Recent Streetsblog CHICAGO posts about IDOT

A Clearer, More Concise Regional Transit Proposal From Senator Biss

By Steven Vance | Mar 20, 2014 | 23 Comments

At least one Illinois legislator supports a unified transit agency, even though RTA board chairman John Gates and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel have declared their opposition. Senator Daniel Biss (D-9th, Evanston, Glenview) published a proposal [PDF] back in November, saying “the CTA, Metra, and Pace should combine into a single new Regional Transit Authority.” That was […]

More State Control Over Chicagoland Transit Is a Bad Idea

By Steven Vance | Mar 13, 2014 | 33 Comments

On Tuesday, the Northeastern Public Transit Task Force, created after former Metra CEO Alex Clifford’s abrupt resignation and the ensuing severance package scandal last summer, issued four different options for restructuring regional transit governance [PDF]. While there’s a lot of variation among the four options, they would all hand more power to the governor. This is […]

The Only Problem the Illiana Solves Is a Political One

By Steven Vance | Mar 4, 2014 | No Comments

The Illiana Tollway is a solution in search of a problem, and the Illinois DOT’s final document in preparation to receive federal approval to build the tollway is a case study in backwards transportation planning. IDOT’s playbook went like this: Design a new road, have consultants review traffic patterns on existing roads to find issues to underpin […]

One Change to IDOT’s Rail Plans Could Vastly Improve Amtrak, Metra Service

By Steven Vance | Feb 26, 2014 | 78 Comments

Amtrak trains would run faster between Chicago and Joliet in the Illinois Department of Transportation’s proposal to switch St. Louis-bound trains to less crowded tracks. But IDOT’s project could be even better with a few key changes. By folding the track upgrade known as CrossRail into the Amtrak project, IDOT could improve intercity trains and […]

Illinois’s New Highways Will Cost Taxpayers Dearly

By Steven Vance | Feb 14, 2014 | 14 Comments

The nation may be driving less, but Illinois road boosters are still determined to build more highways. The problem for Illinois taxpayers is that it may be impossible to construct these new roads without huge subsidies. Tolls on the proposed Illiana Expressway may be four times as high as tollways elsewhere around Chicago, according to […]

IDOT to Waste $43 Million Trying to Relieve Kennedy Congestion

By Steven Vance | Feb 12, 2014 | 72 Comments

The Illinois Department of Transportation is pulling another bad idea out of its old bag of tricks, proposing to add two traffic lanes on the Kennedy Expressway between Harlem Avenue and Cumberland Avenue. Also included in IDOT’s proposal are modified ramps at Cumberland and a new ramp onto the Tri-State Tollway (I-294). IDOT’s stated goal […]

Traffic Deaths Down 7.5 Percent in Chicago While Rising Statewide

By Steven Vance | Jan 15, 2014 | 4 Comments

Update: IDOT updated their statistics today which now show that there were 124 fatal crashes in Chicago in 2013, not 120, as initially reported. This represents a decrease from 2012 of 7.5 percent. Electronic message signs over Illinois highways noting the number of traffic fatalities have been harbingers of depressing news since June 2012, but […]

CDOT’s Two-Year Strategic Update Lacks Street Safety Data

By Steven Vance | Dec 16, 2013 | 37 Comments

The recently released update to the Chicago Department of Transportation’s first-ever two-year plan, the Chicago Forward Action Agenda, fails to give a status report on critical street safety metrics. The two-year update to Chicago Forward [PDF] does say a lot about what CDOT is doing to improve safety, but it doesn’t provide information on traffic crashes […]

Clybourn Ave and State St Could Get City’s First Curb-Separated Bikeways

By Steven Vance | Dec 12, 2013 | 21 Comments

At yesterday’s Mayor’s Bicycle Advisory Council, Chicago Bicycle Program project manager Mike Amsden revealed a new detail about the missing piece of the Clybourn Avenue buffered bike lane. The Chicago Department of Transportation is working with the Illinois Department of Transportation to install a protected bike lane on Clybourn that may be separated by a […]

How the Illiana’s Shaky Financing Puts Illinois Taxpayers at Risk

By Steven Vance | Nov 14, 2013 | 9 Comments

The Illinois Department of Transportation is moving forward with its portion of the 47-mile Illiana Tollway in rural Illinois and Indiana, issuing a “request for qualifications” to potential contractors. The document sheds light on how the state intends to finance the billion-dollar highway — and how taxpayers will be on the hook. To get the […]

How IDOT’s Bogus Job Creation Claims Fed the Campaign for the Illiana

By Steven Vance | Nov 5, 2013 | 7 Comments

The Illinois Department of Transportation made its case for the Illiana tollway proposal by disseminating half truths and outright lies. At a Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning committee meeting in October where members voted 10-8 in favor of the 47-mile highway, supporters repeatedly referred to IDOT’s claim that the project would create 28,000 jobs. But […]

At Memorial for Bobby Cann, Word That IDOT Will Allow Protected Bike Lane

By Steven Vance | Oct 25, 2013 | 2 Comments

More than 75 people stood at Clybourn Avenue and Larrabee Street this afternoon to see the unveiling of Honorary Bobby Cann Way. Cann was riding his bike near the site on May 29, when he was struck and killed by Ryne San Hamel, driving drunk with a BAC of 0.127. This section of Clybourn is ideal for […]

Load more stories