AASHTO Journal, 16 January 2015
New Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner has nominated Randy Blankenhorn to become secretary of transportation, and on taking office Jan. 12 Rauner ordered a freeze to discretionary spending that includes the planned $1.5 billion Illiana Expressway project.
Photo/CMAP IllinoisBlankenhorn is now executive director of the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, but had been a 22-year IDOT employee before joining CMAP in 2006. He earlier held a number of positions at the transportation agency, most recently as its bureau chief of urban program planning.
Subject to state Senate confirmation, Blankenhorn would replace Erica Borggren, who has been acting secretary at the Illinois Department of Transportation since last July.
In signing his executive order suspending construction projects pending a review, Rauner said the state government was “in a financial crisis” and that “today we start the process of putting our state back on the road to fiscal stability by reviewing agency spending, stopping contracts and grants, and selling excess state property.”
The executive order specifies that “major interstate construction projects which have not commenced will be reviewed.”
A Rauner spokesman later said that includes the Illiana Expressway, a project to build a 47-mile freeway link between Interstate 65 in Indiana and I-55 in Illinois that backers say would ease regional congestion south of Chicago on I-80.
The project is supported by Indiana Gov. Mike Pence. The AP reported a Pence spokesman saying, “We’re ready to build the Illiana whenever Illinois is.”
Rauner’s executive order requires every executive branch agency to report to the governor’s Office of Management & Budget on “every contract awarded or entered into by a state agency” since Nov. 1, along with “every hiring decision taken by agencies” from that date.
It freezes awards of contracts and grants until July 1, with exceptions “for contracts required by law, emergency expenditures, small purchases, and essential operations.”
Rauner told agencies to help cut expenses “by halting the sale/lease of motor vehicles, stopping out-of-state travel, and limiting in-state travel.” He wants surplus state property identified that could be auctioned, while officials also review property leases to develop a plan to consolidate or relocate offices. And the new governor ordered agencies to save energy costs, including cuts in power consumption when facilities are not in use.