Mayoral council warns of 'battle for the soul of transportation'

As the U.S. Congress debates reauthorization of the federal transportation bill, Batavia Mayor Jeff Schielke sent out notice to federal lawmakers that local leaders are closely watching a "battle for the soul of transportation" unfold in the Chicago area.

Schielke is also the chairman of the Kane/Kendall Council of Mayors. He used those words this week at a biannual meeting of mayors in the Kane and Kendall County region to describe a political tug-of-war over the importance of luring federal rail money to the area vs. federal highway dollars.

"The U.S. Congress has to realize that we're going to have to spend some serious money in Chicagoland," Schielke said in a follow-up interview. "We're kind of at a choking point right now."

That chokehold was created by the establishment of major rail activity in Joliet and Rochelle, Schielke said. And it may be tightened soon by increased freight traffic from the Canadian National Rail company. Those three factors will likely double rail activity in the area, Schielke said.

"It's like the Port of Los Angeles and Port of New York have been transposed onto the cornfields of Illinois," Schielke said. "We're taking huge amounts of freight."

The rail traffic will fuel business and residential growth in the area, which is a good thing, he said. But it adds more cars to the roads, further congesting already overburdened highways, Schielke added.

"So now you have a huge demand for rail money, but also a huge demand for highway money," Schielke said. "You need money for both rail improvements and road corrective action programs. We will have to spend more money. The rail can't be totally held up by the roads, and we certainly can't afford to shut down those rail crossings all day long for the trains coming through."

The American Association of State and Highway Transportation Officials recently called on Congress to increase transportation spending in the 2009 reauthorization to $545 billion. However, fuel tax revenue that funds the federal transportation budget is on the decline. A fuel tax increase was among the suggestions the association made.

Schielke said he believes if Congress heeds the call to increase transportation funding, there's a good chance a big chunk of that is headed to the Chicago area.

"We may have the No. 2 man in the Senate and the president of the United States," Schielke said. "That should be very helpful."