Will Elgin-O’Hare extension get you to O’Hare?
The big transportation story of the year is, of course, the Illinois tollway’s rate hike, which took effect Sunday. That is, until Metra eclipses the tollway with a fare increase coming at you Feb. 1.
Happy 2012. Maybe it’s time to rediscover Pace.
I recently talked to Illinois State Toll Highway Authority Executive Director Kristi Lafleur about what drivers will gain in exchange for the hit to our wallets.
The agency is nearly doubling tolls to pay for its Move Illinois construction program. For $12 billion, you get repairs to existing roads, an interchange at I-57 and the Tri-State Tollway (I-294), a widened Jane Addams Tollway (I-90), studies of extending Route 53 north and building the Illiana Expressway.
But wait, there’s more! Of great interest to suburban road warriors is the long-talked of extension of the Elgin-O’Hare Expressway to O’Hare International Airport.
Local communities hope the construction will be an economic engine for the region. But one question is how the new road will connect with O’Hare.
Here’s what Lafleur had to say:
“When you’re building a project of this magnitude, you do it in phases,” she said. “We want to provide as much access into the airport as we can. We need to work on how people not only get into the airport but work with O’Hare if there is some facility on the western side where people park and are transported to existing terminals on the east.”
Previously, the Daley administration had promised the suburbs that a western terminal would be built at O’Hare. Now, with the flailing economy and pushback from United and American airlines, the western terminal is on the back burner. Some would say it’s not even on the stove.
“I don’t know if there will be a seamless road that goes all the way — where people come from the Elgin-O’Hare right into the airport, loop around and drop somebody off at a terminal and get back on the Elgin-O’Hare,” Lafleur said. “But it would be some access that would provide people the ability — without using the I-294/I-190 access to the east — to get into the airport.
“I’m not envisioning a tunnel or flyover — it will have to be something using the roads available there now. The first step in western access is to build the Elgin-O’Hare and the western bypass with some access. Additional access can come on line as there is a western terminal or additional needs at the airport.”
I asked for specifics on the design, but “it’s a little bit premature to say what it’s going to look like,” Lafleur said, adding this was a partnership with the Illinois Department of Transportation, which has conducted all the initial planning.
“There definitely is a commitment that there needs to be some type of access. As the western terminal comes on line in future years, there will be a different type of access provided.”
The other part of the project is the bypass. The new highway will hug the western side of O’Hare, linking with I-294 near Franklin Park to the south, joining with the Elgin-O’Hare extension in the center, and connecting with I-90 near Des Plaines to the north.
“Certainly access to O’Hare will be important but moving people more efficiently on that east-west corridor and giving then an alternative to get around O’Hare to the west is also an important part of this project,” Lafleur said.
The tollway will pay for most of the work, estimated at up to $3.6 billion in today’s dollars. But there’s a $300 million gap, which agency officials say they expect surrounding communities to cover.
Lafleur said DuPage County is working with local mayors on finding the revenue.
“Some (funding) may come from in-kind contributions that the communities have ... right of way or other land they may use to offset project costs,” she said. “Another way obviously is with some type of additional tax or other revenues and putting them into the project. Clearly, we do need to have some certainty with how the funding gap will be filled before we move forward too aggressively.”
One more thing
At a December tollway meeting, board Director and Chicago Heights Mayor David Gonzalez stressed that construction contracts for Move Illinois need to ensure jobs for South suburban workers. Unemployment is high in that area, he said. Tollway directors’ “ultimate responsibility is to make the right choices for the tollway, but the governor does appoint people with diverse perspectives from diverse areas to bring those perspectives to the table,” Lafleur said.
The Tri-State and I-57 interchange will bring economic development to the South suburbs, she noted. But as for the tollway guaranteeing jobs for a particular geographic area ... “We are a region, and we rise and fall as a region,” she said. “If there are jobs created in the southland, if jobs are created on the Elgin-O’Hare corridor, if jobs are created because Route 53 is expanded, those jobs don’t have residency requirements. People commute from the north to jobs in the south and from the south to jobs in the west. People go everywhere for employment opportunities. “We want to make sure there’s diversity in tollway employment. We can’t, though, be in a position where we’re putting residency requirements on jobs. You’d need a good justification for that.”
Your voice
Got some great feedback on our distracted driving series and a column about Adam Miller of Bolingbrook. The 5-year-old died in 2008 when a distracted driver hit his father’s car.
Here’s Warrenville resident Tim Kindlon’s views.
“Many years ago when my father was teaching me how to drive he would say, ‘Always remember when you get behind the wheel of a car you’ve got a loaded weapon in your hands.’ Distracted driving is reckless driving and shows a deliberate disregard for the safety of others. It is no different than being careless with a firearm or driving while impaired or intoxicated. Legal penalties need to reflect this so people will take the problem more seriously. The fact that the driver who killed Adam Miller got off with a ‘slap on the wrist’ is a travesty of justice.”
In memoriam
The transportation world lost not only a sharp intellect but a kind soul in March 2011 when Joe DiJohn, 67, passed away.
The Inverness resident was a former director of the Metropolitan Transportation Support Initiative at the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Urban Transportation Center.
He knew all things transportation, having worked for United Airlines and the Regional Transportation Authority. He helped establish Pace and served as its executive director in the 1980s and 1990s.
“Someone like Joe only comes along once in a century,” colleagues said.
Several times this year, I’ve reached for the phone to call Joe, only to remember that he’s not there to contribute analysis, recall some pertinent fact with his capacious memory or make a humorous comment. He is still sorely missed.
Upcoming
It’s cold, the holidays are over and winter has us in its thrall.
Cheer up. In a month the Chicago Auto Show will be here. It’s Feb. 10 through 19. Vroom, vroom.
Eyes on the road
In June 2011 alone, more than 196 billion text messages were circulated in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. But think twice before reading or sending them while driving: Drivers who text-message are risking a crash 23 times more than if they were concentrating on driving. And, texting takes your eyes off the road for an average of 4.6 seconds. At 55 mph, thats the length of a football field.