, made by an Illinois Department of Transportation representative last week, that striking the Illiana Tollway from the Chicago region's long-term regional plan would jeopardize transportation spending across the entire region. Instead, advocates insist that deleting the costly, sprawl-inducing road would cause at most a brief procedural delay in other projects, and ultimately free up millions of dollars for more urgent priorities.
September 29, 2014
CMAP Board Members Will Try to Boot Illiana Boondoggle From Regional Plan
After appointees loyal to Governor Pat Quinn muscled the Illiana tollway onto the project list for Chicagoland's regional plan, it looked like nothing could stop this risky highway boondoggle from getting funded and built. The Illiana may still happen, but not without a fight.
September 18, 2014
Preckwinkle, Environmental Groups Want CMAP to Drop Illiana
The Sierra Club and other organizations intend to petition the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning to remove the Illiana Tollway from its regional plan, effectively disallowing the state from building the new highway. The deletion is possible because CMAP, the federally-designated Metropolitan Planning Organization for this region, is finalizing a mandatory update of its GO TO 2040 Plan.
September 9, 2014
The Metra-Politan Perimeter Ride: Pedaling to Every Metra Line Endpoint
[This article also appeared as a cover story in Newcity magazine, which hits the streets on Wednesday evenings.]
August 20, 2014
CMAP Plan Update Includes Sobering Look at Region’s Funding Shortfall
The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning's GO TO 2040 regional comprehensive plan has weathered some major ups and downs in its four-year lifespan. CMAP has received several awards for the plan, which required a huge effort on their part to reach out to local residents and overwrite decades of uncoordinated transportation "plans."
June 17, 2014
Quinn Tying State’s Hands to Preempt Potential Illiana Roadblocks
Governor Pat Quinn is doing everything he can to ensure that the Illiana Tollway will be built, no matter what. The Illinois General Assembly gave the state permission in 2010 to pursue a public-private partnership with a private company to build and operate the tollway, but now Quinn has proposed new legislation that gives the tollway new special privileges.
May 14, 2014