SJ0031 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SJ0031 LRB102 18458 MST 26552 r

SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, Esteemed American architect Daniel Burnham envisioned the City of Chicago's future in the 1909 Plan Of Chicago with transportation, green space, and civic facility projects to beautify, connect, and harmonize the city center to the surrounding neighborhoods and specifically identified Congress Street as the "grand axis" to the west; and

WHEREAS, The Burnham plan, sponsored by the Commercial Club of Chicago, influenced how the city developed and set a standard for modern urban planning at a time of tremendous growth for Chicago, the State of Illinois, and the nation; and

WHEREAS, Chicago's growth, as then America's second city and a major industrial and business leader at the center of the nation with a growing and diverse population, ultimately resulted in the Chicago City Council approval of plans for a comprehensive superhighway system in 1940, to include and begin with the Westside route or Congress Expressway; and

WHEREAS, The construction of the individual sections of the Congress Expressway were completed between 1954 and 1960, with Mannheim Road to Racine Avenue being one of the oldest sections of the region's highway infrastructure and the only expressway to run under a U.S. Post Office and incorporate both a movable bridge over the Chicago River and a rapid transit line within the same corridor; and

WHEREAS, In 1964, the Chicago City Council renamed the Congress Expressway after former President Dwight D. Eisenhower, honoring his public service as well as his vision in proposing the interstate highway system in 1955; the roadway would later be nicknamed "the Ike" or I-290 to designate federal interstate 290; and

WHEREAS, The Eisenhower Expressway was an engineering and transportation achievement, but construction displaced Chicago's Near West Side neighborhoods, including Greektown and Little Italy, and, to the west, profoundly altered a Jewish neighborhood in West Garfield Park, which had been nicknamed the Jewish West Side, the Austin neighborhood of Chicago, the Village of Oak Park, and the Village of Forest Park, where 3,500 graves had to be relocated from the Forest Home and Concordia cemeteries; and

WHEREAS, The Eisenhower Expressway construction led to the departure of 13,000 families and 400 businesses from Chicago alone and the removal of over 100 buildings in Oak Park, where over time the below grade stretch of highway derisively became known as "the Ditch"; the displacement of neighborhoods in Chicago contributed to an eventual demographic shift in the percentage of African-American families concentrated in impacted areas; and

WHEREAS, The Eisenhower Expressway remains the western gateway to Chicago from the western suburbs and a primary link to O'Hare airport and the regional transportation network and still includes the vital assets of the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) Blue Line, as well as freight railroad lines; Chicago and the regional transportation networks centered therein remain a transportation hub of the nation to this day; and

WHEREAS, The Eisenhower Expressway, which is now more than 60 years old, was originally designed to handle 40,000 vehicles per day and now carries over 200,000 vehicles per day; it was ranked as the most congested highway in the United States in the INRIX 2020 Global Traffic Scorecard, and the average weekday ridership on the CTA Blue Line branch that spans the Eisenhower corridor increased by 8 percent between 2009 and 2019, from 26,496 to 28,543; and

WHEREAS, The Eisenhower Expressway reconstruction and modernization is a priority in the region's long-range transportation plan; in 2017, the Federal Highway Administration signed a Final Environmental Impact Statement and a Record of Decision; the CTA Blue Line and stations need modernization and repair and could explore further extension to accommodate growth in communities farther west; I-290 and CTA improvement and reconstruction costs are expected to exceed $4 billion; and

WHEREAS, The Eisenhower and CTA Blue Line reconstruction and improvements are, and should be, planned, designed, constructed, and managed as a multimodal, intermodal corridor, maximizing transportation assets, enhancing equity, connectivity, access, and opportunity for residents, commuters, and marginalized populations and protecting the safety of all users; and

WHEREAS, The Eisenhower and CTA Blue Line projects are an opportunity to reconnect communities and repair racial inequities and displacement caused by historic construction that emphasized transportation efficiencies without attention to racial equity, livability, community enhancement, and preservation; and

WHEREAS, The Eisenhower and CTA Blue Line reconstruction is an opportunity to expand open space and sustainable multimodal connectivity to develop alternative individual and mass transportation options, such as dedicated pedestrian and bike lanes designed to be interconnected but separated from vehicle lanes and rapid bus transit and the use of bridge decking and innovative technologies; and

WHEREAS, It is in the best interest of the State of Illinois to prioritize the planning, design, and reconstruction of the federal interstate I-290 Eisenhower Expressway and CTA Blue Line and obtain financial and technical assistance and partnership from the Illinois Congressional Delegation and the U.S. Department of Transportation; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING HEREIN, that the Interstate 290 Corridor is a project of state, regional, and national significance that will improve multimodal transportation and connectivity and promote economic development; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the goals of reconstructing the Interstate 290 Corridor should include enhancements to racial equity, promotion of open space, community enhancement, and sustainable and innovative practices; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we formally request that the U.S. Department of Transportation provide sufficient resources to the Illinois Department of Transportation to begin engineering and advance this project expeditiously; and be it further

RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be delivered to the U.S. Secretary of Transportation and all members of the Illinois Congressional Delegation.