Planners want Rauner, lawmakers to prioritize transportation

The Metropolitan Planning Council is hoping to engage enough squeaky wheels to get some grease for Illinois' needy highways, bridges and mass transit.

The planning agency kicked off a campaign to improve the state's transportation system Tuesday, one day before Gov. Bruce Rauner's budget speech Wednesday.

Planners are asking citizens fed up with potholes, crowded trains and gridlock to sign on to their Accelerate Illinois movement at www.accelerateillinois.com.

"We're speaking to the public, and we're also meeting with legislators. We're working on both sides of it," MPC spokeswoman Mandy Burrell Booth said.

"Lawmakers need to understand most people are frustrated with our transportation on a weekly if not daily basis."

Planners noted that Illinois' gas tax has stayed at 19 cents a gallon since 1991 and the state's infrastructure is in disrepair as a result of underfunding.

Concerned citizens who contacted the agency include a Schaumburg woman who wrote, "traveling north from Chicago is equally as congested as traveling south into the city no matter what time of day.

"This happens every day at most times because there is no alternative consistent public transportation available to Schaumburg. There was a proposal for the Star Line to extend the el track to Schaumburg but it died due to lack of funding," she wrote.

An Elmhurst man described his frustration at being stuck in gridlock due to a crash on the southbound Tri-State Tollway.

"I've wasted a whole hour tonight when I should be at home with my family," he wrote, adding that similar delays occur every couple of weeks.

Solutions other states are using include: raising the gas tax and indexing it to inflation, increasing transportation user fees such as tolls and preventing funds dedicated to transportation from being diverted, planners said.