Originally published in Quad-City Times, September 1, 2020. 

SPRINGFIELD — A coalition of 10 state transportation agencies, including Illinois’, announced the creation of a diversity panel last week to develop “fairness and inclusion” at work sites, the group’s president said.

The committee has not yet held a meeting, a spokesperson for the Illinois Department of Transportation said in an email, but its establishment “has been in the works for a while.” Members of the Mid-America Association of State Transportation Agencies will share methods and programs designed to diversify their practices.

“We are also committed to creating more contracting opportunities for women- and minority-owned businesses and to avoid transportation projects having a negative impact on minority communities,” Craig Thompson, association president, said in a written statement. “Most of all, we strive to provide mobility options for everyone in our communities to make sure that transportation is not a barrier to the wellbeing of vulnerable people.”

Thompson is the secretary designee of Wisconsin’s Department of Transportation. States belonging to the association include Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota and Ohio.

Illinois currently participates in the federal Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Program, which is mandated by the U.S. Congress and overseen by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Originally published in Journal & Topics, September 1, 2020. 

Major Focus On Waukegan Road, Cleveland Street Following July Fatality

The project to install pedestrian traffic calming signals at Waukegan Road and Cleveland Street and Caldwell Avenue and Cleveland has been identified and discussed for years, but delays ensued since both roads are state-controlled routes.

Last month, village trustees awarded a contract to perform a traffic study to move that project along and Sen. Ram Villivalam (D-8th) held a hearing calling for greater transparency in the process the Illinois Dept. of Transportation (IDOT) uses to prioritize which projects are selected and which receive funding.

The village has several road projects in various stages of planning and execution underway to improve roadway safety for pedestrians. The Waukegan and Cleveland traffic safety control device project received new scrutiny after 13-year-old Sam Yousif was killed crossing Waukegan Road at Cleveland on his bike in July.

Both intersections are identified in the village’s 2014 multi-modal plan looking at pedestrian and bike routes as problem intersections, which needed to be addressed. Residents have complained about several accidents at Waukegan and Cleveland dating back to 2013.

Originally published in the Daily Herald, August 31, 2020. 

A state regulator's ruling the Illinois tollway acted illegally and mishandled two unsuccessful bids for construction projects was "unfair" and unreasonable, an attorney for the agency argued at a state Senate Transportation Committee hearing Thursday.

The pushback puts the tollway at odds with Illinois Chief Procurement Officer for General Services Ellen Daley, who in July found the agency didn't properly notify Walsh Construction Co. and Lorig Construction Co. their bids fell short on two separate construction projects worth more than $70 million.

Daley's conclusions that the agency had undermined "the integrity of the procurement process" prompted state Sen. Laura Murphy of Des Plaines to request a Senate hearing after the Daily Herald reported on the issue.

Tollway attorney Kathleen Pasulka-Brown said at the hearing the two contractors lost the bids because they failed to meet diversity goals and were given plenty of notice.

"(Daley's) determination was unfair, and it's also inconsistent with her finding the tollway did not act in bad faith," Pasulka-Brown said. "Finding the tollway did not act in bad faith should have let her conclude the tollway did not engage in an illegal act."

Originally published in the Daily Herald, August 31, 2020.

As Metra strives to recapture riders wary of commuting during a pandemic, the railroad faces COVID-19 fallout on other fronts -- no money, picketing workers, Illinois Senate scrutiny and balking conductors on Union Pacific lines.

Members of the Brotherhood of Maintenance Workers Employee Division of the Teamsters brought their work safety grievances to Metra directors' homes this summer. It resulted in one encounter where union officials say they were threatened with a firearm, although police dispute those claims. The employees, who fix tracks, structures and stations, want Metra to offer COVID-19 testing and regular temperature checks. Thirty union members have tested positive for COVID-19 and one worker died of the virus, Metra confirms. Even with masks, workers are anxious about close conditions, such as driving four to a truck en route to jobs, Teamsters representative Nick Manojlovic said.

"No one wants to go to work and bring that (virus) home to our families," Manojlovic said.

The union and Metra are currently negotiating a contract. Things got messy at Director Ken Koehler's house in Crystal Lake Aug. 6, when a crowd of Teamsters materialized with signs and a bullhorn. According to Manojlovic, Koehler at one point intimidated protesters by displaying a pistol and saying, "I'm armed."

But "that is absolutely not true," countered Koehler, who has a concealed carry license. His firearm "never left the holster," he said. "I did not display it, I did not try to agitate anyone."