Will 2010 be the year of transportation?
High-speed rail, a transportation funding windfall, airport demolitions and texters driving us distracted. The New Year is coming like a freight train, so get on board my list of hot 2010 topics.
• Expect more tollway drama during Senate hearings as state lawmakers Susan Garrett and Jeff Schoenberg continue examining issues with the agency's oases. But this year also could be a turning point for the beleaguered Illinois State Toll Highway Authority with new leaders in charge. We'll also wait to see the results of an Illinois attorney general's office review of ethics questions concerning two former top administrators.
• Where have you gone, SAFETEA-LU? That's the fancy Washington name for the last transportation funding act (which, largely thanks to Denny Hastert, gave Illinois a big chunk of change). Now Congress is mulling over a new six-year transportation funding bill that could be crucial to programs such as high-speed rail, fixing freight rail congestion, improving public transit, construction of the Elgin O'Hare Expressway and other highways. The last bill expired in fall 2009 but because of the focus on health care, transportation is getting short shrift, insiders say.
This year also could be the one Congress lets the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill off the tarmac and into the air.
• Pace and the tollway should learn in February if Washington smiles on a funding request to create a bus rapid transit service along I-294 between the South suburbs and job centers near O'Hare. The express bus would start in South Holland and stop in Oak Brook, Rosemont and at O'Hare. Pace and the tollway are seeking $200 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation.
• Transit woes. You heard it here first: Unless the economy goes into hyper-drive, budget time for the CTA, Pace and Metra could be a painful process later in 2010. The agencies rely on sales tax for funding and the recession bit into revenues in 2009. The CTA and Pace barely scraped by last year thanks to borrowing and using capital funds. February also will bring Pace bus route reductions and eliminations, CTA layoffs, and increases in certain Metra fares - all enacted to balance budgets last year.
• Will Illinois get a piece when the feds divvy up slices of an $8 billion high-speed rail pie this winter? The state is vying for dollars to establish a network of fast trains with routes that include Chicago to St. Louis. With Illinoisans in the White House and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood coming from Peoria, hopes are high but there's plenty of competition from other states.
• Bulldozers are expected to rumble into a section of Bensenville -- or that used to be Bensenville -- to make way for O'Hare International Airport's expansion. The city of Chicago has acquired numerous properties in the northeast part of the village after a prolonged legal fight and intends to start demolitions around the end of January. The work should extend into fall.
• The state's ban on texting while driving took effect Friday. And expect the rhetoric about distracted driving and its dangers to heat up in 2010. The U.S. Department of Transportation is ramping up a public education campaign and LaHood has promised to ask Congress to address the issue. Nearly 6,000 deaths in 2008 occurred in crashes involving distracted or inattentive driving.
• Battery breakthrough? Argonne National Laboratory scientists hope 2010 will be the year they develop a lithium-air battery that can be used commercially for electric vehicles. This type of battery can store five to 10 times more energy than other lithium batteries.
Flotsam and jetsambull; Some parking rates at O'Hare and Midway airports will go up by $1 on Monday. Increases of $1 at O'Hare will affect people parking for five hours or more in the hourly garage, seven hours or more in the daily and international terminal lots, nine hours or more in Economy Lot E and two hours or more with valet. For more changes, check out FlyChicago.com.bull; Pace is reducing its times for reserving rides on ADA Paratransit by one hour. The change was effective last week and means that in Chicago, for example, telephone reservations will close at 7 p.m. instead of 8 p.m. Suburban users are advised to contact their carriers to find out new hours. The move was made to reduce expenses.bull; More low-income people with disabilities will be able to ride public transit for free following revisions in state law that were effective last week. The state has raised the eligible income level. New income thresholds are $27,610 for one person, $36,635 for a household of two, and $45,657 for a household of three. To ride free, individuals must be registered with the Illinois Circuit Breaker program. For more information, visit rtachicago.com.bull; The Illinois Secretary of State's Office brings its mobile driver services unit to the Buffalo Grove Park District from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday at 530 Bernard Drive. Services include license renewals and ID cards. A Rules of the Road review course will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m.