Plans to upgrade an Illinois rail line for high-speed travel could proceed as early as this summer, state transportation officials say. Officials also indicated they are targeting a late 2015 completion date for the $265-million passenger line, which will extend between Chicago and Moline. As planned, track, signal, station and rolling stock improvements will occur on trackway extending between Chicago and Wyanet, where new track will link to Iowa Interstate Railroad, carrying service to Moline.The line initially will accommodate two daily round trips per day at speeds up to 79 mph, with an expected travel time of three hours in
The new year will bring new opportunity to the Midwest, even as the region contends with such legacy issues as Detroit's bankruptcy and tighter environmental regulations. Midwest states are accustomed to privatizing public assets to fund public programs, but a proposed tollway linking Illinois and Indiana presents a first for the region: a major P3 project constructed from the ground up. Elsewhere in Illinois, road programs are generating thousands of construction jobs, the result of efforts by Gov. Pat Quinn. Another potential boon—hydraulic fracturing—may be facing a pivotal year in Ohio. The year also may prove a critical one for
The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) has shortlisted four development teams to construct a 35-mile portion of “Illiana” Expressway, a planned 47-mile corridor linking major Illinois and Indiana highways. Earlier this month, the four teams responded to a request for qualifications to construct portions of the corridor extending through Indiana. As planned, the $1.5-billion Illiana would connect I-65 in northwest Indiana to I-55 in northeast Illinois, about 58-miles south of Chicago, thereby relieving truck congestion on I-80, an east-west corridor in closer proximity to the city.State transportation officials expect Illiana to generate $2.4 billion to $3.8 billion over the life
A Minnesota-based miner's $350-million investment in a new taconite pellet plant in Reynolds, Ind., is giving a much-needed boost to central Indiana's economy after a painful downturn that sent skilled tradespeople bolting across the state line, employers say. The project also forecasts further labor crunches in the region as employers continue to seek skilled labor amid upticks in activity. Related Links: Planned Projects Could Drive Up Craft Demand in Great Lakes and Midwest ENR Midwest Regional Forecast 2014 "This particular project has opened up a lot of jobs in the construction field," says Scott Potter, project manager for Logansport, Ind.-based
Construction employment showed continued signs of stabilization in several Midwest states in November, with Missouri (9.8%, 10,000 jobs) and Wisconsin (4.3%, 4,000 jobs) leading the way in year-over-year comparisons, according to data compiled by Arlington, Va.-based Associated General Contractors of America (AGC). Illinois, a leader in job losses during the recession, also fared well (2.6%, 4,700 jobs), as did Michigan (2%, 2,500 jobs), despite ongoing fiscal crisis in Detroit.On a percentage basis, employment gains in Missouri were the third greatest in the nation.Indiana (-3.4%, -4,100 jobs) and Ohio (-2.9%, -5,200 jobs) logged employment declines in November, continuing a trend begun
Evanston, Ill.-based Northwestern University has selected architect Perkins + Will to design a $370-million, 600,000-sq-ft biomedical research center for its medical campus in downtown Chicago. The Chicago-based firm was selected from a field of three contenders, including joint-venture teams Goettsch Partners and Ballinger, of Chicago and Philadelphia, respectively, and Chicago-based Gordon Gill Architecture, which partnered with Payette, a Boston-based architect.The facility will be constructed on a site occupied by Prentice Women's Hospital, a 1975 structure designed by architect Bertrand Goldberg, designer Chicago's Marina City, a pair of multifamily high rises constructed in 1964. Although preservation groups lobbied Northwestern to adapt
A planned privately funded tollway linking Illinois and Indiana cleared a key hurdle Thursday when a regional planning board in Indiana approved the project following months of debate. A similar board in Illinois approved the project in October. Next step for Illinois and Indiana Departments of Transportation (IDOT, INDOT) is to secure federal approval for the $1.5-billion “Illiana” Expressway, a 47-mile corridor that would connect I-65 in northwest Indiana to I-57 and I-55 in northeast Illinois, about 58 miles south of Chicago.If built, Illiana would be the first project of its kind in Illinois financed under a public-private partnership. As
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday urged baseball's Chicago Cubs to begin work on a $500-million overhaul of Wrigley Field the city approved last summer. “They need to get started,” Emanuel told reporters. “The city has lived up to everything it said it was going to do in a timely fashion...and I expect them and other invested interests to resolve their issues so the whole city can benefit.”Since July, Cubs management repeatedly has expressed reluctance to proceed with the project until it has resolved complaints that renovations would block views of neighborhood rooftop owners, who have contracted with Cubs to
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited Libertyville, Ill.-based Aldridge Electric Inc. for one serious safety violation following the June death of a worker who developed heat stroke at a job site in Chicago. Aldridge was installing electrical conduit in a trench on a mass-transit line when the worker became ill on his first day on the job. The worker was carrying heavy piping in unshaded conditions when he collapsed. He died the following day.“This tragedy underscores the need for employers to ensure new workers become acclimated and build a tolerance to working in
The City of Chicago is undertaking a $492-million, four-year program to overhaul a mass-transit line extending between downtown and Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. Beginning in mid-2014, the Chicago Transit Authority's (CTA) Blue Line will undergo track and infrastructure improvements, in addition to signal, power and station house upgrades. Rather than complete track replacement, plans call for a series of track improvements along the 12.5-mile line, which consists of subway tunnels, elevated structures and ground-level track along I-90, an expressway linking O'Hare to downtown.Unlike recent renovations to a line extending between downtown and Chicago's South Side, the Blue Line will remain
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