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Old Posted Aug 31, 2009, 2:35 PM
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Illinois to Ask LaHood for $300 Million

John D. Boyd | Aug 26, 2009 5:41PM GMT
The Journal of Commerce Online - News Story

Rail industry program seeks big funding boost from stimulus TIGER grants
Illinois will ask Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to award $300 million to a multi-year project to untangle its congested freight and passenger rail lines, under a $1.5 billion discretionary funding account LaHood will allocate from the Recovery Act.
If successful, that would be the largest piece of federal funding yet directed to the Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency program, or CREATE, which is a major national priority for the freight transportation industry.

George Weber, bureau chief for railroads at the Illinois Department of Transportation, said the state will ask for the $300 million for CREATE in a grant application due Sept. 15, on top of a $140 million request Illinois submitted Aug. 24 for a rail-bridge “flyover” project under the CREATE program to separate freight from commuter tracks.

That flyover grant submission was part of $550 million in all that Illinois is seeking in first-round stimulus funds for passenger rail development. The next CREATE request would be under what are called TIGER grants for Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery.
While other types of transportation spending are specified in the Recovery Act, LaHood has broad power to allocate $1.5 billion for projects he deems necessary. He has said some of that money will go to seaport needs, which were not specifically included in other accounts.

But CREATE’s backers say they have an ambitious program under way that would not only untangle congested tracks and roads throughout Chicago but would also speed train movements throughout the continent by removing a major bottleneck.

This is their best chance in years to give CREATE a booster shot of federal dollars, to help fund what backers say is a package of 78 construction projects estimated to cost over $3 billion.

Chicago pledged $30 million the next year.
Illinois in July approved $322 million in state funding, but until more federal money pours in CREATE lists more than $2.5 billion in unfunded projects.

Now, though, a lot is moving Chicago’s way. The stimulus law aimed huge amounts of money at transportation infrastructure, and created a new passenger rail push that will see several high-speed rail or new Amtrak passenger corridors head to Chicago.
And Illinois now has unrivaled clout in Washington, D.C. The election of Barack Obama as president put a former senator from Illinois in the White House, with Rahm Emanuel giving up a Chicago seat in the House of Representatives to be his White House Chief of Staff.
DOT Secretary LaHood had left a House seat from Peoria, Ill. New Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph Szabo was a longtime rail union lobbyist and former mayor of Riverdale outside Chicago. And in the Senate, Richard Durbin of Illinois ranks second in the Democratic leadership, with influence over a broad range of issues.

Contact John D. Boyd at jboyd@joc.com.
http://www.joc.com/node/413097
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