Region 1 Planning Council

Wednesday, July 29th:

The NICTI consultant team and I met with the project staff of the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), Region V office in Chicago to discuss the NICTI project that is going through the FTA’s Mew Starts process.  We took the opportunity to review the project and the various required components of New Starts, but concentrated on the environmental documentation as the most current work product of NICTI.  All federally funded transportation projects must comply with the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) and the draft NEPA documents were ready for FTA review.  The NICTI project management team received excellent guidance from the FTA staff and we expect NEPA document review by the end of August.

For those readers that are interested in technical details the draft NEPA documents for the NICTI project are being submitted at an Environmental Assessment level (EA) that is much less rigorous than a large scale Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).  The NICTI documents, including the draft NEPA documents, can be viewed or downloaded from the apr 7, 2014 – cheap baclofen 25 mg order online – purchase baclofen 10 mg at a reduced price . NICTI website fastest shipping, fluoxetine 40 mg anxiety. fluoxetine is used for treating premenstrual dysphoric disorder (pmdd), a severe form of premenstrual syndrome. purchase fucidin top quality medications. cheap priligy dapoxetine . approved pharmacy, buy dapoxetine online pharmacy. .

Monday, July 27th:

A truly eventful day.

I was invited to attend the Midwest High Speed Rail Summit luncheon event in downtown Chicago that immediately followed a press conference to announce the signing and delivery of a letter that brought together 9 midwest states that spoke with one voice to advocate for a true high speed rail project between Chicago and St. Louis.  The governors of the 9 midwest states, as well as Chicago Mayor Daley, signed the letter and will deliver it to President Obama and US Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood.  The 9 midwest states have joined together to form the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative (MWRRI) and have published a long term plan of true high speed rail corridors that all link to Chicago.  MWRRI members agreed to target the Chicago to St. Loius corridor as the potential recipient of high speed rail funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.  The Recovery Act allocates $8 billion in dedicated funding for passenger rail projects across the country.  The MWRRI project falls into the Track 1 category which is dedicated for true high speed rail as it has been defined in President Obama’s vision for high speed rail.  More info can be found here cheapest prices pharmacy. dapoxetine online fluoxetine sales worldwide fluoxetine by mail order fluoxetine low price no prescription fluoxetine buy fluoxetine online without prescription india . cheapest rates, buy generic dapoxetine online best prices for all customers! dapoxetine uk buy online. instant shipping, diflucan vs cream buy diflucan online zyban to buy generic zyban buy dapoxetine priligy online. . .

I was joined by Rockford Mayor Morrissey, Belvidere Mayor Brereton and Freeport Mayor Gaulrapp at the luncheon.  The event was hosted by Mayor Daley, US Senator Richard Durbin, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn and Amtrak Chairman Tom Carper.  The luncheon included a presentation by a consulting engineer on the MWRRI project that provided details of the improvements necessary to build a true high speed rail corridor and a live simulation (in software) of the actual freight trains interfacing with the high speed trains.

Mayor Morrissey and I also attended a dinner gathering to congratulate the new Administrator of the Federal Railroad Adminsitration, Joseph Szabo.  Mr. Szabo is a fifth generation railroader and is a life long Chicago resident.  Mr. Szabo was also the Mayor of Riverdale, IL and has a long and distinguished career in the railroad industry.  The event included remarks by Mr. Szabo as part of Connecting America… part 2, High Speed Rail.

Tuesday, July 7th:

The official launch of the Northwest Illinois Blackhawk Express involved a major press event at Davis Park today.  Members of the Illinois General Assembly, local elected officials, members of the coalition team, passenger rail advocates and interested citizens announced the initiation of www.bringrail.com purchase discount medication! dapoxetine price in delhi . official drugstore, buy dapoxetine order fluoxetine online by fedex. fluoxetine overnight fed ex no prescription . fluoxetine without prescription cheap fluoxetine  no prescription. and the petition-signing drive that will run through the Labor Day weekend.  Rail observers can also follow the rail coalition on social media (LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter).  The website provides citizens and businesses with an opportunity to sign their individual name or business name (or both) to the growing list of passenger rail supporters.  The coalition team will then use the signatures as part of our political advocacy in Springfield and Washington DC to restore Amtrak intercity passenger rail service between Chicago and Dubuque.

The show of support at the press event was a great start to what we hope will be a very successful campaign.  The coalition team asks that you add buy estrace lowest prices for cialis buy cialis without prescription order cialis online no online , buy estradiol valerate, estradiol 2mg buy. www.bringrail.com to the bottom of your e-mail messages so that your contacts may also learn about the campaign and sign the electronic petition.  We hope to get to 10,000 individual signatures and 500 business signatures by the end of the campaign.