We’re number one!
Thursday, Sep 22, 2011 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Every time I go to Chicago it seems like the expressway traffic is worse than my last visit, no matter what time of day I drive…
Chicago’s Circle Interchange, the notorious traffic-clogged junction where the Eisenhower, Kennedy and Dan Ryan Expressways merge near downtown, ranked as the No. 1 bottleneck for truck traffic in the U.S. in a new report released Wednesday.
Interstate Highway 65 at I-80 in Gary was close behind on the list, in the No. 6 spot in the report highlighting the 250 most-congested highway locations by the American Transportation Research Institute and the Federal Highway Administration.
The Kennedy-Edens Expressway junction on the North Side of Chicago came in at No. 8 in the northbound direction and No. 32 for southbound travel.
At No. 45 was the Interstate Highway 290 extension where it meets the Veterans Memorial Tollway (Interstate Highway 355).
Three of the top five highways on the congestion index were in Houston.
* Meanwhile, Sam trashed dozens of newspapers, but he’s still number one…
Even though his wealth slipped by $300 million, Sam Zell, with a net worth of $4.7 billion, is still Chicago’s richest person, based on Forbes magazine’s list of the 400 richest Americans released Wednesday.
Zell, ranked 66th, was among 18 in the Chicago area to make the list. Oprah Winfrey, who broadcast her last TV show here earlier this year, ranked second locally and 139th nationally at $2.7 billion. That was well ahead of newcomer Groupon co-founder Eric Lefkofsky, ranked 293rd with a net worth of $1.5 billion.
* And, to read the media coverage, these five politicians should be on a “Number One” list for ridiculousness…
During a year when many unionized Cook County workers are taking 10 unpaid days off to help balance the budget, five commissioners are refusing to do so.
The commissioners, who make $85,000 a year, have asked the county comptroller for their money back instead of taking what officials say would amount to a 4.8 percent pay cut.
“I am requesting that any and all monies deducted from my salary due to furlough or shut down days be reimbursed to me,” Commissioner Joan Murphy, D-Crestwood, wrote in a letter dated July 27.
Murphy declined comment Wednesday. But the group, which also includes Commissioners Earlean Collins, Robert Steele, William Beavers, and Deborah Sims, points to a longstanding state law that says elected officials cannot be forced to take pay cuts during the middle of their terms.
Yet, they do have a point. From the Illinois Counties Code…
At the time it reapportions its county under this Division, the county board shall determine whether the salary to be paid the members to be elected shall be computed on a per diem basis, on an annual basis or on a combined per diem and annual basis, and shall fix the amount of that salary. If the county board desires before the next reapportionment to change the basis of payment or amount of compensation after fixing those items, it may do so by ordinance or by resolution. Those changes shall not however, take effect during the term for which an incumbent county board member has been elected.
* Related…
* Foreclosure process caught in state bottleneck: The median number of days to resolve foreclosure cases, most of which go to court-ordered auction and are repossessed by lenders, rose 25.5 percent in the Chicago area for the three months ended in June, compared with a year ago, according to a report to be released Thursday by the Woodstock Institute. Compared with three years ago, processing times are up almost 51 percent.
* Cost of planned health exchange questioned
* Illinois to float road bonds
* Midway’s $25-mil. concessions contract going out for bid
* The Onion to move editorial staff to Chicago
- llew - Thursday, Sep 22, 11 @ 10:03 am:
Rich - you cited the wrong portion of the ILCS. The Cook County board members are not municipal officials and are therefore not subject to the Illinois Municipal Code. Rather, they are governed by the Illinois Counties Code. The Counties Code, like the Municipal Code, limits salary changes to taking effect in the official’s next term in office. The proper citation is 55 ILCS 5/2-3008, and not the citation you provided above.
- wordslinger - Thursday, Sep 22, 11 @ 10:03 am:
Yeah, the old Spaghetti Bowl is to be avoided if at all possible. I sympathize with the truckers, who can’t really take alternate routes to avoid that mess.
Just as bad, and a driving menace, is the last stretch of Indiana Toll Road before you hit the Skyway. You pay your buck-fifty and are treated to a live-action Mad Max movie, with you as the star (or victim). Multiple lane changes, single lane drivning, concrete construction barriers everywhere…..
The Hoosiers are making it harder to escape to civilization.
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Sep 22, 11 @ 10:06 am:
Thanks, llew. Fixed. Yet another brain freeze corrected by an astute commenter. Much appreciated.
- Stones - Thursday, Sep 22, 11 @ 10:24 am:
The main reason foreclosure processing times have increased are the advent of court-mandated mediation programs in some jurisdictions and the inability of certain large lenders to process and evaluate borrower’s paperwork in a timely fashion.
- 47th Ward - Thursday, Sep 22, 11 @ 10:31 am:
There’s lots of material here for the Onion. Lots of material.
- Michelle Flaherty - Thursday, Sep 22, 11 @ 10:32 am:
Regarding the Onion’s move to Chicago:
See, Quinn’s creating jobs.
If you run a satirical media outlet, how could you pass up a Quinn-led Illinois? Send Quinn to Comedy Central on a recuiting mission and Stewart and Colbert will probably pay money to move to Illinois.
The Onion would be the perfect outlet for the “condensed Pat Quinn” speech summary.
- Six Degrees of Separation - Thursday, Sep 22, 11 @ 10:36 am:
I am surprised the Ike (from 25th to Central)didn’t make the list. Maybe it is so congested that truckers avoid it completely, thus not making it onto a “truck bottleneck” list.
- Been There - Thursday, Sep 22, 11 @ 10:51 am:
===I am surprised the Ike (from 25th to Central)didn’t make the list.===
SDS is right. I take the Ryan to the Ike and vice versa all the time. Both suck. They need to find a way to widen that stretch to 4 lanes. Also,
they should have built the Crosstown expressway or some version of it to relieve the congestion at the spaghetti bowl.
- Because I say so - Thursday, Sep 22, 11 @ 10:51 am:
In a day and age when so many people in all sectors of the work force are taking furlough days, these commissioners should be ashamed. Apparently they have no shame.
- dupage dan - Thursday, Sep 22, 11 @ 10:55 am:
Love those county Commissioners. They sure are bearing their fair share of the burden. Betcha they get overwhelming majorities in the next election, tho. We get the gov’t we deserve.
- OneMan - Thursday, Sep 22, 11 @ 10:58 am:
That is why Mr. Beavers is the hog with the big nuts…
- 32nd Ward Roscoe Village - Thursday, Sep 22, 11 @ 12:06 pm:
Wordslinger does it again, but, people, it is so much better than the east coast corridor/D.C. beltway. That is a nightmare.
- Ghost - Thursday, Sep 22, 11 @ 12:14 pm:
The protection for salaries was intended to keep one political party from messinf with another political parties winners (or friendsof losers). It was never intended to apply to a fiscal emergency. That side, the commsisionershave the ability to claim they are protectetd, but what odeous and loathsome action it is in a time when those who need services from thecity struggle with getting heat, food and medicine, and these folks wont agree to help for one year to free up funds to help those in need.
- wordslinger - Thursday, Sep 22, 11 @ 12:27 pm:
–it is so much better than the east coast corridor/D.C. beltway. That is a nightmare.–
A couple of years back, I took my family on the old Washington, D.C. trip. We stayed a couple nights in Rosslyn, which is the business district in Arlington right across the Potomac.
It’s highly congested, densely populated, very confusing to drive around and in close proximity to much restricted area as in the Pentagon, Ft. Meyer, Arlington National Cemetery, CIA and more.
It was like National Lampoons Washington Vacation, and I was Clark Griswold, constantly high-balling my POS Caravan into restricted areas, and pulling yooeys in front of guardhouses manned by armed soldiers. How I didn’t get pulled over or blown up is beyond me.
- Local Man - Thursday, Sep 22, 11 @ 12:47 pm:
Welcome, The Onion! Hopefully the comedic roots of Chicago will stimulate even more fun stuff from you. And if you ever need inspiration for a joke, our pols are ready to help you out.
- Yikes - Thursday, Sep 22, 11 @ 1:03 pm:
Rich, you are so right with this. It really does seem to get worse every time I go there too! Brutal. Hopefully more people will start utilizing public transit instead of trying to ram a million cars into the city every day. Myself included.
- Six Degrees of Separation - Thursday, Sep 22, 11 @ 2:21 pm:
Yikes- the thing is, the Chicagoland area has an extensive public transit system that is second only to NYC’s and that other midwestern cities could only dream about; and it is already heavily patronized; and we are in an economic downturn that SHOULD lessen traffic demand; and still this! We’d better be planning for what happens when the economy improves and the population keeps growing. For me, I am a telecommuter and transit user, but sometimes reality dictates that I take the car b/c my business is in places where the alternative is too inconvenient time-wise or location-wise.
- Wensicia - Thursday, Sep 22, 11 @ 4:29 pm:
I’ve always thought the Onion editorial staff already made their home in Chicago, in the Tribune Tower.
- park - Thursday, Sep 22, 11 @ 8:16 pm:
I’d love to see them put tollbooths on the Ryan, Edens, Stevenson. That would provide needed money for road construction. Why limit it to the suburbs??