HR0126 100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0126 LRB100 11236 KLG 21565 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, According to a 2014 study, five of the 20 most congested stretches of road in the United States are in the Chicago area; drivers in the northeastern Illinois-northwest Indiana region spent on average, 61 extra hours behind the wheel because of gridlock, construction zones, and collisions; that is the equivalent to a week and a half of work; the time wasted because traffic flow lagged well below speed limits during much of the day, was 6 hours more per driver; nationally, delays due to traffic congestion kept drivers and their passengers in cars for almost seven billion extra hours and more than three billion gallons of fuel were wasted; and

WHEREAS, Specific to the greater Chicago area, the study measured the total travel delay to 302.6 million hours affecting 3.4 million commuters in 2014; the cost of truck congestion, $1.5 billion in 2014, accounted for approximately five percent of the $28 billion nationally in the value of operating time and wasted fuel for commercial trucks stuck in traffic and adding to congestion; a driver in the Chicago region who needs to arrive on time at a destination 20 minutes away in light traffic, should instead budget a full hour during peak travel times; and

WHEREAS, Universities across the country are collaborating with tech companies and state government entities to develop wireless technology to reduce traffic congestion; in South Carolina alone, Clemson University, Benedict College, The Citadel, South Carolina State University, and the University of South Carolina, are developing wireless technology for traffic signals in order to make it possible to eliminate car accidents and travel on busy roads without stopping for traffic lights by controlling traffic signals in real-time based on existing and predicted vehicular and pedestrian demand; researchers at MIT, using models developed in Singapore, were able to build simulations gauging driver locations with radio transmitters mounted on gantries scattered around a city, like the gantries used in many wireless toll systems, to route drivers around congested roadways by charging a toll for entering congested roadways, thereby providing an incentive to avoid it and choose and alternate route; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDREDTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we urge Illinois colleges and universities, in cooperation with tech companies and government entities, to work together to develop wireless technology designed to work towards eliminating traffic congestion so that Illinois can be on the forefront in the elimination of traffic congestion and to make Illinois roads the safest in the nation, to reduce travel time, and to save money on wasted fuel.