Waterways Update: Brandon Road Lock to Temporarily Close
The following is an update on the temporary closure of the Brandon Road Lock from the Army Corp of Engineers.
“Starting next week, Brandon Road Lock will be completely closed for 3 weeks, as scheduled, to complete bulkhead recess installation in preparation for next summer’s Illinois Waterway 2023 Consolidated Closures effort:
- The last nighttime-only traffic (the same condition we’ve been under since MAY) will be from 14 AUG @ 1800 through 15 AUG at 0700.
- There will be a full closure (no traffic will be able to pass) from 15 AUG @ 0700 through 04 SEP @ 1800. I’ll keep you posted if that changes.
- There will be another nighttime-only traffic / width restriction period immediately following the full closure, lasting through 08 SEP.
- After 08 SEP, we anticipate that all traffic will be able to pass without restriction until next summer’s big maintenance effort.
Thank you for your patience as we work to restore the safety, efficiency and reliability of the Illinois Waterway.
We will continue to keep our website up to date:
RTA Movers Conference Highlights
On Tuesday, August 9th the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) held an afternoon workshop to initiate the beginning stages of the 2023 Regional Transit Strategic Plan implementation.
The event started with discussion of current problems faced by the system. They pointed to a $730 million budget gap faced by the RTA, the lack of transportation options for some disadvantaged communities and a dearth of youth voices in consultation that’s out of step with their usage rates. Also of note, the panel mentioned a potential "ask" of the General Assembly to help meet funding needs. If that were to occur, it was suggested that a coalition be quickly put together. Others pointed out that the system to allocate operating funds is somewhat outdated.
During the conference, the potential budget shortfall of the future was spoken of often. By 2026, there is a potential budget deficit in all modeled scenarios. While all scenarios lead to a budget deficit, the baseline assumption is a $730 million shortfall by 2026. This is with about $3.2 billion in revenue and $3.9 billion in expenses.
The Transit System is supported by both public funding, primarily through RTA sales tax receipts, and operating revenue. The operating revenue comes from fares paid by riders. Fares have been down since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic but so far have largely been replaced by federal funding. Ridership is only expected to recover to around 70 % pre-pandemic levels over the next 10 years. The Chamber has always been supportive of mass transit as its necessary for many employees and utilized by the region’s tourists. However, we are leery of reflexively looking for taxpayer assistance and encourage groups like this to look hard for additional solutions. Ways to increase safety- and alleviate concerns that draw potential users to other methods- and other means to increase ridership should be the first step.
A public input survey will be arriving late summer with transit rider interviews taking place between August and October. The next RTA Board Meeting is August 18th.
Legislative Schedule Updates
We still do not have any announced dates for the long rumored special session. That session was originally rumored for this month. Now the gossip is September. The expected topics are the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision and guns. That said, any time the legislature is in town business needs to be on our toes. I’ll let you know a date as soon as we have one.
The General Assembly has released the schedule for veto session. Lawmakers will be back in Springfield Tuesday, November 15 -November 17 as well as November 29-December 1.
View and download the veto calendar here.
