Editorial: The role of users in planners' transportation vision
In the wake of reports about more questionable contracts at the Illinois Tollway, it might be easy to overlook roadway news from a different agency that could have an even more immediate impact on suburban drivers. The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, the quasi-governmental panel whose recommendations lay the groundwork for highway-construction priorities, presented a plan this week that envisions spending $45 billion on road construction over the next 30 years, and one of its key messages was that users will pay for it. That's a reasonable expectation, to a point.
Toll roads were the dominant theme in CMAP's most-recent report, but the planners also urged study of a variety of other options, including a regional gas tax, a sales tax on freight hauling and a tax based on how many miles drivers travel rather than on how much gasoline they use. Some of these ideas represent profound departures from current practice. Suburban residents should be watching them closely and prepare to weigh in as the agency gets set to invite public commenting in June.
The CMAP forecast has major implications for roads in the suburbs. Among the top-tier projects that would be the first to be eligible for federal funding are widening I-55 from the Veterans Memorial Tollway in DuPage County to the Dan Ryan Expressway, improving the interchange between I-290 and I-294, reworking access to I-90 and O'Hare International Airport and updating tracks and signals along Metra's BNSF line between Chicago and Aurora.
Other top projects include adding lanes to the Eisenhower Expressway near Oak Park and widening I-80 east of Route 30. CMAP left any Route 53 extension in Lake County on its second tier of projects, along with, a bit worrisomely, the Illiana boondoggle between I-55 and I-65 in Indiana that at this point would merely siphon funding away from more needed work.
Producing flexible, forward-looking ideas about the future of transportation in the region is an important function of CMAP. Obviously, funding its ideas is also a major component of its work, especially at a time when funds are in short supply. Under such circumstances, the notion of paying for road and railway improvements through "user fees" is an appealing concept.
"There's no free ride," CMAP Executive Director Joseph Szabo told our Marni Pyke. "The best approach is for users of the system - those that reap the benefits - to pay for the cost of maintaining and modernizing the system."
True enough. But CMAP and other government officials shouldn't forget that an efficient, safe highway system is beneficial in myriad ways for all the citizens and communities of the region, not merely the owners of the cars, trucks and trains that move on it. As we all reflect on CMAP's proposals, let's not forget that funding them will require a careful balance of user payments and traditional funding sources.