All Stories

            Former U.S. House Speaker Tip O’Neill liked to say that “all politics is local”, meaning that immediate concerns of family, job and neighborhood were of primary concern to citizens – and voters.  Personal concerns are still paramount, but the ‘neighborhood’ has changed in that our communities are tied together more than ever before.

            Transportation arguably is the most important factor in this development, though there are others. This involves both good news and alarming bad news.

            Regarding good news, Kenosha and our region more than ever is integrated in the populous Chicago-Milwaukee corridor, with expanding transport roles across the nation – and the globe. 

            On November 1, global retail giant Amazon announced that a new distribution and order fulfillment center will be built in Kenosha. This is a $170 million project to involve approximately 1,100 full-time jobs in terms of direct employment, with many more as a result of regional economic ripple effects.

            The following month, the global corporation announced plans for a second facility in the Kenosha area, which will provide an estimated additional 575 full-time jobs. During the same period, the Pleasant Prairie Planning Commission approved plans for storage and shipping powerhouse Uline to occupy an additional quarter million square feet of space, beyond existing investment in our region,

            This underscores the importance of our area as a center of transport, shipping and storage. Approximately half the truck traffic in the United States travels through the major arteries of I-80, I-90, I-94, I-294 and associated highways in the region.

            A striking related statistic is that Chicago for years has been at least fifth largest intermodal container port in the world. The others are all in Asia: Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore and Tianjin in China. Obviously not a major direct seaport, Chicago’s status reflects the combined volume of rail, truck and water shipping, plus the relatively small air component.

            Years ago, Kenosha leaders effectively addressed the dilemmas of a declining population and tax base, directly resulting from the shrinking of the automobile manufacturing industry in the community. Attracting new residents as well as business was central to the strategy.

            Transportation trends affect people as well as goods. A dramatic illustration of the point is provided by the heavy auto traffic moving out of Chicago and Milwaukee every morning, to jobs in areas in between, and back in the evening. The proposed Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee rail line was part of comprehensive efficiency reforms.

            Effective local business and government leadership in the coming years will depend on appreciation of the changing dynamics of public and private transport, including auto, bus and rail mechanisms. The American love affair with the car will continue - only utopians would deny that reality.

            Long-term planning, however, is now undercut by a startling immediate problem. The federal highway trust fund, which supports maintenance of vital infrastructure, will go broke - next month.

            In the early 1980s, as Social Security was facing future bankruptcy, Republican President Ronald Reagan partnered with Democrats O’Neill and Senator Pat Moynihan to resolve that problem effectively. Each of these politicians individually strengthened his own standing and influence among peers, and with the public.

            House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) is working desperately to find short-term transfusions for highways, including funds reserved for repairing leaky storage tanks, and pension and customs funds. The hodgepodge is endorsed by House Speaker John Boehner.

            Camp and Boehner deserve some credit, but Washington overall remains without strong leadership.

Arthur I. Cyr is Clausen Distinguished Professor at Carthage College and author of ‘After the Cold War.’ Contact him at acyr@carthage.edu