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* From IDOT’s 2024 Illinois Traveler Opinion Survey Key Findings Report…
Respondents were asked whether the current public transportation, air travel, highways, and bike and pedestrian paths were at adequate levels or should be expanded.
For public transportation, two-thirds (66%) of respondents believe that public transportation should be expanded in Illinois. In terms of air travel, 47% of respondents believe that airport facilities in Illinois are currently meeting the needs of travelers, while 41% report the airport facilities in Illinois need to be expanded.
Furthermore, 42% of respondents believe that Illinois should focus on maintaining the current highway system, while 36% believe Illinois should focus on expanding the highway system. Lastly, 56% of respondents believe Illinois should expand its pedestrian and bike paths.
As was the case in Section I, when asked to prioritize projects, respondents prioritize the highway system, though support has increased for the expansion of bicycle and pedestrian trails. Collectively, this possibility suggests that Illinois residents would like to see an expansion in other areas of public transportation, but not at the expense of deprioritizing the Illinois highway system.
* From the full report…
Looks like the public, including those who live in Downstate, is way ahead of the politicians. The handful of people we hear constantly carp about public transit is just that: A handful.
* It appears the public is also noticing the massive upgrades to roads and bridges and the topic is just no longer as urgent…
* IDOT really needs to take note of this…
If you’ve ever had to park your car across a wide, busy street from a business, the feeling of taking your life into your own hands is something you don’t soon forget. We’re all pedestrians at some point. We all want to live.
posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Aug 29, 24 @ 11:28 am
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How did IDOT (a car centric agency) promote this survey? I’m willing to bet they focused on drivers, and not people who take or value public transportation.
Comment by Just Me 2 Thursday, Aug 29, 24 @ 11:41 am
Hey, JBP, want to do something all that political capital you’re saving up by not pushing for revenue reform?
Here’s something you could do.
Comment by SWSider Thursday, Aug 29, 24 @ 11:53 am
Let me know when the survey includes questions about whether they support raising taxes to pay for the expansion of public transportation. The details always seem to eventually undermine support for these types of endeavors.
Comment by ThePAMan Thursday, Aug 29, 24 @ 12:03 pm
Let me know when highways pay for themselves. Everyone pays for roads, regardless of whether or not they drive. People who don’t drive should be given tax breaks for not causing more congestion and wear on the streets.
Comment by In Bridgeport Thursday, Aug 29, 24 @ 12:44 pm
This. If we pulled the subsidies and asked people to pay their share based on use and impact a big chunk of the proud motoring public would be pedaling and walking alongside the transit beefers they seem to loathe so much.
Comment by P. Thursday, Aug 29, 24 @ 12:50 pm
IL should be funding at minimum, 10 trains per day along the St. Louis/Chicago corridor. This would still not be competitive with counterparts across the world, but would go a long way in reaching low carbon targets and would take traffic and stress off of I-55. For some international comparison:
Illinois: Chicago (pop. 2.6M) to St. Louis (pop. 280K)
-300 miles
-5 trains per day
-4.5 hours
France: Paris (pop. 2.1M) to Nantes (pop. 320K)
-240 miles
-10+ trains per day
-2/3 hrs
-
Spain: Madrid (pop. 3.M) to Barcelona (1.62M)
-380 miles
-40+ trains per day
-2.5-3.5 hours
Comment by Incandenza Thursday, Aug 29, 24 @ 1:13 pm
Mass transit is going to become a health and human services issue if it isn’t already in small, shrinking towns. In those towns, people are aging in place and becoming old and/or sick enough that driving isn’t advised. Yet they still need to get to the grocery, the clinic, the shopping center, etc. in order to have a good quality of life.
Comment by cermak_rd Thursday, Aug 29, 24 @ 1:30 pm
===IL should be funding at minimum, 10 trains per day along the St. Louis/Chicago corridor.===
Friend of friend (& family) hosted a student from Japan who lived 180 miles south of Tokyo, 1 hour. When told Chicago was 4 hours by train, student replied “I didn’t know Chicago was 700 miles from Springfield!” …
Comment by Anyone Remember Thursday, Aug 29, 24 @ 1:42 pm
The inter city bus network gets no love. And Chicago is losing its Greyhound terminal. Why is the greyhound terminal for Springfield not at the new multi-modal? Currently the Springfield stop is out in the middle of nowhere, with no services or security at night. Not everyone can afford rental cars or airfare to get around the state or between states. Student travel and tourism are affected.
Comment by Give Us Barabbas Thursday, Aug 29, 24 @ 1:46 pm
It seems to me most want the state to make it safer for cars, bikes and pedestrians to safely co-exist. That can be applied to the Lake Shore Drive debate. Folks don’t want it torn up, as some advocates do. They just want to make it easier for bikes and pedestrians to navigate around it.
Comment by Telly Thursday, Aug 29, 24 @ 1:50 pm
= When told Chicago was 4 hours by train, student replied “I didn’t know Chicago was 700 miles from Springfield!” =
Yes, my original comment was regarding train frequency, but speed also is important. To IL and Amtrak’s credit, they have improved greatly the corridor infrastructure to allow 110 MPH speeds. And I think it’s only about 3 hours now from CHI to SPI via the Lincoln Service. That’s an improvement, but one we could continue to improve upon.
Frequency is key though, aside from speed. Just imagine for all the legislators having the ability to hop on a train from SPI at 3:00 PM or 4:30 PM or 6:00 PM or 8:00 PM - that amount of frequency gives freedom. And adding frequency doesn’t take very much intensive infrastructure, just funding for the carriages and personnel.
Comment by Incandenza Thursday, Aug 29, 24 @ 2:23 pm
== IL should be funding at minimum, 10 trains per day along the St. Louis/Chicago corridor. ==
As long as it’s faster to drive between Chicago and St. Louis than it is to take the train, you won’t have nearly enough passengers to fill those trains. High speed rail infrastructure is needed and that costs billions. I’m for investing in that kind of infrastructure, but we should be honest about the cost.
Comment by Telly Thursday, Aug 29, 24 @ 4:23 pm
== bikes & pedestrians ==
IDOT is expanding a 2lane highway to 4lanes in northern IL. Their original design was a concept favored by the Federal Highway Administration [FHWA] called a Complete Streets design [IL also has legislation supporting this.]
This design provides a pedestrian/bicycle path separated from the 45mph highway by a green space with a barrier curb limiting incursion by vehicles. Incredulously, based on a whim that IDOT calls ‘policy’ [unwritten] dropped this design & now has walkers&bikes using a shoulder unseparated from the highway. Opening IL up to serious legal liability. Amazing.
Comment by Jerry_D Friday, Aug 30, 24 @ 4:10 pm