Full Text of HJR0007 96th General Assembly
HJ0007 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION
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| WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois General Assembly have | 3 |
| a high concern for the safety of those using Illinois roadways, | 4 |
| highways, and bridges; and | 5 |
| WHEREAS, In recent years bridge safety has made headlines | 6 |
| across the nation regarding several areas of concern, including | 7 |
| structure, design, and traffic volume; and | 8 |
| WHEREAS, Illinois has seen too many fatal accidents on its | 9 |
| bridges and bridges of neighboring states, especially bridges | 10 |
| crossing the Mississippi River; specifically, there have been | 11 |
| fatal accidents on the Martin Luther King Bridge connection | 12 |
| between Illinois and Missouri that crosses the Mississippi | 13 |
| River from East St. Louis to St. Louis, and the William | 14 |
| McKinley Bridge that also connects Illinois to its neighboring | 15 |
| state of Missouri, crossing the Mississippi River from Venice | 16 |
| to St. Louis; and
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| WHEREAS, One problem with these two named bridges is that | 18 |
| they are both narrower than the width recommended by modern | 19 |
| professional standards; the Martin Luther King bridge is 40 | 20 |
| feet wide and the William McKinley Bridge is 55 feet wide; and
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| WHEREAS, The four lanes at both the Martin Luther King |
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| Bridge and the William McKinley Bridge cause cars driving in | 2 |
| the center lanes to pass each other head-on at distances as | 3 |
| close as 18 inches apart; and
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| WHEREAS, Twelve people have tragically lost their lives in | 5 |
| crossover accidents in 10 years on the Martin Luther King | 6 |
| Bridge, and six people have been killed in crossover accidents | 7 |
| on the McKinley Bridge; and
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| WHEREAS, The Illinois Department of Transportation has | 9 |
| acknowledged that it is not currently investigating ways to | 10 |
| prevent crossover accidents because it believes the bridges are | 11 |
| too narrow for crossover barriers; and
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| WHEREAS, Innovation has made breakthroughs in creating | 13 |
| systems, such as narrow cable barriers or moveable barriers, | 14 |
| that have shown to be effective in preventing crossover | 15 |
| accidents; and protective barriers are becoming common on | 16 |
| Mississippi River bridges; the design for the proposed new | 17 |
| Mississippi River bridge calls for a concrete barrier, and the | 18 |
| Golden Gate Bridge, in San Francisco Bay, California, is | 19 |
| scheduled to install a new moveable barrier; and yet neither | 20 |
| the Martin Luther King Bridge nor the William McKinley Bridge | 21 |
| currently have any barrier or protection between the passing | 22 |
| lanes; therefore, be it
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| RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 2 |
| NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE | 3 |
| SENATE CONCURRING HEREIN, that the Illinois Department of | 4 |
| Transportation study the issue of crossover barriers of all | 5 |
| kinds for the Martin Luther King Bridge and William McKinley | 6 |
| Bridge and make a report of its findings to the 96th General | 7 |
| Assembly no later than six months after the adoption of this | 8 |
| resolution; and be it further
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| RESOLVED, That copies of the Department's report be sent to | 10 |
| the Illinois Secretary of State and the Secretary of the | 11 |
| Missouri Department of Transportation; and be it further | 12 |
| RESOLVED, That a copy of this resolution be sent to the | 13 |
| Illinois Secretary of Transportation.
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