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39–945 PDF 2007

CHICAGOLAND TRANSPORTATION

NEEDS FOR THE 2016 OLYMPICS

(110–85)

FIELD HEARING

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON 

HIGHWAYS AND TRANSIT

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON 

TRANSPORTATION AND 

INFRASTRUCTURE 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS

FIRST SESSION

OCTOBER 29, 2007 (Chicago, IL)

Printed for the use of the 

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

(

COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE 

JAMES L. OBERSTAR, Minnesota, Chairman 

NICK J. RAHALL, II, West Virginia, Vice 

Chair 

PETER A. DEFAZIO, Oregon 

JERRY F. COSTELLO, Illinois 

ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of 

Columbia 

JERROLD NADLER, New York 

CORRINE BROWN, Florida 

BOB FILNER, California 

EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON, Texas 

GENE TAYLOR, Mississippi 

ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS, Maryland 

ELLEN O. TAUSCHER, California 

LEONARD L. BOSWELL, Iowa 

TIM HOLDEN, Pennsylvania 

BRIAN BAIRD, Washington 

RICK LARSEN, Washington 

MICHAEL E. CAPUANO, Massachusetts 

JULIA CARSON, Indiana 

TIMOTHY H. BISHOP, New York 

MICHAEL H. MICHAUD, Maine 

BRIAN HIGGINS, New York 

RUSS CARNAHAN, Missouri 

JOHN T. SALAZAR, Colorado 

GRACE F. NAPOLITANO, California 

DANIEL LIPINSKI, Illinois 

DORIS O. MATSUI, California 

NICK LAMPSON, Texas 

ZACHARY T. SPACE, Ohio 

MAZIE K. HIRONO, Hawaii 

BRUCE L. BRALEY, Iowa 

JASON ALTMIRE, Pennsylvania 

TIMOTHY J. WALZ, Minnesota 

HEATH SHULER, North Carolina 

MICHAEL A. ACURI, New York 

HARRY E. MITCHELL, Arizona 

CHRISTOPHER P. CARNEY, Pennsylvania 

JOHN J. HALL, New York 

STEVE KAGEN, Wisconsin 

STEVE COHEN, Tennessee 

JERRY MCNERNEY, California 

LAURA A. RICHARDSON, California 

JOHN L. MICA, Florida 

DON YOUNG, Alaska 

THOMAS E. PETRI, Wisconsin 

HOWARD COBLE, North Carolina 

JOHN J. DUNCAN, JR., Tennessee 

WAYNE T. GILCHREST, Maryland 

VERNON J. EHLERS, Michigan 

STEVEN C. LATOURETTE, Ohio 

RICHARD H. BAKER, Louisiana 

FRANK A. LOBIONDO, New Jersey 

JERRY MORAN, Kansas 

GARY G. MILLER, California 

ROBIN HAYES, North Carolina 

HENRY E. BROWN, JR., South Carolina 

TIMOTHY V. JOHNSON, Illinois 

TODD RUSSELL PLATTS, Pennsylvania 

SAM GRAVES, Missouri 

BILL SHUSTER, Pennsylvania 

JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas 

SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West Virginia 

JIM GERLACH, Pennsylvania 

MARIO DIAZ-BALART, Florida 

CHARLES W. DENT, Pennsylvania 

TED POE, Texas 

DAVID G. REICHERT, Washington 

CONNIE MACK, Florida 

JOHN R. ‘RANDY’ KUHL, JR., New York 

LYNN A WESTMORELAND, Georgia 

CHARLES W. BOUSTANY, JR., Louisiana 

JEAN SCHMIDT, Ohio 

CANDICE S. MILLER, Michigan 

THELMA D. DRAKE, Virginia 

MARY FALLIN, Oklahoma 

VERN BUCHANAN, Florida 

(II)

SUBCOMMITTEE ON HIGHWAYS, TRANSIT AND PIPELINES 

PETER A. DEFAZIO, Oregon, Chairman 

NICK J. RAHALL II, West Virginia 

JERROLD NADLER, New York 

ELLEN O. TAUSCHER, California 

TIM HOLDEN, Pennsylvania 

MICHAEL E. CAPUANO, Massachusetts 

JULIA CARSON, Indiana 

TIMOTHY H. BISHOP, New York 

MICHAEL H. MICHAUD, Maine 

BRIAN HIGGINS, New York 

GRACE F. NAPOLITANO, California 

MAZIE K. HIRONO, Hawaii 

JASON ALTMIRE, Pennsylvania 

TIMOTHY J. WALZ, Minnesota 

HEATH SHULER, North Carolina 

MICHAEL A ARCURI, New York 

CHRISTOPHER P. CARNEY, Pennsylvania 

JERRY MCNERNEY, California 

BOB FILNER, California 

ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS, Maryland 

BRIAN BAIRD, Washington 

DANIEL LIPINSKI, Illinois 

DORIS O. MATSUI, California 

STEVE COHEN, Tennessee 

ZACHARY T. SPACE, Ohio 

BRUCE L. BRALEY, Iowa, Vice Chair 

HARRY E. MITCHELL, Arizona 

LAURA A. RICHARDSON, California 

JAMES L. OBERSTAR, Minnesota 

(Ex Officio) 

JOHN J. DUNCAN, JR., Tennessee 

DON YOUNG, Alaska 

THOMAS E. PETRI, Wisconsin 

HOWARD COBLE, North Carolina 

RICHARD H. BAKER, Louisiana 

GARY G. MILLER, California 

ROBIN HAYES, North Carolina 

HENRY E. BROWN, JR., South Carolina 

TIMOTHY V. JOHNSON, Illinois 

TODD RUSSELL PLATTS, Pennsylvania 

JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas 

SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West Virginia 

JIM GERLACH, Pennsylvania 

MARIO DIAZ-BALART, Florida 

CHARLES W. DENT, Pennsylvania 

TED POE, Texas 

DAVID G. REICHERT, Washington 

CHARLES W. BOUSTANY, JR., Louisiana 

JEAN SCHMIDT, Ohio 

CANDICE S. MILLER, Michigan 

THELMA D. DRAKE, Virginia 

MARY FALLIN, Oklahoma 

VERN BUCHANAN, Florida 

JOHN L. MICA, Florida 

(Ex Officio) 

(III)

(V)

CONTENTS Page

Summary of Subject Matter .................................................................................... vi

TESTIMONY 

Arnot, Doug, Director of Sports/Operations, Chicago 2016 Committee, Chicago, Illinois .......................................................................................................... 5

Byrne, Tom, Commissioner, Chicago Department of Transportation, Chicago, 

Illinois ................................................................................................................... 5

Holst, Kathleen, Executive Director, Illinois Road and Transportation Builders Association, Itasca, Illinois ............................................................................ 20

Huberman, Ron, President, Chicago Transit Authority, Chicago, Illinois .......... 5

Kennedy, David, Executive Director, American Council of Engineering Companies-IL, Springfield, Illinois ............................................................................ 20

Pagano, Phil, Executive Director, Chicago Metra, Chicago, Illinois .................... 20

Ross, T.J., Executive Director, Pace Suburban Bus ............................................. 20

Sees, Hon. Milton R., Secretary, Illinois Department of Transportation, 

Springfield, Illinois ............................................................................................... 5

Schillerstrom, Robert J., Chairman, Dupage County Board, Wheaton, Illinois . 5

Whitley, Douglas, Co-Chair, Transportation for Illinois Coalition, Springfield, 

Illinois ................................................................................................................... 20

PREPARED STATEMENTS SUBMITTED BY MEMBERS OF CONGRESS 

DeFazio, Hon. Peter A., of Oregon ......................................................................... 30

Rush, Hon. Bobby L., of Illinois .............................................................................. 31

PREPARED STATEMENTS SUBMITTED BY WITNESSES 

Arnot, Doug .............................................................................................................. 47

Byrne, Thomas G. .................................................................................................... 51

Holst, Kathleen ........................................................................................................ 56

Huberman, Ron ........................................................................................................ 68

Kennedy, David E. ................................................................................................... 88

Pagano, Philip A. ..................................................................................................... 90

Ross, T.J. .................................................................................................................. 95

Schillerstrom, Robert J. .......................................................................................... 98

Whitley, Doug .......................................................................................................... 102

ADDITIONS TO THE RECORD 

Chicagoland Bicycle Federation, written statement ............................................. 109

Environmental Law & Policy Center, Kevin Brubaker, High-Speed Rail 

Project Manager, written statement ................................................................... 110

Hispanic American Construction Industry Association, Cesar Santoy, Executive Director, written statement ......................................................................... 115

Metropolitan Mayors Caucus, Jeffery D. Schielke, Executive Board Chair, 

and Mayor, City of Batavia, written statement ................................................. 118

vi


39945.001
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39945.002
viii


39945.003
ix


39945.004
(1)

PREPARING FOR THE 2016 OLYMPICS 

Monday, October 29, 2007

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 

COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE, 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON HIGHWAYS AND TRANSIT, 

Washington, DC. 

The Subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10:00 a.m., at the 

Dirksen Federal Courthouse, 219 South Dearborn Street, Room 

2525, 25th floor, Chicago, Illinois, Hon. Peter A. DeFazio [Chairman of the Subcommittee] Presiding. 

Mr. DEFAZIO. The Committee on Transportation and Transit will 

come to order. We’re here this morning at the request of Representative Lipinski. We’ll hear from him in a moment. I’m pleased to be 

here. I’m pleased to be in the great City of Chicago, which is the 

U.S. Nominee—Gentlemen, please be seated. You don’t need to 

stand here—the U.S. Nominee to represent our country and host 

the Olympic Games in 2016. 

I think of Chicago, in terms of the basic infrastructure, as the 

crossroads of the world, the crossroads of the country in terms of 

freight, passenger traffic. I usually associate Chicago with landing 

and changing planes at O’Hare. But I’m really pleased to come 

downtown this time and experience the city a little more fully. This 

Committee wants to hear from folks who are advocating for the 

Olympic Games to come here to Chicago. We need to hear what 

Chicago has in place, which I think is awesome in terms of the existing transit systems. And also, what additions Chicago feels it 

might need if it should become the successful host. 

Should they become the successful host representing the United 

States of America, then, of course, there will be a concern by the 

United States Congress that we partner with you as we did with 

the Atlanta Olympics. Most of the federal partnership are, you 

know, somewhat transit, but the greatest amount of security. We 

would expect it might be similar in this matter. I also serve on the 

Homeland Security Committee, and would be interested in any contribution people have in that area as well. 

I will ask at this point for unanimous consent that the Honorable 

Bobby Rush, when he comes, be allowed to sit with the Committee. 

He’s not a regular Member of the Committee. 

Hearing no objection that will be allowed. With that, I will turn 

to the senior Republican on the Committee, the Honorable Mr. 

Duncan, from the great state of Tennessee. 

Mr. DUNCAN. Well, thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and I 

appreciate your calling this hearing. About 10 years ago or so, 

when I was Chairman of the Aviation Subcommittee that I led a 

2

field hearing near O’Hare Airport on air traffic control needs, and 

about four years ago here, when I was Chairman, we had a lot of 

resources on the Environment Subcommittee at that time. And 

Mayor Daley was a witness for us at a field hearing held at the 

Chicago Aquarium. And so, this is the third field hearing I have 

participated in in this area. 

I’ve been to Chicago many times. I think it’s a great city. And 

I did not—after the Aviation Field hearing they took us to Wrigley 

Field, and we saw it. It was my first visit to Wrigley Field, and we 

saw a no-hitter brought by the Cubspitcher, with two outs in the 

ninth inning. And I always will remember that. 

And—and at any rate, we’re—we’re getting ready to start public 

hearings all across the country in preparation for a major six-year 

highway bill in 2009. And so, we will be—This is a—This is really 

on the front end of those hearings, this is the first real field hearing we’ve had on some of those needs, and that’s because Chicago 

is such a great and important city that we thought it was very appropriate for Chairman DeFazio to bring us here. 

In addition to that, the six years that I chaired the Aviation Subcommittee, Congressman Bill Lipinski was my Ranking Member. 

And I heard—There were several people who said they didn’t think 

that a Chairman Ranking Member in the Congress, at that time, 

had a close or a better working relationship as we did with the 

Congressmen. We did not deal with Congressman Bill Lipinski, he 

was in Great Britain. And I have renewed that great respect and 

admiration for the current Congressman Lipinski. Both—both the 

Lipinskis are really district-oriented congressmen, and really care 

about their—their homes and their home areas and their districts. 

And so, it’s an honor to be here with Congressman Lipinski. 

And with that, I’ll just say that, in—in addition, we want to help 

on the Olympic needs, but we also want to know about other needs 

that the City of Chicago has in the highway and transit area over 

the next six or seven years. Thank you very much. 

Mr. DEFAZIO. Thank you, Mr. Duncan. I will now turn to Representative Lipinski to hear his opening statement. And since my 

Republican colleague has already waxed so poetic about him, which 

says something for him, I don’t feel that I need to——

Mr. LIPINSKI. You can go ahead and add, too. 

Mr. DEFAZIO. Let’s just say that it’s Dan’s second term. But he 

has already become a valuable Member of the Transportation and 

Infrastructure Committee. I’m proud to serve with him. I, too, enjoyed a strong working relationship with his dad, who was a leader 

on many transportation issues, and the reputation is being carried 

on. I’ll turn now to Congressman Lipinski. 

Mr. LIPINSKI. I thank you, Chairman DeFazio and Ranking 

Member Duncan. I’d like to thank you for coming out this morning. 

We define from our requests the rules of this hearing, and bring 

the Subcommittee here highlighting the transportation needs of the 

Chicago area for the 2016 Olympics and beyond. I’d also like to 

thank all our witnesses for your participation and your input in 

this hearing. And I know there are a number of individuals and organizations that wish to participate in today’s proceedings, but 

were unable to do so because of time constraints, and all of the tesVerDate 0ct 09 2002 12:16 Feb 11, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\DOCS\39945 HTRANS1 PsN: JASON
3

timony that the Chairman has raised at the unanimous consent 

that the written testimony be put into the record. 

Mr. DEFAZIO. As you pointed out to me, that I haven’t asked for 

that, but now I will. I would ask the consent that we receive any 

written testimony for this hearing and hold the record open for 

thirty days. 

Mr. LIPINSKI. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I know there are also 

others who are out here in the hallway, who were—wanted to make 

sure that their—their voices were heard. And, I certainly invite 

them to bring testimony to the Subcommittee. And also, I invite 

them, if they would like to meet with me about local issues, certainly can come or write to my—to my office, make an appointment 

and you can come and talk about the—the local issues in regard 

to transit. 

Now, the 2016 Olympic’s bid is a great opportunity for all of 

Chicagoland. All of us who live here know that Chicago is the 

greatest city in the world. The Olympics would be our opportunity 

to showcase our region to more than two million visitors, and to 

over four billion TV viewers around the world. But this case is not 

just about Chicagoland. It is crucial to remember that this bid is 

America’s bid. That is why I asked Chairman DeFazio to bring the 

Subcommittee here, because our government certainly has an interest because Chicago’s bid is America’s bid. 

Hosting the Olympics creates a dramatic short-term service in 

demand for transportation. During the 1996 Olympics, the last 

summer games held in the U.S., Atlanta hosted over two million 

visitors. Fortunately, Chicago already has a world-class transportation system. 

We sit in the crossroad of the country for planes, trains and automobiles. Chicago is home to two of our nation’s busiest airports, 

O’Hare and Midway, with O’Hare being the world’s second busiest 

airport. Chicago ran the most important rail hub in the world. 

There’s over 2.5 million passengers passing Amtrak Chicago hub 

each year. Metropolitan Chicago also has 25,000 miles of road, including 485 miles of freeway. The CTA, Metra and Pace provides 

extensive public transportation services throughout Metropolitan 

Chicago, including over two million rides each weekday. And Chicago has extensive bike and walking paths. 

Chicago’s extended infrastructure in transportation capability 

means that we are ready and well-suited to host the Olympics. In 

fact, the transportation systemis the much stronger—strongest 

point for the U.S. Olympic Committee. However, there’s always a 

need to continue investing and improving your system, and not 

only for the additional transportation demand of the Olympics. 

Even without the Olympics, the transportation demands will increase as the region’s—region’s population is expected to grow by 

more than one million in the next 20 years. And right now, our 

Committee is beginning to discuss the next highway funding bill, 

which I hope will provide half a trillion dollars in transportation 

funding across the country. Chicago needs to have continued strong 

federal support in this bill when we pass it in 2009. And I’m hopeful that this hearing will help lead the way in this. 

The region has already begun a substantial project for our future. For example, the Federal Government, the State of Illinois, 

4

City of Chicago, Metra, the nation’s great railroad, have covered a 

1.5-billion-dollar-CREATE project, which will modernize the quality 

and commuter railways. CREATE will improve passenger rail service, decrease congestion on the road, and keep Chicago’s vital rail 

hub as now is. The O’Hare Modernization Project is another critical 

transportation improvement that is currently taking place. And 

there are many other road, rail and public transit projects that are 

planned, or even underway, to make our world-class transportation 

system even better, including energy efficient—energy efficiency 

products intended to improve upon Chicago’s Green reputation. I 

am sure that the Chicago Olympics will be the greatest Olympics 

in history. 

So, to keep Chicago the city that—where vision and planning are 

necessary, I look forward to hearing from our witnesses today on 

their vision and their plans for transportation for the Chicago region for the 2016 Olympics and beyond. Thank you. 

Mr. DEFAZIO. Thank you. Bobby, you’re at the end, if that’s 

where you’d like to sit. And that was approved. And again, brief 

opening statements, to stay on schedule, if you’d like to go now. 

Mr. RUSH. I do have a brief statement, Mr. Chairman. First of 

all, we want to thank you and I welcome you to the City of Chicago. I want to thank the Ranking Member Duncan and my colleague from the Third Congressional District, Congressman Lipinski,and I salute him in terms of his outstanding leadership on—on 

transportation issues. It is a relief, I am pleased—It is a priv-—

privilege to participate in this hearing on such an important issue. 

We’re marching into Congress, trying to work hard with the Subcommittee—with this Committee rather, Subcommittee, to ensure 

that Chicago receive the federal funds and resources necessary to 

keep our city moving forward. 

This hearing is important because it will allow us to begin deliberation on the re-authorization of the safe accountability—accountable best moving efficient transportation that we have, I’d like to 

think we’re moving to this part of the bill in 2009. Mr. Chairman, 

in the interest of time, and—and—and—and I would ask that you 

do receive to hear my entire statement. But I also, Mr. Chairman, 

want to just emphasize that in my District, there are, indeed, an 

oversight of transportation planning, an oversight—a much oversight of the interchange between Interstate 294 and Interstate 57. 

They are, indeed, like two ships passing in the night. These two 

major interstates will divide the northern interchange connection. 

It’s my understanding that the only two other interstates in the nation that were built, like, in a similar manner. While the State of 

Illinois has spent, and our county spent millions of dollars to rehabilitate both I-294 and I-57 to improve in the area of intersection, 

both took off, and planning for the proposed interchange connections of each are taking place. 

Indeed, over eight interstates crossing and/or connected to I-57, 

only I-294 lacks a direct interchange. Likewise, in this case, if—I294 has a seven-interstate problem and are connected to it. It is 

a priority for the economic viability, for the reason that we address 

this issue. And I look forward to working with the Subcommittee 

to identify capital and resource solutions to this really significant 

problem that might—that the constituents in my district are—are 

5

currently serving on. Mr. Chairman, I again thank you so much for 

my statement, myself and my time. 

Mr. DEFAZIO. All right. Thank you, gentlemen, for being brief. 

You get extra credit in the request for this again. I’m going to 

change the order a bit because we have one person to testify who 

is on a very tight timeline. So, I first recognize Ron Huberman 

from the Chicago Transit Authority. 

TESTIMONY OF RON HUBERMAN, PRESIDENT, CHICAGO TRANSIT AUTHORITY, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS; DOUG ARNOT, DIRECTOR OF SPORTS/OPERATIONS, CHICAGO 2016 COMMITTEE, 

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS; HON. MILTON R. SEES, SECRETARY, ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, SPRINGFIELD, 

ILLINOIS; TOM BYRNE, COMMISSIONER, CHICAGO DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS; ROBERT J. 

SCHILLERSTROM, CHAIRMAN, DUPAGE COUNTY BOARD, 

WHEATON, ILLINOIS 

Mr. HUBERMAN. Great. Chairman and Members of the Committee, thank you for allowing me to testify. 

As we present the need of the CTA, the Chicago Transit Authority, this presentation I’m gonna go through very quickly here, is 

really going to highlight two different factors. 

The first factor is that, we would very well like the Olympics to 

be here in Chicago, in that if brought up to a good state of repair, 

could handle the current Olympic process as it exists. Clearly, some 

of the New Starts that we’re going to present, that we believe we 

can easily complete by the Olympics, would add tremendous value 

to making the Olympic venue transportation work more effectively. 

But really, the core issue for the Chicago Transit Authority is 

that we have the lines, we have the systems all in very close locations to the venues where these Olympics—where the Olympics is 

proposed. Part of the Olympic plan here is very competitive, given 

what a tight footprint it’s in. CTA has a great deal of presence 

within that footprint. But our challenge is going to be without capital dollars coming into the system to bring it to a state of good repair, it makes it more challenging. 

Just a quick history of the Chicago Transit Authority. We’re the 

second largest transit property in the country. We move 1.6 million 

riders every single day on eight rail lines, over 242 miles of track. 

There are 154 bus routes covering 2,500 miles. The Loop Elevated 

has a great history. It went in place in 1897. That is the steel 

structures that you may see as you drive around the city, these are 

original 1897 structures. The north Red Line was built in 1900. 

Two of our eight bus garages were built before 1910 as horse barns. 

The State Street subway, which is the Blue Line, which clearly 

runs right in front of the Dirksen Federal Building here, we started 

in 1943, and was pre-World War II design, completed in 1951. 

This is a system that, with the success of Chicago’s urban core 

and the region, has seen increased ridership over eight of the last 

nine years. Our biggest challenge is that we have 6.3 billion in unfunded capital needs. And really, they’re not—they don’t scream 

out in one particular area, but really across the whole system. And 

I’m gonna walk through some of the highlights of that. 

6

Part of our challenge has also been CTA’s declining share of federal formula funds. Since 1989, CTA’s share of formula funds has 

steadily decreased. So, for example, if you look at this particular 

chart here, gentlemen, you can see if the formula share had remained the same, the CTA would receive an additional 1.9 billion 

dollars. We believe that this is occurring for several reasons. One 

is, more properties are receiving this funding as the population 

shifts into the sunbelt. It’s really what we believe is the major phenomena. 

Second of all, we have new systems developed in the New Start 

Program, which is a great use of those dollars, obviously. Those 

systems now come on line, and also share into the—into the formula funds. The challenge for the older properties in this phenomena is not alone to Chicago, with New York, Philadelphia, Boston, many of the old transit properties facing the same issues, 

which is as our share decreases as more rail and properties come 

on line, we have fewer dollars by which to maintain the systems, 

which very often, given their age, are more capital intensive to 

begin with. 

Let me walk you through two examples of—of some of the challenges we have in what makes up that six billion dollars in unfunded capital. We have 1.2 million feet of track, 22 percent of it 

is the slow zones. And quite literally, gentlemen, as you may be 

aware, we put in a slow zone, one where it is not safe to operate 

at full speed. Close to one quarter of Chicago’s system is currently 

a slow zone. It has to do primarily with deteriorating ties and deteriorating tracks. 

Our system has 121 viaducts and bridges. We have 87.5 miles of 

two-track elevated structures and 8.3 miles of embankment walls. 

The majority of these were literally turn-of-the-century structures, 

which has now gone beyond their useful life. In this particular picture here, you see the very common phenomenon around the CTA 

property, which is steel structures that were placed underneath the 

concrete structure to provide temporary stability. This is an example from the north side of our city. This original structure was built 

in 1922. Our steel supports were placed in the 1990s as a result 

of structural instability. They were put in as a temporary measure. 

They exist today. 

Mr. Chairman? 

Mr. DEFAZIO. I’m just wondering if you can move the screen for 

us a little bit——

Mr. HUBERMAN. Sure. 

Mr. DEFAZIO. —so we can—There you go. That’s good. Thank 

you. 

Mr. HUBERMAN. I apologize, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. DEFAZIO. Sure. 

Mr. HUBERMAN. Okay. So, here again, it’s a 1922 structure, steel 

supports put in the 1990s, which was meant to be temporary. And, 

however, they remain today because of lack of funding in this particular area. 

If you take a look at the elevated structure, 87 miles of elevated 

structures, many that literally were built in the very early 1900s. 

Again, a lack of capital has not allowed us to maintain the system 

in a state of good repair. And what you have is crumbling foundaVerDate 0ct 09 2002 12:16 Feb 11, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00016 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\DOCS\39945 HTRANS1 PsN: JASON
7

tion, what you have is busted infrastructure. With minimal capital 

dollars in this area, we can certainly extend the life of this infrastructure for a great deal of time. 

If you take a look at our rolling stock, 990 million in this particular deficit, 12 percent of our fleet was purchased in 1969/1970; 

16 percent of that fleet was purchased in 1976. We went back to 

that 12 percent that’s been in service since 1969, it was designed 

in ’63, ordered in ’65, delivered in ’69, to give you a sense of how 

old this rolling stock is. We rely on that rolling stock every day to 

move people around the system. 

One of the challenges of the age of that particular rolling stock, 

Chairman and Members of the Committee, is that we operate, on 

average, 18 to 24 hours each day. And it’s, obviously, beyond the 

FTA standard life of 25 years. These cars travel collectively an average of 225,000 miles daily, moving 640,000 people. One of the 

challenges we’ve had on our operating budget, is that if we delay 

overhaul, mid-life and0 we cover just keeping rolling stock in good 

condition, we’re seeing our operating deficits flow in terms of maintenance. Again, this is a big challenge for us. 

Since 2003, due to lack of operating funds with the local issue 

here, which we are fighting in Springfield right now for additional 

operating funds, we’ve been transferring from capital funds to 

bring into operations, those operating shortfalls, which again, is 

causing a deterioration in the system. Our bus fleet is near 2,196 

buses, 34 percent of that fleet is greater than 16 years old. An additional 18 percent is greater than 12 years old. Obviously, the 

FTA standard for a bus is 12 years old. These buses travel 214,000 

miles every day with 960,000 people. 

So, for example, we have 400 buses with over 450,000 miles on 

the buses. Obviously, with Chicago winter and salt, we have a deterioration problem with the body. We have 536 buses with over 

580,000 miles on them. These are 1991 buses. They operate an average of 17 hours a day when they hit the street. We have many 

passengers very frustrated with the CTA over broken buses. We 

are equally frustrated. In short of capital dollars to replace this, 

we—we’re going to see it continue to deteriorate. 

We have 480 buses with over 255,000 miles on them with additional problems. If we take a look at our maintenance and support 

facilities, we have 525 facilities, I think there’s also 144 stations, 

nine terminals. 

What you’re seeing here is a turn-of-the-century station with ceiling damage. That same ceiling structure provides support for the 

elevated train that travels above. We have 87 elevated stations, 22 

subway and 35 at ground level. Twenty-three are more than 80 

years old. You can imagine the challenge there. 

Quickly going into the New Start issues, is there are four that 

we think would add a great deal of value to the Olympics. The Yellow line, the Circle, the Orange and the Red are both moving 

quickly. To which, if we take a look again at New Start, the same 

phenomenon that’s coming from the formula funds, it’s referring to 

the New Start dollars. 

While we are the second largest transit property in the country, 

moving 1.6 million, our percentage in New Start dollars is 3.2 perVerDate 0ct 09 2002 12:16 Feb 11, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00017 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\DOCS\39945 HTRANS1 PsN: JASON
8

cent. For many, the same phenomenon that’s occurring in formula 

funds. 

The Red Line essentially pushes to 130th Street. We see great 

value in this particular extension, because it would allow a great—

more transit-oriented development along the various stops in the 

loop, and move people into the Olympic arena. 

The Orange Line extension is the one that travels to Midway. 

Extending it down to 79th Street area and Ford City Mall will, obviously, add great value there. There’s additional hotels there for—

around Midway Airport that are currently under development, and 

after developed, that would add value in being able to transport 

those people by rail into the Olympic arena. 

The Circle Line is by far our most important New Start. As you 

may be aware, we have a loop that all trains in our system go in 

and out of. This creates an outer loop. But our most concentrated 

investment would add 100,000 new riders to the system every day 

by connecting many of our existing lines and trading out of the 

loop. Nothing would add greater value to the Olympics than this 

particular New Start here. 

And finally, the Yellow Line going north to Old Orchard Mall, 

which is another New Start, would allow us to really enable all the 

individuals in the northern suburbs of Chicago to much more easily 

access downtown in terms of attending the Olympics. And, gentlemen, that is a quick overview of—of the state of the Chicago Transit Authority, our current challenge is to getting to a state of good 

repair, and what will be considered value at the Olympics if we can 

complete those New Starts in time for the opening Games. Thank 

you. 

Mr. DEFAZIO. Thank you. It’s a tremendous amount of material 

covered in a short time. 

And I’d like to point out that we do have the little light there, 

because we want to give everybody that’s been invited an opportunity to testify, and thank you for using it. 

And we will now turn to Mr. Arnot and proceed with testimony. 

Mr. ARNOT. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Duncan, Congressman Rush, Congressman Lipinski, for the opportunity to be here this morning. My name is Doug Arnot. I am the 

Senior Vice President for Games Operations for Chicago 2016. Chicago 2016 is a private, not for profit organization that is bidding 

for the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games on behalf of the City 

of Chicago. Please note that in all references below I am speaking 

about the Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games. 

Chicago is currently bidding for the 2016 Games against six 

other world-class cities. I’d like to note that at no time should any 

of my comments be taken as though we assume that we will be 

successful. My role at Chicago 2016 is to oversee all operational 

and planning aspects related to the bid, which includes venues, security and transportation. It is worth noting that I have been involved in the planning and preparation for four Olympic Games, including Los Angeles, Atlanta, Sydney and Salt Lake City. 

One of the most challenging aspects of the Olympic Games is 

Games Transport System. One of the greatest assets of Chicago’s 

bid for the 2016 Games is Chicago’s significant transport infrastructure. Chicago 2016 is committed to hosting both the greenest 

9

games possible and moving spectators 100 percent within our 

Olympic transport system. That is, it will probably be an advantage on the public transportation, supplemented by the Olympic 

bus system. 

However, it is important to note a few things regarding transport 

and transport funding in Chicago as they relate to our bid plans. 

Chicago’s Olympic bid plans do not call for any significant additional, or new, transportation infrastructure to be built in order to 

host the Games. Yet, we are fully supportive of any improvement 

to the city and regional transport that will benefit Chicago for its 

user regardless of hosting the Games. If the bid and the Olympics 

were to accelerate projects, they should be projects that are in the 

best interest of the future of Chicago regardless of the Games. Of 

course, improvements to the city and regional transport would enhance Chicago’s bid. 

I’d like to take a few minutes to discuss the specifics regarding 

our Olympic transportation proposals and planning. Chicago 2016 

Olympic transport system would have three goals: To provide 

transportation for all athletes, Olympic family and accredited persons through a dedicated Olympic transport system; to safely and 

effectively transport spectators and Olympic guests via public 

transport; to minimize the Games transport impact on the citizens 

of Chicago. 

Our venue plan was conceived with these—these three goals in 

mind, taking advantage of our existing transportation infrastructure. The plans for the proposed Games in Chicago are compact 

and city-central. The spectator transport system would utilize Chicago’s transportation infrastructure, augmented by the Olympic 

transportation overlay. It’s important to know that an Olympic 

transport system is very different from a normal transport system 

in any city. 

Spectators will use public transportation connected directly to 

the venues by either a short walk or a shuttle. There will be a significant Olympic fleet of buses, vans and some cars for transport 

of athletes, officials, Olympic workforce and special international 

guests. Logistics operations are concentrated in the off hours. As in 

all Olympic cities, effective transportation will requirecooperation 

from the general public, after a significant public information program that will reduce the background traffic for the Games. 

As in any special event, only permanent vehicles will be permitted to pass through vehicle security checkpoints with appropriate privileges for neighborhood residents. While not required, 

improvements to Chicago’s transportation system and roadways 

would certainly enhance the bid, the international reputation and 

perception of Chicago in its bid. 

This is where the Federal Government can assist Chicago in 

2016, which is now not justChicago’s bid, but America’s bid, to 

bring the Olympic Games back to American soil. In the past, federal involvement around the Games in Atlanta and Salt Lake City, 

in the area of transportation, were very helpful to the Games’ ultimate success. We and the City of Chicago would greatly appreciate 

your support. 

In conclusion, I would like to repeat a few comments that I think 

are worth stating again. Chicago 2016 is not asking for specific imVerDate 0ct 09 2002 12:16 Feb 11, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00019 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\DOCS\39945 HTRANS1 PsN: JASON
10

provements for the Olympics, rather the funding and backing of already-planned transit improvements. Chicago 2016 hopes to have 

an Olympic transport plan that addresses all the demands created 

by hosting the Games. Certainly, any improvements enabled by additional funding would enhance that plan. With your support, Chicago has a fantastic chance to bring the 2016 Games to American 

soil, and we are America’s bid, not just Chicago’s. 

Finally, I’d like to take a step back from the technical side of the 

bid and remind everyone why we’re here, and why we’re bidding 

for the Olympic Games. We’re bidding to inspire the youth of our 

city, our region, and our nation and the world. And to be inspired 

by the power of sport and the power of the Olympic movement. 

We’re bidding to show that Chicago can be a fantastic host to the 

world, through the Olympic values of friendship, fair play and respect, we hope to show the rest of the world that America can inspire the world. Thank you. 

Mr. DEFAZIO. Thank you, Mr. Arnot. Secretary Sees. 

Mr. SEES. Chairman DeFazio, Ranking Member Duncan, Congressman Lipinski, Congressman Rush and other distinguished 

attendees, thank you for coming to Chicago for this historic first 

ever Highways and Transit Subcommittee Field Hearing in Chicago. I’m Milton R. Sees, Secretary of Transportation for the State 

of Illinois. Hopefully, during your visit, you’ve already experienced 

some of what makes Illinois, along with the Chicago area, a worldclass transportation hub. You may have experienced the nation’s 

second busiest airport, O’Hare International, the nation’s second 

biggest transit system, RTA and its three service wards, CTA, 

Metra and Pace. Or, perhaps, you’ve seen and traveled on the third 

largest interstate highway system in the U.S. 

Recently, our agency has been engaged in the most aggressive 

and comprehensive reconstruction project ever undertaken on a 

continuously active expressway, the Dan Ryan. During this time, 

we brought it in on budget and under time. We have taken steps 

throughout the Chicagoland region to mitigate traffic and congestion with the Dan Ryan, routine upgrades, the widening of I-55, 

and the facelift to the Edens Expressway. And all of this has been 

undertaken while keeping a mindful eye on the minority communities involved in these projects. 

We are also home to six of this country’s seven class I railroads, 

making this area the nation’s largest freight rail hub. In short, 

IDOT has been very, very busy upgrading and improving one of the 

best transportation systems in the world. Illinois works, and Chicago is the city that works along with us. The State of Illinois and 

the Department of Transportation stand ready to assist the City of 

Chicago in their bid for the 2016 Olympics, and we will work with 

them on specific needs as they develop their bid to the International Olympic Committee. 

At this time, I would like to touch on a couple of topics that I 

feel are highly relevant to these efforts. The first is technology. Illinois has been a leader in the development and employment of intelligent transportation systems known as ITS. We recognize the 

technology has provided significant benefits to the traveling public 

in the way of traffic management,operational improvements, congestion and safety relief. We believe that these kinds of technology 

11

tools, which we would be expanding and enhancing, will be essential to moving people around the Olympic sites when the 2016 

Games come to Chicago. We would ask the Subcommittee to continue to help not only Chicago, but all of Illinois with funding to 

implement these technologies, along with the emerging technology 

that will become available in the future. 

The second area that I wish to touch on is innovation as it relates to the change in project delivery and process. At this time, we 

all need to become innovated. The project delivery process needs to 

be changed and simplified. Currently, it takes too long to get a 

major transportation project from conception to operation. The Federal Government, along with their transportation partners, the 

states need to commit to working together over the next two years 

to address this issue. 

The number of federal laws and related regulations, requirements and guidance that transportation agencies——

VOICE. I need to talk. 

Mr. SEES. —must comply——

VOICE. Why do I have to——

Mr. DEFAZIO. Ma’am, ma’am. 

VOICE. (Inaudible chanting.) 

Mr. DEFAZIO. Ma’am, the Committee will be——

VOICE. (Inaudible chanting.) 

Mr. DEFAZIO. Ma’am, ma’am. The Committee needs to come to 

order. 

VOICE. (Inaudible chanting.) 

Mr. DEFAZIO. Ma’am, if you won’t be quiet, we’ll have to have 

you removed. I’m sorry. 

VOICE. (Inaudible chanting.) 

Mr. DEFAZIO. There will be a recess until we can come to order. 

[Recess.] 

Mr. DEFAZIO. Okay. We’re back to order. Representative Rush 

has made headway with the protestors. We’re going to come back 

to order. We will need the room to be quiet. 

I’m going to ask one more time, please proceed. Restore our 

order. I have three times asked for order. And if we can’t be in 

order we’ll have to ask for people to be removed so we can complete 

the hearing. 

Okay. One more time. The press needs to return to their designated positions. Thank you. 

Okay. I’m asking the group to please just observe order and we 

will return to testimony. 

Okay. Okay. The Committee is now back in order. Secretary 

Sees, please continue. 

Mr. SEES. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Before I go back to my remarks, I certainly want the Committee to understand that we at 

IDOT are working closely with the City of Chicago and the CTA 

to try and address the concerns that have been expressed here before the Committee by the citizens. We are committed to trying to 

preserve what will serve us for our transit, as well as continue to 

expand services available to—of those members of our citizen 

groups that are in need of special transit. So, having said that, I 

would like to return to my comments about innovation and trying 

12

to, at least, alter the project delivery process as it stands today 

with regard to major projects. 

As I was saying, currently it takes too long to get a major project 

from conception to operation. The Federal Government, along with 

their transportation partners, the states, need to commit to working together over the next two years to address this issue. The 

number of federal laws and related regulation requirements and 

guidance the transportation agencies must comply with has grown 

exponentially over the last 50 years, since we began the interstate 

era. The process must be simplified, more pragmatic, and more 

timely and less costly. We can no longer afford a process that takes 

10 years or longer to get a project from phase one into design to 

complete the project. Time is money, and extended delays reduce 

the buying power of our transportation and transit dollars. 

In summary, IDOT has the expertise and the experience necessary to provide for any and all transportation needs that may 

arise as Chicago prepares to host the 2016 Olympics. This concludes my remarks. But I did want to respond to Congressman 

Rush’s question about the interchange at I-57 and 294. This past 

summer, the Illinois general assembly included 16 million dollars 

in the FY-’08 budget to pay for design of the interchange. And we 

will select the design consultant in January, and we expect them 

to be in the field working this coming spring. So, we are working 

to address that, Congressman. But thank you for your continued 

interest and support in IDOT, and certainly the citizens in your 

district. Thank you, sir. And thank you, Mr. Chairman, that concludes my remarks. 

Mr. DEFAZIO. Okay. Thank you. 

Now, we’ll turn to Mr. Tom Byrne, the Department of Transportation Commissioner. 

Mr. BYRNE. Good morning Mr. Chairman and Members of the 

Subcommittee. I’m Thomas Byrne, Commissioner of the Chicago 

Department of Transportation. On behalf of Richard M. Daley, welcome to the City of Chicago. I come before you today to discuss 

transportation needs of the City of Chicago. While the 2016 Olympics would present a unique set of challenges and opportunities for 

our city and state, should we be the selected city, Chicago needs 

to not begin and end with the 2016 Games. 

I’d like to start my testimony with a few statistics about Chicago’s transportation system. Chicago has over 3,700 miles of 

streets and 1,900 miles of alleys. Our 36 movable bridges conduct 

over 25,000 operations per year, with another 46 fixed-span bridges 

and 119 viaducts throughout our city. Our 19 overpasses and 

underpasses help pedestrians and bicyclists traverse some of our 

busiest roadways safely and easily. We have 28,000 signalized 

intersections and 600 rail crossings. 

I throw these numbers out in their raw form to illustrate the 

sheer size of Chicago’s surface transportation system, and therefore, the enormity of our need. Our transportation system is strong 

and effective. We get people where they are going in a safe and 

timely manner, but for far too long, we have been asked to do more 

with less and we have. But now, if we are to do more, we need 

more. And we believe we do have more to do. 

13

Today I’m going to focus on three of our primary areas of concern. These areas are bridges, roads and transit. Let’s start with 

our bridges. As with the rest of the nation, Chicago’s bridges are 

in great need. Our bridges not only provide our residents and visitors with routine transportation, they are also a critical link in our 

disaster preparedness plan. Should any incident occur that requires 

evacuation of the downtown area, whether terrorist related or not, 

it is our bridges spanning the Chicago River that will bear the 

brunt of traffic. 

As I mentioned, Chicago has 36 movable bridges. These bridges 

provide for the needs of both our road and water travelers. But 

they are extremely expensive to build and maintain. The reconstruction of a typical movable bridge can cost up to 40 million dollars, whereas a fixed span is generally in the 12-million-dollar 

range. 

Chicago has an aggressive bridge inspection and maintenance 

program. Because of our diligence, I am pleased to say that none 

of our 195 bridges and viaducts are in an unsafe condition. However, we do have 35 bridges that are in need of major rehabilitation 

if they are to continue to fulfill their transportation function in the 

future. The work needed to bring these bridges into acceptable 

state of repair is estimated to cost 554 million dollars. 

Moving to our roadway provides no relief in terms of need. Chicago has roughly 990 miles of arterial roadways. At the present day 

cost, which will surely rise in the years to come, we will require 

833 million dollars to resurface the entire arterial system. Our arterial resurfacing program is designed to extend the life of pavement by 10 years. A complete reconstruction of an arterial is currently running about 7.5 million dollars per mile, which equates to 

a staggering sum of just under 7.5 billion to reconstruct our arterial system. The number does not include work needed on the other 

2,700 miles of residential streets through our great city. 

Another CDOT responsibility involves the City’s transit system. 

The City of Chicago owns the subway system, the Red Line, the 

O’Hare Branch of the Blue Line and the Orange Line. Additionally, 

CDOT is responsible for the maintenance of all downtown transit 

stations. We have established a 15-year program of transit station 

renovation and construction projects. These projects are prioritized 

according to station’s condition and safety considerations. 

Over the past 10 years, the City has programmed more than 230 

million dollars for transit station reconstruction. We rely heavily on 

the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Program for funding 

such projects. Over the next 15 years, we have identified over 700 

million dollars in need for 13 transit station projects. An average 

of 54 million dollars per station. If you consider that from 2003 to 

2007, CMAQ funding for the entire northeastern Illinois region 

averaged just under 70 million dollars annually, you get a good 

idea as to the need for increased funding for this program. 

Mr. DEFAZIO. Mr. Byrne, I’ll have to ask you to summarize if you 

can, because we’re running on, and we’re going to be tight on time 

because we’re in a rush. 

Mr. BYRNE. Two weeks ago I was in Washington D.C. And had 

the pleasure of meeting with Congressman DeFazio, Congressman 

Oberstar and Administrator Capka and Simpson of the FHWA and 

14

the FTA. I came away from my meeting with the Administrators 

concerned that they did not agree that additional funding is needed. They seemed more concerned over the process of earmarking 

than the lack of sufficient funding. 

I would like to end my testimony today by making it perfectly 

clear that funding available from federal, state and local sources is 

insufficient to meet the needs of our nation’s transportation system, and that significant new revenue must be generated at all levels of government if we are to fulfill our essential responsibility to 

the American people by providing them with the finest transportation system in the world. Thank you for your consideration. 

Mr. DEFAZIO. Thank you. We will go to Mr. Robert Schillerstrom, 

DuPage County Board Chairman. 

Mr. SCHILLERSTROM. Good morning, Mr. Chairman, Congressman Duncan, Congressman Lipinski and Congressman Rush. I 

want to thank you for the opportunity to address you about our region’s transit and transportation needs for the 2016 Olympics. I 

wholeheartedly support the City’s bid for the 2016 Olympics, and 

I applaud Mayor Daley for spearheading this effort that will showcase our dynamic region. 

Chicago is a vibrant, exciting city, rich in culture and flavor. It 

is a city of neighborhoods that is family friendly. It is a city of 

world-class museums and theaters, internationally respected universities, great cuisine and elegant shopping. We have magnific-—

magnificent parks and a stunning lakefront. Chicago deserves to be 

on the—on the world stage. 

I have been pleased to work with the City on a variety of 

projects. As Chairman of DuPage County, I’ve advocated for the expansion of O’Hare International Airport and successfully championed a western access to the airport as part of its modernization. 

That additional entrance to the nation’s busiest airport will relieve 

gridlock when the world comes to Chicago. 

Western access to O’Hare was designated as a project of national 

importance and received significant funding thanks in great part to 

the support of the Members of this Committee. It is critical that 

western access continue to be a priority and continue to be funded 

appropriately. 

I have worked throughout the region with our Illinois delegation 

to support CREATE. CREATE is a visionary idea that will greatly 

improve both freight and passenger rail. The expansion of rail capacity is another tool in relieving congestion that will aid the movement of people and goods. This is an urgent economic issue to the 

midwest, and I ask the Committee to continue its advocacy for 

CREATE. 

I also want the leaders to honor our region, including the city, 

to develop plans that will alleviate traffic congestion, reduce emissions and both stimulate development and preserve our quality of 

life. 

From a suburban perspective, I believe the Olympics will give 

our region an opportunity to advance our transportation plans and 

to expedite many critical projects. If we take a comprehensive look 

at our trans-—transportation needs, we cannot ignore the significance of the changing demographics of our region and the ever-increasing suburban need for expanded service. 

15

The goal in the region is in the suburbs, and even more importantly, the job growths in the suburbs. Since 1970, 46 percent of 

all new jobs in the region have been in DuPage County. Over a 

quarter of a million workers, who live in other counties, commute 

daily into our county for employment. But the by-product of our 

growth is increased traffic congestion. This traffic congestion, and 

the chokehold it has on our economy, knows no boundaries. 

Projections indicate that by the year 2020, our region will add 

another 200,000 people. Our infrastructure must accommodate this 

growth. There is a critical need for reverse commute, suburban 

market-based transit, expanded commuter rail facilities and innovative bus routing. 

The Chicago region came to prominence as a transportation center. We are the crossroads of North America. Our excellent highway system and well-maintained infrastructure has played a major 

role in developing our region as a dynamic employment destination. 

But today, we are at a different crossroad. If we do not increase 

our infrastructure investments, we will not be able to maintain our 

transportation preeminence, nor our economic viability. There is 

little argument that worsening traffic congestion and delays have 

a detrimental effect on mobility, a key economic development and 

quality-of-life component. How we address mobility and mass transit will define our region for generations. A world-class city deserves a world-class transit system. And the CTA and RTA must 

remain viable for the economic health of our entire region. 

The Olympics will challenge us to move international athletes, 

visitors and media around the region to effortly—effortlessly access 

games, entertainment and events. Chicago will put its best foot forward. But at the same time, we must also be able to move workers 

to the workplace and goods to the marketplace. While the world is 

enjoying the Olympics, we must ensure that congestion does not 

hamper commerce. 

Over the last two years, we have developed regional consensus 

on the need for expanded transit. Mass transit is a key component 

of our transportation plan. But full funding for these plans is in 

jeopardy. Currently, there is legislation offered by the Illinois 

House Committee on mass transit that would serve as a solution 

to our transit challenges. This groundbreaking legislation is supported by the CTA, the RTA, labor and business. The legislation 

designates the funds for the collar counties that will be used and 

greatly access-—accelerate critical road, safety and transit projects. 

We are all anxious to welcome the world to Chicago for the 2016 

Olympics. Adequate funding—Adequately funding our transit and 

infrastructure improvements will mean that the world will experience our hospitality withconvenience and efficiency. Hosting the 

summer Olympics in the United States should serve as a catalyst 

for federal, state and local governments to fulfill our transit needs. 

All partners must recognize and support expanded transit as a key 

component to attracting tourism and industry for the Olympics and 

beyond. 

If we are to go for the gold, we must acknowledge that we need 

congestion relief. We need expanded transit, improved roadways,——

16

Mr. DEFAZIO. Mr. Schillerstrom, I have to ask you to summarize 

if you can. 

Mr. SCHILLERSTROM. Very well. —better facilities and more flexible services. 

Mr. DEFAZIO. That’s a good point for which to stop. Thank you. 

We’ll now go to a short round of questions, because we do have 

another panel and we do have time constraints. I made an observation of what we’ve seen here both in some of the passion of the audience and in the testimony; the problems that have been raised 

today are not unique to Chicago or to Illinois, but are shared by 

all Americans. 

As we heard in the testimony by the head of the CTA, we’re pretty much living off tax capital. A system, much of which was built 

in 1897, and the substantial amount of which was also built postWorld War II. Tremendous investments, great foresight, and it’s 

time for this generation to provide the same sort of investments 

and foresight for the future of Chicago, the suburbs, Illinois and 

the nation. 

And in response to Mr. Byrne, you may well have had some 

memories of this administration who said no additional funding is 

needed. And I’ve heard that refrain from the president on down for 

four years now. But this Committee, on a bipartisan basis, Republicans and Democrats alike, all said as we entered into debate four 

years ago over SAFETEA-LU that we needed a substantial increase 

in funding. And the Committee unanimously supported that. But 

this administration stood firm, and ultimately we were forced to 

negotiate a lower level of investment than the Committee felt was 

warranted. 

We will not repeat that mistake, nor will this administration be 

in place when we write the next bill. And hopefully we have the 

proper candidates running for president who understand the need 

to invest in our transportation future for all Americans, and also, 

to help a system like this for special needs and special events. So, 

just with that reflection, I thank everyone. I would also note that 

since Mr. Huberman had to leave, that Dorval Carter, who is the 

Executive Vice President for CTA, is available for questions from 

the members of panel. 

Mr. Duncan. 

Mr. DUNCAN. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I’ll do the 

same as you’ve just done. Ordinarily, I ask a lot of questions, but 

because of time constraints and another panel, I’ll just make a few 

comments in response to some of the testimony. 

First, I think it’s very admirable that Mr. Arnot is making such 

an effort to lessen the inconvenience to the systems of Chicago 

through the measures. And also, that he’s expressed such strong 

support, regardless of the Olympics, for this future, very necessary, 

transit and how to improve it. These—these improvements are 

going to have to be made because of the one million, relative to 

Congressman Lipinski’s ad-—admission, but—and in addition to 

the age of the infrastructure, they’re gonna have to be done regardless of the Olympics or not. 

Secretary Sees mentioned the—his concern about the time of 

the—the great length of time it takes from conception to completion 

of these projects. I remember when I chaired the Aviation SubVerDate 0ct 09 2002 12:16 Feb 11, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00026 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\DOCS\39945 HTRANS1 PsN: JASON
17

committee and had a hearing, and they said that it took 14 years 

for the main—the newest runway at Atlanta Airport to be—to go 

from conception to completion. It took only 99 days of actual construction, those were done in 24-hour days. So, really, it only took 

33 days, I was so happy to get the final approvals, and mainly because of all the environmental rules and regulations and red tape. 

We’re losing out to foreign countries, in part because when they 

decide to do a major aviation or highway project, or—or major dam, 

I mean, they just go ahead and do these things, and do ’em in two 

or three years. And we could, too, if we would cut out some of these 

rules and regulations and red tape. We had some environ-—We do 

have some environmental streamline planning provisions in 

SAFETEA-LU, which I hope will start making some progress in 

that area. But we’ve had some that we really need to take a look 

at with regard to the next hour. 

We—there is an important federal role in all of this, because people from Tennessee, and California, and every other state in the 

union, and even from around the country, use the aviation and the 

highway systems, rail systems in—in the Chicagoland. And so, 

there—there is an important federal role. On the other hand, Mr. 

Byrne, you know, the Federal Government can’t do it alone. We’ve 

got almost a nine-trillion-dollar national debt, and worse than that, 

we’ve got over 50 trillion now in unfunded future pension liabilities, our Social Security and our military pensions and all—all of 

that. 

So, we’ve got to have federal, state and local cooperation while—

while people from around the country and around the world use all 

these systems frequently. Still, the systems of Chicago and the suburbs are the—are the most frequent users. The—the CREATE program has—has received strong support from freight rail and from 

Metra.It received 100 million dollars in SAFETEA-LU, and there—

there’s—going back to additional funding, but also, we’re gonna 

have to look at some innovated financing and—and maybe even 

some private sector initiatives that—that we haven’t used before. 

Mr. Schillerstrom mentioned the congestion. And I have to tell 

you, the most conservative estimates, one—one of the most major 

logistics studies said that we lose about 67 billion a year now due 

to congestion. Just time and time in the—in the traffic jams all 

over the country, and that’s probably a pretty low estimate. 

But what we’re gonna have to do, Mr. Carter and Mr. Huberman 

made a great presentation of the fact, that we’re gonna have to 

really prioritize these things and go hit the—hit the bridges and 

the—the stations and the rail lines that need the most immediate 

work. Because we always need to try and improve and do better, 

but we can’t do everything at once. With that, I’ll give it back to 

the Chairman. 

Mr. DEFAZIO. Thank you, Mr. Duncan. You mentioned project 

streamlining. There were significant changes made in SAFETEALU. The Bush Administration has not seen fit to implement those 

changes. It’s only been a little more than two years, which I understand. So we are pushing on that, and we will continue to push. 

We felt changes were merited and it didn’t take too long. I don’t 

know if we did everything we need to do, but we haven’t implemented that yet. Mr. Lipinski. 

18

Mr. LIPINSKI. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Chicago certainly has 

great needs in transportation needs. They are not just for today, 

but for the future. And we really need to look and plan for the future. Our needs are so great because, really, we have such an extensive system that has served very well for—for many years, 

roads, rail and mass transit. But there has really been, as the 

Chairman noted, there has been a lack of federal support, especially in mass transit. 

Now, the opportunity that we are gonna have on—on the Committee comes in two years with the next highway reauthorization 

bill, which I’m hopeful is going to be half a trillion dollars to take 

care of some of our infrastructure needs that we have all across the 

country. 

And certainly, I think Chicago is a very good microcopy of what 

is going on all—all across the country. Our needs are only greater 

because our system is much more extensive. And now, we have the 

Olympics that we see coming up. But it’s going to take the two 

years before this Committee can really make a difference. And I believe that we will, led by Chairman DeFazio, make a big difference 

in that bill. 

Now, just one quick question for Mr. Arnot. Compared to Atlanta, how is the Chicago system—transportation system, mass 

transit, how does that compare to what we have in place already, 

compared to where Atlanta was at—at a similar period of time? 

Mr. ARNOT. Well, certainly, Congressman, the Chicago system, 

the infrastructure that exists, is far more significant than the infrastructure that existed in Atlanta prior to the Games. Enhancements to the existing infrastructure would certainly improve our 

ability to move people during Games. But—and I am certain it did 

not have the existing infrastructure that Chicago has now. 

Mr. LIPINSKI. But we are in a—a better position in regard to having the infrastructure—the sense of infrastructure in place to be 

able to move people around for the Olympic Games? 

Mr. ARNOT. I would say so, yes, sir. 

Mr. LIPINSKI. And there are certainly needs that need to be dealt 

with today. And those are things that I am confident and very 

hopeful that will be dealt with here on the local level, and the Federal Government needs to step up more so we do not have similar 

problems coming at us in the future. I’m confident that we, on this 

Committee, will be doing that. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. RUSH. I want to——

Mr. DEFAZIO. Go ahead. 

Mr. RUSH. I want to thank the Chairman. Mr. Sees, last Thursday the government and a number of public civilians celebrated the 

reopening of the Dan Ryan Expressway. It was a 500-million-dollar 

construction project, and some of it came from federal funds, which 

I fought for and supported along with the Chairman and other 

Members of this Committee. Now, are you aware that the community surrounding the Dan Ryan was nearly shut out of contractor 

jobs that were part of this project? 

I want to just add that I requested and received a report from 

2005, for how soon we can form a committee, which I shared with 

the government’s office. Details of lack of vehicle minority to this 

administration project, even though the members of my district, for 

19

the most part, got all the gust and undergo, I’m concerned about 

that. How can we be sure that jobs and contracts that we develop 

with the transportation projects in Illinois can go to businesses and 

residents and impact their area again and again when we create 

programs? Now, we have this opportunity, and I—I’m just really, 

really concerned about that aspect. 

I have chaired in the contracts, and the job creation and the 

problems of these construction projects. I intend to fight to make 

sure that Chicago and the Chicago region can come to meet its fair 

share of federal transportation dollars. But at the end of the day, 

people need jobs, and infrastructure improved is one way for people 

to become employed. 

I would like to know what kind of guarantees, what kind of programs and qualities that we can implement henceforth to make 

sure the jobs are in contracts. Our people need equal contracts so 

we can distribute it throughout the—throughout the region. 

Mr. SEES. Well, the Governor’s Office has issued that as an expectation of the Illinois Department of Transportation. And we 

have been meeting on a weekly basis to determine the most effective and creative way to not only increase the participation by minority contractors, but also to increase the availability of jobs, actual jobs for the minority workers throughout this state, but with 

special emphasis on the Chicago area. Because my background involves considerable years in the private sector and working with organized labor, I have reached out to organized laborers to try and 

become a partner with them to increase in the opportunities available for the minority community in various crafts and trades. 

I think that those will pay—Those efforts will pay dividends farther down the road. Because while it is important to create opportunities for minority construction and contracting firms, it is essential to the well-being of the communities to create good paying jobs 

for the average workers in our communities. And that’s where the 

trades and crafts become so essential as partners in that effort. 

You mentioned the Dan Ryan, and particularly, we did try 

some——

Mr. DEFAZIO. Mr. Sees, about 30 more seconds. 

Mr. SEES. —we did try some innovating approaches to that, including an on-the-job training program and other community outreach efforts. I think we learned a lot from the Ryan. We’ll be applying those to the Edens and future projects. But I’d be happy to 

meet with you individually, Congressman, to discuss those efforts. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. DEFAZIO. Thank you. This is a lot of the concern of the entire Committee, the Transportation Committee, and we certainly 

share your concerns in this matter. With that, I thank the panel. 

Thank you for your time, your testimony. And you are now dismissed. And we move to the second panel quickly. If the second 

panel can try and hold their testimony to about four minutes each, 

because we’d like to——

[recess.] 

Mr. DEFAZIO. Okay. We’ve got Mr. Pagano, Mr. Whitley, Ms. 

Holst, Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Ross. You can all take your seats and 

we’ll move along. 

20

Okay. Let’s begin. Mr. Pagano, and as I said, if you can—I know 

there is a lot to say, but—and I regret that we’ve got—we have 

votes this evening and we have to catch a plane. So, if you can do 

what you were going to do in about four minutes each, I’d really 

appreciate that. 

TESTIMONY OF PHIL PAGANO, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CHICAGO METRA, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS; DOUGLAS WHITLEY, COCHAIR, TRANSPORTATION FOR ILLINOIS COALITION, 

SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS; KATHLEEN HOLST, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ILLINOIS ROAD AND TRANSPORTATION BUILDERS 

ASSOCIATION, ITASCA, ILLINOIS; DAVID KENNEDY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, AMERICAN COUNCIL OF ENGINEERING 

COMPANIES-IL, SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS; T.J. ROSS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, PACE SUBURBAN BUS 

Mr. PAGANO. I will do that, Mr. Chairman. Let me thank the 

Committee for inviting us to this hearing today, and to recognize 

both Congressman Lipinski and Rush, who have been very important to transportation not only this week, but more particularly before for Metra. 

Very quickly, Mr. Chairman, Metra is the largest commuter railroad in the United States. We have the greatest amount of—of—

of service, amount of equipment, the amount of manpower, and we 

definitely have 11 rail lines. We serve an area about the size of 

Connecticut. And we’re second in ridership. And frankly, we’re both 

very quickly and very soon, I think, will be passing along Elburn, 

it would be another line in ridership. 

Clearly, capital is a key to commuter rail, and frankly, to any 

large rail public transit system in the United States. Very early on 

in our existence, we coined the phrase, ′′The more you capitalize, 

the less you subsidize.′′ And we have used federal, state and local 

dollars to bring back a system that was in a state, frankly, of total 

disrepair. We put in 500 miles of rail, millions of ties, many stations, changed the entire view of our system. We literally had commuter railcars that you could have looked on the floors and seen 

the roadway, that has all been changed. 

We have been able, in the last 20 years, to have the highest ontime performance in the United States, 97.6 percent. And we also 

have the highest in public ratio of any rail system in the United 

States, at 57.8 percent. We have tried, to thebest of our abilities, 

to use federal funds as carefully as possible. As you know, several 

years ago we were able to get through the Illinois delegation, in 

particular, Speaker Hastert, three full funding grant agreements 

for the UP West Line, North Central and SouthWest Service. I’m 

happy to say that in December of 2006, we brought those three 

projects one year ahead of schedule and 50 million dollars under 

budget. 

We are here today to talk about other projects that we also want 

to move forward on in the same—same way. As other speakers before you have identified, the—this region has changed. Clearly, 

Chicago is a central hub, that there are more jobs and people in 

the suburban region and we need to change our system. This system was built in the early 1900s, and it was primarily built to 

21

bring suburban people to downtown. We now have to change that 

and get into reverse commute and suburban to suburban. 

Three projects that we—four projects that we have identified will 

allow us to do that. On the UP Northwest and West Line, we’re 

gonna change—continue to change and get into reverse commute in 

inner suburban to those rail lines that carry approximately 30 percent of our riders. Our two New Start projects, the SouthEast Service Line, will add another spoke to the hub, and will bring the riders from the southeast areas of Cook and Will County where there 

is a need for economic development. 

And then finally, we have the STAR Line, which is the first system to be proposed in the United States that will bring, actually, 

suburban to suburban ridership. We will start off at O’Hare Airport 

and go down to Joliet, it’s approximately 50 miles. We will touch 

many other major corporate centers in Chicago, as well as hospitals 

and university systems. 

Clearly, with the guidance of Congressmen Lipinski or Rush, and 

the Illinois delegation, and working with your Committee, we 

would hope that we would be able to get the necessary funds to 

move forward with our projects, not only for the 2016 Olympics, 

but for the region itself. Thank you. 

Mr. DEFAZIO. Thank you, Mr. Pagano. Mr. Whitley. 

Mr. WHITLEY. Thank you, Chairman DeFazio, Congressman 

Duncan, Congressman Rush and Lipinski. I’ll try to be brief. I 

thought the first panel hit upon almost all the major points that 

needed to be brought forth. And Congressman Duncan and Congressman DeFazio, the questions that you made and the statements you made made it clear to me that you already are very 

well-informed about these issues, as you all point out, that are national. There are three or four points I would like to make. 

Number one, Chicago has put up the tremendous infrastructure, 

both in rail and in interstate highway systems, and in aviation. So, 

we are well-positioned to host the Olympics in 2016. What is important that you take away, however, is that this is an opportunity 

to deal with some of the infrastructure needs that we have, which 

are primarily driven by congestion and age. 

And when we’re gonna be hosting the world, it’s important that 

we have a good presence and a good image to that world, so that 

people can be moved around our metropolitan area to these various 

venues with the greatest amount of ease and efficiency. That 

means that we must continue to invest in the modernization; and 

we must continue to invest in the expansion; and we must continue 

to invest in greater sufficiency. And that’s, in my estimation, in the 

county, technology, and, of course, now in the modern era of security. 

These are components that were not a part of the original investment infrastructure in Chicago, and the Chicago metropolitan area. 

It must be entertained as we pursue to move forward to the 2016 

Olympics. I appreciate very much the fact that you are here, that 

you’re holding this field hearing. That you’re experiencing firsthand 

what we have, and what we hope to build upon so that we will be 

a great host city for those 2016 Olympics. 

If you will continue, in the United States Congress, to champion 

increased funding for infrastructure as you did four years ago, and 

22

in the comments you made a moment ago, that would go a long 

way towards helping all of us meet the needs, not only of Chicago 

and the host city for the 2016 Olympics, but clearly, United States, 

which as you pointed out, needs a new generational commitment 

to infrastructure investment as we saw in the Eisenhower era. Because 50 years ago, that generation invested in their future, and 

that is exactly what we have to do today, is invest in our future. 

Thank you very much for the hearing. 

Mr. DEFAZIO. Thank you, Mr. Whitley. Ms. Holst. 

Ms. HOLST. Good morning, Mr. Chairman, Congressman Duncan, 

Congressman Lipinski and Congressman Rush. My name is Kathi 

Holst, and I am president of the Illinois Road and Transportation 

Builders Association, the largest association in design and construction professionals in Illinois. The RoadBuilders have supported and will continue to support the efforts of Chicago Mayor 

Daley and other members of the Chicago Olympic Committee to 

bring the 2016 Summer Olympics to our city. 

You hear from others about the grandeur and desirability of Chicago as a world-class city to host the 2016 Games. Many tout Chicago’s unique geography, transportation hub and cultural and racial diversity that acts as a nexus to not only North America but 

to the world community at large. No where is that better evidenced 

than in the design and construction industry responsible for building, expanding and maintaining the city’s unique architecture and 

public infrastructure. 

Chicago is much more than the boasts that earned it the title of 

the ′′Windy City′′ back in 1876. It is a city that has walked the 

walk, so to speak. Before there was an interstate system, Illinois 

and this region constructed the midwest’s first limited access highway system, the Illinois Tollway, which 60 years later still stands 

as the pre-eminent toll system in the country. 

The Chicago—The construction industry in this region took the 

old Douglas Airframe plant and made it into the world’s busiest 

airport. It even made the Chicago River turn backwards away from 

the lake to insure the health and safety of its citizens. 

Mr. Chairman, my two colleagues have prepared statements that 

will be placed into record. The comments of Mr. Tim Faerber, 

chairman of our planning and design division, deal with the permitting and design issues unique to the Olympics and what you 

can do to assist in that endeavor. Those comments are augmented 

by those of Mr. Ken Aldrige, president of Aldridge Electric, one of 

the largest specialty subcontractors in this county, who discusses 

the construction capabilities and needs of the contracting community. 

While the design challenges of an Olympics are many, the IRTBA 

planning and design division has 89 of the largest and most sophisticated designs and consulting firms in the world and they are 

ready to begin work. The design firms within the association are 

responsible for nearly four billion dollars worth of construction activity by all levels of Illinois government. Six of the world’s largest 

firms have offices and personnel in Chicago, and they are augmented by over 30 other national firms and nearly 50 regional Illinois firms. There is, perhaps, no element of transportation design 

23

and construction oversight that is not done by an IRTBA member 

firm. 

As such, we boast the people who have been meeting the unique 

and special challenges of this type of infrastructure work. In fact, 

we have already begun to research the ’04 games in Athens and 

the 2012 games set for London. The lessons learned from those 

games and others serve to tell us what kind of infrastructure we 

will need to build for Chicago in 2016. One thing we know for certain is, Chicago has a complete network of transportation in place 

to serve the Olympics. 

As we reflect on the planning for the 2016 Games, we recognize 

the plan’s compactness and proximity of the venues that will be 

utilized and impacted. There is clearly a longitudinal nature of the 

Chicago Olympic venues from the tennis and aquatic facilities in 

the north to the Olympic Village and boating facilities in the south, 

the lake forms the common denominator to all travel. The need to 

transport athletes securely and in a timely fashion, along with the 

ability of the public to move amongst the venues is the key. Simply 

stated, athletes and their fans need to get from the Olympic Village 

to their respective venues quickly, safely and on time. 

A very important consideration for Chicago is the acknowledgment that we live in dangerous times. Ever since the tragedy in 

Munich, the Olympic movement has had an ever-increasing emphasis on athlete security, and most recently, spectator security. However, guaranteeing that the spectators and visitors to the games 

are equally safe becomes an even greater challenge. 

The Olympic plan for Chicago calls for no vehicular traffic in the 

main stadium area. Thus, all spectators and visitors must be transported by a mass transit system capable of handling such numbers. 

Thankfully, the CTA in conjunction with the RTA has that type of 

experience that comes from moving over two million riders per day. 

So, what does the Olympic Committee need from Congress? First 

of all, it needs the financial resources that will insure that the best 

and the brightest are on the case, making sure that what is designed and built is indeed the safest and most reliable system possible. Secondly, it will need a congressionally mandated and sanctioned multi-agency coordinated permit review process. Typically, 

an improvement project takes nearly 10 years to plan, only two to 

three plan, design, construct and put into operation. Only two to 

three of those years is actual construction. It is often the view, approval and funding processes that constitute nearly half of that 

timeframe. 

I want—I want to underscore that no environmental regulations 

are meant to be avoided or disre-—disregarded. It is—We’re simply 

in need of our procurement process that is updated in a timely 

manner. 

Mr. DEFAZIO. Thank you. 

Ms. HOLST. Thank you very much. 

Mr. DEFAZIO. Thank you. Mr. Kennedy. 

Mr. KENNEDY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Members of the 

Committee. My name is David Kennedy, and I serve as the executive director of the American Council of Engineering Companies of 

Illinois. We’re a statewide association, over 230 engineering firms, 

together we employ over 10,000 engineers, architects, scientists 

24

and support personnel. And our members design a lot of things, including transportation projects. And frankly, we look forward to designing the Olympic Village in the future. 

Mr. Chairman, I kind of fashion myself as a person who gets 

anything. And I just want to say to you that, and all the Members 

of the Committee, thank you, thank you and thank you for being 

here. Because very frankly, I think your presence speaks formidably, all of us witnesses can talk about today because it visibly 

shows your support, not only for transportation, but frankly, for 

our country’s bid for the Olympics in 2016. This really isn’t—This 

is no longer Chicago’s bid, this is our country’s bid. And your presence shows your support of that, your presence and that of your 

colleagues. Thank you very much. 

I also want to recognize Congressman Lipinski, and thank him 

for his interest in transportation in serving in this Committee. I 

think Congressman Rush can tell you, we’re very proud of our congressional delegation in this state, they so wisely assign themselves 

to various Committees all across the board so our city’s interest 

and our state’s interest is well represented. Now, we’re looking for 

the new Congressman Lipinski, Dan Lipinski, to represent our city 

and our region in transportation issues at the federal level. Thank 

you for your interest and service, Congressman Lipinski. 

I just want to make two quick points regarding transportation 

issues, that will help us in our Olympics. We all know that you’re 

gonna have a reauthorizationbill in 2009. We all know that the 

trust in our trust fund is going to be running a deficit by that 

point. We have been able to do so many wonderful things over 

these many years with that highway trust fund. I think it goes 

back to the Eisenhower years if you added the interstate highway 

system. So, please, when you deal with this issue in a couple years, 

please sustain it, and please maintain it, and please enhance it just 

as I know you have already expressed an interest in doing. 

The second point I’d like to make for you regarding the highway 

program, which will help us in the Olympics, deals with being very 

cautious about public private partnerships. There are people, including sources in this administration, who count this as the only 

solution to our highway funding. Frankly, I think public private 

partnerships is just another of many tools that we can use to enhance our transportation improvements. So, please do not accept 

the thought that this is the only way to solve our transportation 

funding, because it’s not, it’s just one of many ways to help the situation. The Olympics itself may provide an opportunity for what 

we can do to improve both public and private partnership projects. 

So again, please be cautious about those. 

Our country has a great history of transportation. We’re proud 

to say—we brag this is the Land of Lincoln. Congressman Duncan, 

of course, will tell us this is where Abraham Lincoln was born. But 

we play our share of fun, that if Abraham Lincoln could be with 

us now in the expansion, but also to the railroads in the 1800s. 

And then another great midwestern of why Eisenhower created 

the state highway system, today we have this great aviation system. So, as we are now in the 21st century, and you’re gonna be 

facing a new administration here soon, we hope—I don’t know 

what the future holds, but this is a great country, in part at least, 

25

because of our transportation system. So, thank you and continue 

to work towards that. 

And then last, Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee, 

I would encourage you to continue to support those projects that 

help us here locally in economic development and otherwise, very 

frankly with the Olympics, we are very excited. We see this as an 

opportunity to improve an already great transportation system. So, 

we’re going to be knocking on your door over the next couple of 

years, especially after we win this bid to bring the Olympics back 

to our country. Thank you. 

Mr. DEFAZIO. Thank you, Mr. Kennedy. Mr. Ross. 

Mr. ROSS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee. My name is T.J. Ross. I’m the Executive Director of Pace. 

We provide suburban bus services outside the City of Chicago to 

about five million people in a 3,500-square-mile area, and we also 

provide all ADA complimentary surveys and services throughout 

northeastern Illinois. 

It’s a little ironic, of course, that we’re talking about an event 

nine years from now when the concentration in my mind, and 

many of our minds, is six days from now. We are looking, of course, 

I want to mention, that we’re really pushing our state legislator—

legislation to act on Senate Bill 572, which will help us avoid the 

service cuts and fare increases that start next week and continue 

on into January. 

I’d like to make a few brief points about federal investment in 

transportation pretty—pretty quick here. First of all, Illinois is a 

donor state. Gas tax revenue, I think we get about 93 cents back 

on the dollar that we send in. And northeastern Illinois is a donor 

area to the rest of the state of Illinois. On top of that, our 5309 

bus discretionary money, we normally get through the whole state 

in the neighborhood of four to 10 million dollars a year. That is in 

contrast to my home state, Iowa, usually gets more than Illinois 

does. But the majority of people that ride public transit in northeastern Illinois ride on buses. 

So, we’re looking for a greater share than 5309 discretionary bus 

and bus facility money. As my partner in transit, Phil Pagano has 

said, that he—having this change in north Illinois, two-thirds of 

the growth is in the suburbs, and we are looking at multiple origins and multiple destination patterns throughout northeastern Illinois, and we’ll be looking at the same thing for the Olympics. 

Our big push at Pace is in technology. Anything that I can do 

to speed up my system is going to improve my productivity and improve my attractiveness to my passengers and to people who are 

using automobiles right now. So with that, we are going to try to 

signal priority into large projects in south Cook that should be on 

the—happening 12 months from now. Bus rider transit, which is 

being pushed, and then, of course, upgrades to existing infrastructure, such as buses on shoulders, HOV lanes, and then a system 

of Park and Ride lots as well. 

Over the last four years, Illinois has not had a capital funding 

program from public transit. And the one that—and as a result, it’s 

a disinvestment as we talked about. The—Right now, the state proposal is about 429 million for a five-year program. I want to make 

this point that, that our five-year program for Pace would consume 

26

that full 429 million dollars. That is—It gives you an idea of how 

much money is really needed here at CTA and Metra. We know 

they need far, far more than that. Specific to the Olympics, we 

know the efficient system is essential to a smooth operation of this 

massive event, and you can’t possibly deal with all new rail lines, 

the bus system will be a big part of it, as it is—as it was in L.A., 

as it was in Atlanta, as it was in Salt Lake City. 

So, in closing, I’m looking forward to the challenge of providing 

transportation for the 2016 Olympics. However, if Senate Bill 572, 

that’s pending in legislature, does not pass, we could be until 2016 

before we recover from the loss of ridership and the loss of service 

in the region. Thank you for your time. And I’ll be happy to answer 

any questions. 

Mr. DEFAZIO. Thank you. 

I’ll turn to Mr. Duncan. 

Mr. DUNCAN. I’ll be very brief and just make a few comments. 

Mr. Chairman, thank you very much. First of all, I want to thank 

Congressman Lipinski, we all received the briefing materials on 

the needs of this area. And—and also, I had the privilege of having 

dinner last night with Congressman Lipinski and his father, and 

we discussed many of these things at that time also. 

This had to have been very important, and I appreciate all of the 

witnesses taking time out of their busy schedules to be with us. 

Mr. Lipinski and I—our young—my first three children went to the 

University of Tennessee, but my youngest is a student at Lincoln 

Memorial University. And his very serious girlfriend is from 

Matoon, Illinois. And, Mr. Ross, my mother moved from Iowa after 

college, and my other grandparents, both of them were born and 

raised in Illinois. So, I have a great interest in this state. 

I said on an interview on WGN this morning that I’m a very conservative Republican. And I don’t—I don’t believe in spending hundreds of billions of dollars in other countries. In fact, now this 

morning—there’s six Republicans who voted against the war in 

Iraq at the very beginning. And I note that that was the cause of 

those on that view. But I do believe in doing some things in this 

country. 

I believe the first obligation of our—of the U.S. Congress should 

be to the American people. And we have a lot of needs in this country, and with all the time I’ve attended to those needs, and I was 

fortunate to the extent that I possibly can again. I’m sorry that I 

do have to slip out at this point to catch my ride. Thank you very 

much. 

Mr. DEFAZIO. Same to you. And thank you, Ranking Member 

Duncan. I’ll be not too far behind you. I have just a couple of brief 

questions. 

Mr. Kennedy, you mentioned private-public partnerships. And I 

think you put it in proper respect, that you had concerns. It seems 

that the Bush Administration feels that if we would just privatize, 

we would solve our nation’s infrastructure needs. I think you gave 

me the answer, but what percent of our problems do you think are 

being met or could be met by public-private partnerships? 

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. Chairman, I’m not sure I can put a percent 

on that. But I can say, where it may help us is in some of the new 

projects. For instance, I think the City of Chicago kind of led by 

27

example, how they handled the Skyway and they’ve taken that—

from that. However, there has been discussions about leasing other 

facilities. And the wisest person who is an expert in transportation 

once told me, this is very similar, like taking the facilities of our 

parents generation, that greatest generation built and paid for, our 

generation gets the privilege of using it. If we’re not careful, we’re 

now going to turn around and sell or lease those facilities, and 

spend the money from it and leave it to our kids to pay for it over 

again. 

So again, I’m noting there are ways you can have public private 

partnerships, and they can be successful and resources can be used 

for good things. But we need to approach it very cautiously. I did 

note for Chairman Oberstar as a late issue, a letter outlining concerns of the Transportation Committee that they ask the very thing 

we want to hear. 

Mr. DEFAZIO. That was actually a joint letter with—with me, expressing concern about protecting both public interest for the future generations and maintaining the integrity of transportation 

structures. Leasing what would be profitable sections of a system 

for private interest, while ignoring the entirety of the system which 

benefits public interest is poor policy. Thank you for appearing and 

noticing the letter. 

Mr. KENNEDY. It was a good letter. 

Mr. DEFAZIO. Thank you. Mr. Pagano, this is such an astounding 

number, I have just got to ask you, I think we under-appreciate the 

contribution that mass transit makes to avoid congestion. And you 

said in your testimony, in the absence of transit, 29 additional 

lanes and expressways would need to be constructed to downtown. 

Can you stand by that? 

Mr. PAGANO. Oh, yeah, I can provide the Committee with the—

how we came up with the information on that, we even worked 

with the Illinois Department of Transportation. I mean, the key is, 

that we carry somewhere about 100 to some odd thousand people 

between 6:00 a.m. And 8:30 a.m. And doing the calculations, and 

also how many people will travel on the highways, that it would 

equate to—to that number. 

Mr. DEFAZIO. Yes, I’d appreciate it if you would provide it. Because again, this Administration does not seem to appreciate the 

contribution of transit to avoid congestion. And we would be happy 

to receive that material. 

Mr. PAGANO. Mr. Chairman, if I may on your comment about 

public private use, we like to use ourselves in this region as an example. From the Metra prospective, we have worked very well with 

the freight railroads, in which our capital projects in many instances are divided up between a federal public contribution, and 

then the freight railroads come in and make their contribution to 

do the projects that we are going to improve on our infrastructure. 

The CREATE project is another example of both public and private 

issues. 

Mr. DEFAZIO. Thank you. Just in reflecting on the testimony of 

this panel and the panel before, before I turn to my colleague, 

again, I think we have underlined, outlined and emphasized the 

need for additional investment in the country, not just for special 

events like the Olympics, but to maintain assets which we try—by 

28

prior generations, and to enhance those assets to serve current and 

future generations. And I believe thus far we’re dropping the ball. 

We do need more investment. And we do need to better meet the 

needs of today’s commuter systems. And I think today’s testimony 

is going to be echoed at every hearing we hold around the country, 

and all the cities that aren’t looking to have the Olympics, and all 

the rural areas that are trying to get their goods to the market, 

and all the ports that are trying to bring in products from overseas. 

Hopefully, somebody will turn that around and be shipping products out of the U.S. again, but that’s a topic for another day. With 

that, I turn to Mr. Lipinski for any closing comments or questions. 

Mr. LIPINSKI. I’d like to thank you, Mr. Chairman, for bringing 

the Subcommittee out here to hold this hearing. I think it’s a great 

opportunity to highlight the need that we have in transportation in 

the—in the Chicago area. And these are needs, obviously, that are 

all foreseen. In other words, people of Chicago need transportation 

hubs as it is for the country. And we’ve been talking about the 

Olympics, which hopefully the Olympics can be, really, another 

great year wakening for the city and be able to highlight—spotlight 

the city for the world. An opportunity that we need to make sure 

that we do everything we can to—to take advantage of. 

But I think it’s important that clearly it’s been made clear to all 

of us, who have—those who did not already know, certainly most 

of us do, about the current situation that’s going on right now with 

mass transit, which, I believe, is at least partly on the plate of the 

lack of funding from the Federal Government. But right now, I certainly urge our legislators in Springfield to deal with this problem 

as quickly as they can, it’s a very important issue for many, many 

people. I’ve spent hundreds of hours in my lifetime on CTA buses. 

I know how—how critical it is to have this old mass transit system 

up and running and as efficient as possible. 

So there again, I urge the legislators to do that. And at the federal level, I’m confident that with the leadership on this Subcommittee of Chairman DeFazio, and I’m certainly going to be 

working as hard as I can for the Chicago region to fulfill those 

needs that we have in transportation, and to work together with 

our delegation, work with Bobby Rush, and anyone in the delegation to do what we can for the various great needs that—that—that 

we face. I think this was a great opportunity. I’d like to bring this 

forward to the Committee to where the decisions are going to be 

made on this bill in the next two years. Thank you, Chairman. 

Mr. DEFAZIO. All right, thank you. I want to again thank you for 

your leadership in bringing the Committee here to Chicago. Congressman Rush. 

Mr. RUSH. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, first of all, 

let me join with my colleague by thanking you again for taking the 

time out from your busy schedule to come toChicago to hold this 

hearing. I want to also thank you for allowing me as a non-member 

of the Sub-—the Subcommittee, and Member of the Committee, to 

participate wholly and fully in this hearing. And I really thank you 

so much. 

I also wanted to ask the Ranking Members to—I’d like to submit 

questions to the witnesses in writing and ask that——

29

Mr. DEFAZIO. Without objection, the Committee would reserve 

that privilege, and certainly extend that to you. 

Mr. RUSH. Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. Chairman, I just want to conclude by joining with Congressman Lipinski, as you noted today or seen today, there has been—

there is a lot of passion about the—not necessarily tomorrow’s 

transportation issues, but today’s transportation issues. I think 

that’s a serious problem in our state, our city, and that there are 

citizens who are scheduled to experience some dire transportation 

issues in the next few days. 

And I know that this—that is not in the jurisdiction of this Subcommittee or the Congress. But, Mr. Chairman, we need to do all 

that we can to emphasize to the State, the Legislature, to the Government, and to all of the state leaders, that this is an issue that 

must get addressed. And that lack of the movement in regards to 

resolving this particular problem, I think that our delegation 

speaks out for our delegation, and will be severely and sorely disappointed in the General Assembly if they don’t get this issue resolved. 

They can’t come to us in Washington and expect us to cooperate 

with them, when they don’t cooperate with each other. And they 

are our constituents. And demonstrated by the outburst of today, 

our constituents are suffering. We need cooperation at the state 

level. We get only State and Federal cooperation. It doesn’t make 

sense. It’s shameful, and it’s an atrocity that we can’t get this issue 

resolved and get it resolved from the Democrats. It wouldn’t be so 

different if we were fighting Republicans and not Democrats. But 

this is Democrats. And these Democrats need to grow up and get 

this issue resolved so that our citizens can have public transportation. Thank you very much. 

Mr. DEFAZIO. Thank you. And if you have any final questions, 

submit them. We are now adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 11:55 a.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.]

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