Illinois Transportation Issues

It was a fun sojourn. Thanks for reading, cussin' and discussin'. I learned a lot. Hopefully, there will be a transit system left if and when I return.

http://sicktransitchicago.blogspot.com/2007/12/fin.html

At the recent Metropolitan Planning Council roundtable featuring Reed Ewing (summarized here ) someone in the audience asked the question when are we going to stop providing an infrastructure pla...

http://sicktransitchicago.blogspot.com/2007/12/ghg.html

The Business Leaders for Transportation , an affiliate of the Metropolitan Planning Council, periodically sends out a good listing of local and national articles about transportation issues. I've...

http://sicktransitchicago.blogspot.com/2007/12/blt-for-sustenance.html

Representative Julie Hamos has yoked her star to reforming and better funding public transit in northeastern Illinois. She led the House Mass Transit Committee through a series of hearings on tra...

http://sicktransitchicago.blogspot.com/2007/12/representative-hamos-coal-in-her.html

Yesterday was the roundtable sponsored by the Metropolitan Planning Council that featured Reid Ewing, the leading author of "Growing Cooler: The Evidence on Urban Development and Climate Change."...

http://sicktransitchicago.blogspot.com/2007/12/compact-as-in-dense.html

An earlier post argued that a tax on parking spaces that could be used to fund transportation improvements, including transit, was not a "Bolshevist fantasy" and should be taken seriously. Appar...

http://sicktransitchicago.blogspot.com/2007/12/parking-space-tax-maybe-it-was.html

This blog has lambasted the RTA and its oversight shortcomings on occasion, probably too much for the taste of readers given the tepid response to the last posting on the subject. However, it lo...

http://sicktransitchicago.blogspot.com/2007/12/do-we-need-rta-for-transportation.html

Still smarting from its loss of an Urban Partnership Program grant, Los Angeles has apparently learned from the experience and is moving ahead with a plan to implement tolling on current carpool...

http://sicktransitchicago.blogspot.com/2007/12/la-learns-from-its-loss.html

A short and clearly written recent article by Jeff Rubin and Benjamin Tal entitled "Does Energy Efficiency Save Energy" is worth a look. It examines the seeming paradox: Energy efficiency gains ...

http://sicktransitchicago.blogspot.com/2007/12/does-increased-energy-efficiency-cause.html

William Coulson , a Chicago lawyer who joined the board of the Regional Transportation Authority earlier this year, has posted an article entitled "Transit Follies in Chicago " on the blog of Mas...

http://sicktransitchicago.blogspot.com/2007/12/rta-innocent-victim-in-william-coulsons.html

In response to my recent Rant & Rave post (sorry readers), someone requested that I say something nice for a change. Here it is: In the good news department, the Illinois State Police recently ...

http://sicktransitchicago.blogspot.com/2007/12/time-to-say-something-nice-state.html

It is time for a Moderator whine fest. I get one once in a great while. I was in D.C. recently and met with a senior person in the Department of Transportation. In the course of our conversation...

http://sicktransitchicago.blogspot.com/2007/11/rant-rave.html

The Chicago Tribune recently published an article by Charles Leroux and Patrick Reardon entitled "Leaps of Faith Drive Ever-Expanding 'Burbs." The article explores why people are migrating to th...

http://sicktransitchicago.blogspot.com/2007/11/should-metropolitan-planning-council.html

From reading his column I have always imagined that Dennis Byrne, the Chicago Tribune columnist, channels the spirits of Lenora Helmsley and George Wallace. Yet, Byrne's column in today's Tribun...

http://sicktransitchicago.blogspot.com/2007/11/more-money-for-cta-hold-on-says-ipi.html

SB 572 and its combination of an additional 0.25% Regional Transportation Authority sales tax and an increase in the real estate transfer tax in the City of Chicago appears to be dead. In a lett...

http://sicktransitchicago.blogspot.com/2007/11/sb-572-revenue-measures-abandoned.html

The American Road and Transportation Builders Association ("ARTBA ") has released a major report entitled "A New Vision & Mission for American's Federal Surface Transportation Program: ARTBA Rec...

http://sicktransitchicago.blogspot.com/2007/11/artbas-concrete-vision-for-future.html

Todd Litman , the head of the Victoria Transport Policy Institute (here ), has posted an article in Planetizen entitled "Smart Growth Safety Benefits." After perusing some of his work and from ...

http://sicktransitchicago.blogspot.com/2007/11/todd-litman-smart-growth-fellow.html

In many quarters, including editorial boards , the notion that there is any alternative to SB 572 and its regional sales tax increase is treated dismissively. There is an alternative, however, a...

http://sicktransitchicago.blogspot.com/2007/11/sb-572-meets-alternative.html

The Mayor of Chicago has challenged the State to be "creative" when it comes to solving the public transit funding problem. Fresh from raising property taxes in Chicago, the Mayor also criticize...

http://sicktransitchicago.blogspot.com/2007/11/mayor-of-chicago-has-challenged-state.html

The previous post outlined how the Chicago Transit Authority's bus operations appears to be significantly less cost-effective than Pace's bus operations in terms of the cost of putting vehicles ...

http://sicktransitchicago.blogspot.com/2007/11/cta-cost-structure-background.html

A recent post indicated that Pace's financial situation is more dire than the Chicago Transit Authority's financial situation according to some basic measures such as unfunded operating deficit ...

http://sicktransitchicago.blogspot.com/2007/11/pace-laps-cta-on-cost-effectiveness-of.html

The Moving Beyond Congestion/SB 572 effort has attracted the support of a variety of interest groups, ranging from the genteel (e.g., Metropolitan Planning Council) to those that position themsel...

http://sicktransitchicago.blogspot.com/2007/11/grass-roots-anti-sb-572-efforts.html

Wisconsin transportation officials have announced a $1.9 billion plan to reconstruct I-94 from Mitchell Airport in Milwaukee to the Wisconsin/Illinois state line and to add a fourth lane in each ...

http://sicktransitchicago.blogspot.com/2007/11/19-billion-i-94-expansion-announced.html

Metra has adopted its 2008 budget and sent it to the RTA for its approval. (Reports here , here and here .) A $40 million projected 2008 deficit is prompting Metra to increase fares by 10 percen...

http://sicktransitchicago.blogspot.com/2007/11/more-on-budget-holes-metra.html

The Daily Herald reported the recent comments of Kane County Board member Bill Wyatt. According to the report, Wyatt "railed" on the Chicago Transit Authority as a "brother that you can't control...

http://sicktransitchicago.blogspot.com/2007/11/sheriff-wyatt-yawp-rides-high-in-kane.html