Good Morning Chairman Sandoval and other members of the committee, my name is Brian Imus and I’m the director of the Illinois Public Interest Research Group. Illinois PIRG is a citizen-supported public interest advocacy organization with more than 5,000 citizen members from across the state. Illinois PIRG works to provide an independent voice for Illinoisans when public policy decisions are made.
I want to thank Chairman Sandoval and members of the committee for the hearing today on Illinois’ transportation infrastructure needs. The hearing provides a unique opportunity to better understand and quantify the dramatic need for significant investment in transportation. Even more exciting though, the hearing can help to rethink and prioritize transportation policy and spending in ways that moves Illinois toward a new transportation future for the 21st century that will enhance our economy, individual economic security, public health and quality of life.
Illinois’ transportation system is in trouble. High and wildly fluctuating gas prices add to Illinois residents’ economic woes, traffic congestion wastes valuable time and energy, and our cars produce pollution that harms Illinois residents’ health and contributes to global warming. At the same time we have X miles of roads and X bridges that have been neglected and are now deficient.
Prioritizing and increasing transportation spending for the problems we face in the 21st century can help solve these problems and at the same time get Illinoisans back to work.
To get there, we need transportation spending that does three things:
1) Expands clean, efficient transportation choices by investing in commuter rail, rapid bus service, high-speed intercity rail and other forms of modern public transportation;
2) Fixes our crumbling roads and bridges; and,
3) Spends taxpayers’ money more wisely by providing evaluation and accountability for capital projects and ensure dollars are spent on projects that will solve Illinois’ biggest problems.
The reason to increase investment in transportation infrastructure now and prioritize that funding towards public transportation is simple. Illinois residents have become more dependent on automobile travel, more than 105 billion miles were traveled on Illinois roads in 2007 – up from 65 billion miles in 1980. Residents in Northeastern Illinois spent over 200 million hours in traffic congestion – a five fold increase since 1982. That’s not just a huge blow to our quality of life, it has real cost to individuals and the economy, as you’ll hear in a moment from Jim LaBelle.
Transportation is a leading source of global warming pollution in Illinois. Illinois’ transportation system produced 40 percent more carbon dioxide in 2005 than it did in 1990.
Public transportation investment pays real dividends for Illinois residents and our economy. In 2006, public transportation in Illinois saved approximately 276 million gallons of oil, saving consumers more than $400 million that would have otherwise been spent at the pump. Public transportation prevented more than 40 million hours of traffic delay – equivalent to about 2,600 person-years – in the Chicago metropolitan area in 2006, saving the economy more than $800 million in wasted time and lost productivity.
Public transportation is helping to reduce global warming pollution in Illinois, averting about 2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide pollution in 2006.
At the same time, demand for transit is increasing making it clear there needs to be greater investment. Travel via public transportation in Illinois has increased at a faster rate than automobile travel since the early 1990s – with the number of passenger miles traveled on transit jumping 20 percent between 1993 and 2006. Transit ridership continues to increase. In the first five months of 2008, ridership on the state’s transit lines jumped 2.7 percent versus the year before, compared with a 3.3 percent drop in vehicle travel.
Prioritizing transportation spending on road and bridge repair and public transportation doesn’t just address the problems associated with our transportation network, it also generates more jobs.
Investing in transportation infrastructure is a well established policy option for jump-starting the economy and boosting employment. However, the effectiveness of transportation investments as employment boosters depends on what type of project or program the funds are spent on. Different project types require more labor than others and so the job creation potential can vary widely.
Earlier this year a study conducted by the Political Economy Research Institute concluded that for each $1 billion in infrastructure investment in new road construction, 12,638 new jobs are generated. The compares to 14,790 jobs generated for road and bridge repair and 17,784 jobs created per $1 billion invested in mass transit. That means, greater job creation comes from transportation investment that prioritizes public transportation and road and bridge repair.
In conclusion, I encourage you to consider a state capital investment plan in transportation that achieves three priorities:
1. Spending should focus on investments that repairs and enhances the current transportation system and helps transition to a clean, efficient energy future.
2. Creates jobs and opportunities for the under-employed not only through direct projects, but even more importantly by supporting and strengthening the economies we have in place.
3. Stimulates the economy quickly by getting supporting transportation projects that immediately save everyone money.
Prioritizing investment in public transportation helps achieve these priorities. The proposal by Transportation for Illinois Coalition – that you will more about in a moment - is apart of this policy shift. We should spend $9 billion on transit, prioritize repair of roads and bridges and move towards a 1 to 1 ratio in capital spending for roads and bridges.
Thank you
