Two recent reports from Washington D.C.-based think tanks describe important policy challenges pertaining to federal transportation funding.  In “ The Consequences of Reduced Federal Transportation Investment ,” the Eno Center for Transportation and the Bipartisan Policy Center estimate the impacts of decreasing the federal transportation program by 35 percent, as would be required to... Read More

In an April 2012 report , the Cook County Unincorporated Task Force recommended that municipalities be encouraged to annex small, unincorporated parcels of land.  However, many of these areas require infrastructure updates that some municipalities are reluctant to take on.  To encourage municipalities to annex these unincorporated parcels, Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle... Read More

Economic innovation plays a major role in producing sustained regional prosperity, yet measuring such a broad concept is often difficult to accomplish. GO TO 2040 recommends improving data and information systems on innovation so that policymakers, investors, and business leaders can make better-informed decisions. One year ago, CMAP joined the collaborative Illinois Innovation Index... Read More

On September 17-18, 2012, CMAP hosted a peer exchange of transportation implementers from across the region to discuss their agencies’ approaches to capital programming.  Participating agencies included the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) District 1, Illinois Tollway, county transportation departments, North Shore Council of Mayors, CMAP, City of Chicago, City of... Read More

Manufacturing is one of our region's key economic drivers. According to preliminary CMAP research, metropolitan Chicago's manufacturing cluster provided almost $40 billion in personal income last year, and the cluster is expected to grow more in the coming year. Every county in northeastern Illinois has a strong concentration of manufacturing, which includes a variety of industries, from... Read More