The Illinois Department of Transportation has reached a cooperative agreement with Union Pacific and Amtrak that will permit the release of a $1.1 billion federal high-speed rail grant to the state of Illinois to fund passenger rail improvements between Chicago and St. Louis. The agreement was proclaimed by state and federal officials as “historic” and hailed as “one giant step closer to achieving high-speed passenger service between Chicago and St. Louis.” But stripped of its rhetoric, the announcement only reveals how inadequate and cost-ineffective the Administration’s “high–speed” program is turning out to be.
View this complete post...Posts Tagged ‘Chicago’
The Uncertain Future of the High-Speed Rail Program
Tuesday, January 4th, 2011Climate Change and Bicycling: How bicycling advocates can help craft comprehensive Climate Action Plans
Tuesday, September 14th, 2010LEAGUE OF AMERICAN BICYCLISTS
Bicycling advocates can help shape Climate Action Plans to include pro‐bicycling policies. Using case studies and examples from existing plans, this report examines: 1. how pro‐bicycling policies have been written into the Climate Action Plans of states, cities, and universities, 2. examples of plans that include bicycling, 3. how bicycling advocates can best support these efforts, and 4. how to ensure that governments follow through on the promises made in their plans.
Chicago’s Plans for a High-Speed Airport Link Revived Thanks to Investor Interest
Monday, August 23rd, 2010Chicago, perhaps like no other city in the United States, has set itself apart as a center of trade, and recently that has been expressed in the growth of its two airports, O’Hare and Midway. With the resurgence of passenger rail promoted by the Obama Administration, it may be able to reassert its dominance in that field; it will sit at the confluence of three upgraded intercity rail lines already at least partially funded: One to St. Louis, another to Detroit, and a third to Milwaukee and Madison.
View this complete post...Traffic Jams from Sea to Shining Sea
Thursday, August 12th, 2010The Road Less Traveled: Exploring Congestion Pricing in Chicagoland
Tuesday, July 20th, 2010ILLINOIS TOLLWAY
METROPOLITAN PLANNING COUNCIL
Across the country, people are tired of wasting time and money, sitting behind the wheel with no real alternatives to driving. Recognizing the severity of the problem, the U.S. Dept. of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is funding projects to study the potential of new and innovative strategies to alleviate traffic congestion, improve the environment, and provide better mobility.
Congestion pricing is one of those strategies.
View this complete post...The Economic Impacts of High-Speed Rail on Cities and their Metropolitan Areas
Monday, June 14th, 2010UNITED STATES CONFERENCE OF MAYORS
Existing modes of transportation currently consume more than two-thirds of our nation’s oil supply and are responsible for nearly a third of our carbon dioxide emissions. As a result, we need to make tomorrow’s transportation infrastructure more energy efficient, more environmentally sustainable, and less reliant on foreign oil. Future federal transportation investments should address energy, economic, and climate concerns through reforms and programs that emphasize sustainable transportation environments.
The Good Haul: Innovations That Improve Freight Transportation and Protect the Environment
Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND
Trade is the lifeblood of the global economy, but it comes at a high price for the environment and local communities. Moving freight creates traffic congestion, greenhouse gas emissions, toxic air pollution and noise in local communities. Without thoughtful infrastructure and operations improvements, projected increases in trade threaten to make these problems worse and place greater strains on the nation’s aging infrastructure.
Chicago-St. Louis 220-mph trains would create more than 40,000 jobs, reduce harmful CO2 emissions by nearly 200 million pounds: new study
Monday, March 8th, 2010MIDWEST HIGH-SPEED RAIL ASSOCIATION
CHICAGO, Ill. – Proposed 220-mph high speed rail to cut the Chicago-St. Louis trip to less than two hours would also provide a major boost to the economy and efforts to reduce harmful emissions
U.S. Parking Policies: An Overview of Management Strategies
Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010INSTITUTE FOR TRANSPORTATION AND DEVELOPMENT POLICY
The relationships between parking infrastructure and transportation choices are as important as that between road infrastructure and transportation choices. Yet research on roads abounds while there is very little on parking.
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