TRIP Report: “The U.S. Freight Network’s Critical Role in the Supply Chain”
TRIP recently released a report looking at the supply chain. They found that Illinois is home to two of the top 20 U.S. truck bottlenecks. Highway bottlenecks cost more than $75 billion each year.
Additionally, traffic has nearly returned to pre-pandemic levels.
Yours truly was quoted with the following:
“As businesses finalize their holiday rush, Illinoisans are reminded about the critical role freight traffic plays in not only our economy, but in our holiday traditions,” said Clark Kaericher, vice president of government affairs for the Illinois Chamber of Commerce. “While the Illinois Chamber praises both Congress and the Illinois General Assembly for their recent investments in infrastructure, this work highlights that in Illinois there is important work remaining.”
Read the Illinois release here.
Read the full report here.
New IDOT Study Highlights Significance of Illinois Airports
The Illinois Department of Transportation announced the results of a new study showing that Illinois airports contribute $95.5 billion and more than 490,000 jobs to the state’s economy, reinforcing the importance of aviation on the state’s multimodal transportation system to promote mobility, supply chain movement, job creation and local quality of life. Designed to better understand and quantify the aviation system’s impact on the state, the 2020 Illinois Aviation Economic Impact Analysis is the first report of its kind released by IDOT since 2012.
“Aviation is a pillar of our state. Its importance to our economy cannot be overstated,” said Illinois Transportation Secretary Omer Osman. “Illinois airports serve as a gateway to the economy through passenger, cargo, and general aviation services, as well as employment opportunities. Under Gov. Pritzker, IDOT is committed to strengthening our aviation system to better connect Illinois to national and international economies far and wide.”
The 2020 Illinois Aviation Economic Impact Analysis found that of the $95.5 billion contributed to the Illinois economy by airports in 2019, $21.1 billion came from visitor spending, $35.9 billion related to the shipment of cargo and $38.4 billion resulted from direct impacts, including $32.5 billion in income to help support 492,768 jobs.
The report analyzed 85 public-use airport facilities – 81 public and four private airports. Data was used to measure the economic impact at each individual airport, as well as each IDOT region and at the statewide level.
Early next year, IDOT is expected to release the first Illinois Aviation System Plan in more than two decades. The plan will help identify short- and long-term needs of individual airports and the aviation system as a whole, with the goal of continuing to support economies throughout the state, improve quality of life and boost mobility.
The Illinois Chamber of Commerce serves on the advisory committee for the group creating the Aviation System Plan and I was happy to earlier meet and provide recommendations to the engineers working hard on the plan.
Bridge Bundling Update
Our friends at WSP released a December Bridge Bundling Report. It contains survey results from over 25 county engineers about the usefulness of bridge bundling (spoiler: nearly ¾ would like to utilize the practice).
It also looks at legislative authority for locals to bridge bundle and finds the results to be murky.
You can view the full report here.
Chamber Letter to CREATE
Illinois Chamber President Todd Maisch wrote a letter of support for the Ogden Junction project on behalf of the business community and Infrastructure member Union Pacific.
