The I-55 proposal was addressed in two pieces of legislation that were approved with bipartisan support in the final days of the General Assembly’s spring session. Lawmakers added language to a broad measure addressing rules for how the state purchases goods and services that would allow IDOT and other public agencies to accept unsolicited proposals from private entities to partner on transportation projects like the I-55 toll lanes.
“The concerns that we now have about environmental justice and about the climate emissions from highway expansions are new to the Illinois General Assembly, and therefore when these issues came up very late in the session, legislators haven’t had the experience in dealing with them,” Jack Darin said. “The limited number of days and even hours that the legislature had to consider these proposals didn’t really allow for considering all those impacts,” he said.
Read more via the Chicago Tribune.