Illinois notes

[Beltway]

Probably the biggest disappointment was the progress on I-490 around O'Hare. I don't know what is slowing the work, but other than the flyovers on I-90 and I-294, just a lot of dirt being pushed around along York Road. The fact that the old CPD K-9 Facility is still standing does makes me wonder, but it looks like they are building a shoofly for Touhy around where the I-490 bridge will cross over the current ROW.

I check it out when I fly to O'Hare once a year and rent a car. Other than the bridge ramps to the Tri-State, hardly any noticeable progress in Jan. 2024, 2025 and 2026. Those ramps are unusable by themselves.

[edwaleni]

I will add that *any* type of large construction in or around O'Hare is a challenge due to the sheer number of jurisdictions surrounding said airport. So many municipalities are right up against the airport boundary.

[Joe The Dragon]

and active rail lines

[CtrlAltDel]

The buildings at the Rail Splitter rest areas in Springfield are being rebuilt. I thought it was interesting that one of the design elements of the original buildings is being retained. I thought that they had demolished the buildings and then rebuilt something similar, but what I see from Street View suggests that they worked around them:

[CtrlAltDel]

I also noticed, at interchanges in IDOT District 3 (perhaps coincidentally), that there is lighting along exit ramps but not along entrance ramps, such as Exit 220 on I-55 (albeit here with high-mast lighting) and Exit 227, which I found curious, since I would have imagined both entrance and exit ramps would be treated similarly. Does anyone know why they might have gone with this set-up? I've looked here and there, but nothing I could find on partial interchange lighting describes anything like it.

[edwaleni]

The governor signed the new Illinois budget today.

https://budget.illinois.gov/content/dam/soi/en/web/budget/documents/budget-book/fy2027-budget/Fiscal-Year-2027-Operating-Budget.pdf

Illinois now has a $3.7 billion road fund built up....however....

$150 million was moved back to the general fund to close a budget gap in state operations expenses

$171 million of motor fuel sales tax was delayed to transfer to the road fund to cover another budget gap

$137 million was moved over to cover state employee health benefits

and the one that is going to get noisy is the redirection of interest and road tax money to prop up Chicago area transit from southern Illinois tax collections.

[Faceman]

The governor signed the new Illinois budget today.

https://budget.illinois.gov/content/dam/soi/en/web/budget/documents/budget-book/fy2027-budget/Fiscal-Year-2027-Operating-Budget.pdf

Illinois now has a $3.7 billion road fund built up....however....

$150 million was moved back to the general fund to close a budget gap in state operations expenses

$171 million of motor fuel sales tax was delayed to transfer to the road fund to cover another budget gap

$137 million was moved over to cover state employee health benefits

and the one that is going to get noisy is the redirection of interest and road tax money to prop up Chicago area transit from southern Illinois tax collections.

I live in Madison county, so there is no surprise there. J.B. Pritzker moved from California to Illinois.

[paulthemapguy]

I live in Madison county, so there is no surprise there. J.B. Pritzker moved from California to Illinois.

He moved to Illinois from the most popular, in-demand, wealthy, and successful state? What's your point?

[Faceman]

12 is when Pritzker moved here. I hate how Chicago gets the majority of the money from the gas tax.

Massive Hole in the Eastbound Highway 64 Bridge

This 1960's bridge has a hole. The bridge is not slated until 2028 to get rehab work to it.   

[NWI_Irish96]

12 is when Pritzker moved here. I hate how Chicago gets the majority of the money from the gas tax.

Massive Hole in the Eastbound Highway 64 Bridge

This 1960's bridge has a hole. The bridge is not slated until 2028 to get rehab work to it.   

Pritzker wanted a constitutional amendment that would allow graduated income tax rates for higher incomes. Would have raised billions of dollars and not cost 90% of the people a single penny. Y'all voted it down.

[edwaleni]

12 is when Pritzker moved here. I hate how Chicago gets the majority of the money from the gas tax.

Massive Hole in the Eastbound Highway 64 Bridge

This 1960's bridge has a hole. The bridge is not slated until 2028 to get rehab work to it.   

Pritzker wanted a constitutional amendment that would allow graduated income tax rates for higher incomes. Would have raised billions of dollars and not cost 90% of the people a single penny. Y'all voted it down.

Probably because the State of Washington did the same thing and guess what happened? The 10% moved out.

Just the loss of Bezos (Amazon), Schultz (Starbucks) and 2 other MSFT multi-millionnaires cost the state over a $100 million in lost income.

[Rothman]

12 is when Pritzker moved here. I hate how Chicago gets the majority of the money from the gas tax.

Massive Hole in the Eastbound Highway 64 Bridge

This 1960's bridge has a hole. The bridge is not slated until 2028 to get rehab work to it.   

Pritzker wanted a constitutional amendment that would allow graduated income tax rates for higher incomes. Would have raised billions of dollars and not cost 90% of the people a single penny. Y'all voted it down.

Probably because the State of Washington did the same thing and guess what happened? The 10% moved out.

Just the loss of Bezos (Amazon), Schultz (Starbucks) and 2 other MSFT multi-millionnaires cost the state over a $100 million in lost income.

Out of a budget of $70-$80B.  Oh no.  How will Washington ever survive.