Valley officials urge Congress to fund transportation bill

As Congress considers the form of its new transportation bill, Illinois business and elected officials are urging the House to pass a bill that is at least the same size of the last transportation legislation.

To that end, the national Transportation for America will hold a press conference at 11 a.m. Tuesday at the Aurora Transportation Center on North Broadway.

Fox Valley mayors and statewide business leaders will be on hard to urge that Illinois congressmen on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee vote against a proposed bill in the House that would cut by 34 percent the transportation funding that was in the 2006 Transportation bill.

That legislation has been proposed by U.S. Rep. John Mica, R-Fla, chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. While the bill itself has not been introduced, officials are anticipating Mica will introduce it.

Illinois officials are estimating Illinois alone will lose $670 million in project funding which could result in the loss of 23,800 construction and transportation jobs.

Included in those projects that could lose funding would be the Prairie Parkway highway proposal for Kane and Kendall counties, and the Metra extension to Oswego.

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