Resolution
WHEREAS, the City of Chicago is the transportation hub of the nation and is home to a vast interconnected network of highways; and
WHEREAS, according to the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning's 2016 Expressway Atlas Annual Average Daily Traffic on Northeastern Illinois Expressways report, vehicles travel 28,600,103 miles per day on expressways in the region; and
WHEREAS, within Chicago itself, the same report indicates that on an average day 117,000 vehicles utilize the Dan Ryan Expressway, over 137,300 vehicles use the Eisenhower Expressway, 131,700 use the Kennedy Expressway, over 87,500 use the Stevenson Expressway and over 74,500 use the Edens Expressway; and
WHEREAS, the City's expressways are not only vital for transporting the region's residents, goods and services, but they also serve as a gateway to our City's many wonderful neighborhoods; and
WHEREAS, the cleanliness of these highways that service our City, in particular stretches of the Dan Ryan, the Eisenhower and the Stevenson Expressways that are located closer to downtown Chicago, is unacceptable and unwelcoming to residents and travelers; and
WHEREAS, it is the Illinois Department of Transportation's (IDOT) responsibility to maintain the highways, highway entrances and embankments; and
WHEREAS, under current protocol, IDOT has been unable to maintain consistent cleanliness of the City of Chicago's highways, damaging the reputation and morale of the neighborhoods the highways serve; and
WHEREAS, it is critical to the health, safety and happiness of not only City of Chicago residents but of all vehicles that utilize the highways throughout the City to maintain the highways in a clean and welcoming fashion; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED, that the Committee on Transportation and the Public Way does hereby request the Illinois Department of Transportation appear before this Committee to testify on its current program to maintain highway cleanliness, including but not limited to: cleaning schedules, budget expenditures related to highway sanitation maintenance, and sanitation program improvements; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Chicago City Council urges the Illinois Department of Transportation to revise its highway cleaning program to better address the needs of the City of Chicago as well as all of the travelers that use the highways in and around the City.
Pat Dowell Alderman, 3rd Ward
