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Merchants Bridge Grand Reopening
Yesterday, September 15th was the grand reopening of the Merchants Bridge near St. Louis that spans the Mississippi River and links the Illinois and Missouri economies. The reopening of the bridge took place at America's Central Port in Granite City. The event was accompanied by a ribbon-cutting ceremony hosted by its owners, the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis (TRRA).
It was a fantastic event with over 150 attendees, including many elected officials from both sides of the river. We at the Chamber we're thrilled to be in attendance and thank our friends at the TRRA for the invitation.
Merchants Bridge is 133-years-old and its reopening is the culmination of a decade of planning and building that has attracted national attention. As many speakers said yesterday, this $220 million+ project will continue to position the greater St. Louis region as a major global freight hub for decades. We congratulate the TRRA and their partners on this outstanding achievement.
You can read more here.
You can view coverage and filming of the bridge here.
Commercial Driver’s License Rulemaking
The September 16th edition of the Illinois Register shows proposed rulemaking by the Secretary of State regarding the issuance of CDLs. The proposed amendment to Issuance of Licenses (92 IAC 1030; 46 Ill Reg 15522) removes the requirement that Illinois Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) applicants who hold valid out of State CDLs retake their CDL written and pre-trip/skills/road exams.
This requirement had been temporarily halted during the pandemic but would be permanently removed under this rulemaking. Illinois is the only state that requires retesting of out-of-state CDL holders.
From the description of the issue in the Illinois Register: all states must use Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s pre-approved pool of knowledge test questions comparable to the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators 2005 CDL Test System (July 2010 or newer version), and generate the test questions in accordance with the same. Additionally, 383.133 requires all states to administer an identical pre-trip/skills/road exam scored using a uniform score sheet. As all states now administer an exam identical to the exams administered in Illinois, it is no longer necessary to re-test transfer CDL applicants.
If you'd like to submit on a comment on this rule, the 45-day written comment period begins today, the day the Notice of Proposed Amendments appeared in the Illinois Register. All written comments received within 45 days after this issue of the Illinois Register will be considered.
Please mail written comments on the proposed rulemaking to the attention of: Pamela Wright Office of the General Counsel 298 Howlett Building Springfield, IL 62756 pwright@ilsos.gov.
Read the proposed rulemaking here. Relevant reading begins on page 15522.
Chamber Op-ed: A bill proposed in Congress puts advancements in freight railroad network at risk
I had the opportunity to write on the Freight Rail Shipping Fair Market Act currently under consideration in Congress. Provided below is part of that editorial.
Illinois received some welcome news last month in the form of $83.5 million from a federal grant program for infrastructure and transportation projects. In Springfield, a major project funded by the RAISE (Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity) grant will support construction of a new railroad grade separation. Rep. Rodney Davis called the announcement a “major step” toward completion of the Springfield Rail Project.
Big ideas like this are crucial to keeping economic development in our state moving forward. Not to mention the impact of consistent infrastructure investment on supply chains and keeping costs lower for businesses and consumers dealing with record inflation.
It’s unfortunate, then, that these infrastructure advances are being met with a potentially big step backward due to Congress. On the fast-track for a vote in September in the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is a bill, the Freight Rail Shipping Fair Market Act, that would essentially re-regulate the nation’s freight railroads, giving the government vast oversight of day-to-day rail operations.
This is problematic because it prevents railroads from operating like businesses and making decisions about their own assets and routes — yet they still need to compete with other modes that don’t face the same constraints. Railroads that can’t compete in a free market won’t earn enough revenue to keep investing massively into infrastructure. And poor rail infrastructure will hurt the Illinois economy and lead to more highway freight.
It’s important to remember just how vital rail is to our state, which is the nation’s most important rail hub. Illinois has 52 separate freight railroads (third in the U.S.) that take 28 million trucks off our roads annually. And with intermodal shipments and farm products making up the majority of freight rail shipments beginning here, it’s clear how important these connections are for local manufacturers and producers.
That’s why a shortsighted policy of government intervention — one that strangles the ability of railroads to invest —would hurt our local economies, businesses, and consumers. It takes massive investment to maintain and grow rails, with railroads collectively spending upwards of $20 billion a year in recent years. For context, their level of reinvestment is about six times that of the average U.S. manufacturer.
Read the rest here.
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