Gov. Pat Quinn drew a crowd more than double the size of most monthly luncheons of the Chicago Southland Chamber of Commerce Monday, filling a room at the Tinley Park Convention Center with 450 businessmen, businesswomen and public officials.
The governor was the Chamber’s guest speaker this month and used the opportunity to talk about infrastructure plans in the south suburbs and the potential to spur economic growth.
“I want to stress how important transportation is in this region of our state,” he said and described how he sees high-speed rail and road projects playing a role in the ongoing growth of the south suburbs.
Playing off Monday’s ruling by the Illinois Supreme Court to uphold capital plan legislation that had been thrown out by the appellate court, Quinn drew attention to the ongoing project that aims to connect Interstates 57 and 294, two important roadways that intersect but do not conveniently connect in the south suburbs.
“I don’t know how that ever happened in highway planning in our country, but it did,” Quinn said. “But it’s been kind of a sore point for people in the southland for many years.”
A second major roadwork project that will affect the south suburbs is the proposed Illiana Expressway connecting Interstate 65 in Indiana to Interstates 57 and 55 in Illinois.
“We want to build the Illiana expressway,” Quinn said. “Illiana is very important to Illinois.”
He also mentioned plans for high-speed rail, with one project reaching from Chicago to St. Louis while passing through Joliet. A second super high-speed rail project would extend from Chicago, south through Peotone to meet up with a proposed third Chicago-area airport, and continue on through Kankakee before splitting at Champaign into routes leading to St. Louis and Indianapolis.
“This is another way to keep growing good jobs built on transportation for our state and this region,” Quinn said.
Jeff Arseneau, chairman of the chamber’s board, said he was pleased the governor accepted the invitation to speak and share his thoughts on issues important to chamber members.
“I think for the entire business community in the southland, to have a governor actually come to our business luncheon, I think that says a lot, that we have his attention,” he said.
After the luncheon, Quinn met with members of the chamber as well as officials from some of the largest employers in the southland.
Arseneau said it gave business leaders the opportunity to share their thoughts and concerns about the business climate in the state. Issues toward the top of their list included the need for skilled workers in the area, as well as the need to make Illinois an attractive business climate where companies want to plant roots.
“We want to partner to create the environment for businesses to want to come to the southland, and quite frankly, to Illinois,” Arseneau said. “As a business organization, you can never stop playing that record.”
