Illinois Tollway Chair Dorothy Abreu Joins with Other Industry Leaders at Hispanic Chamber Meeting to Discuss the Future of Transportation Infrastructure
Greater emphasis on advancing equity is increasingly playing a role in the future of transportation infrastructure in Northern Illinois.
“The Illinois Tollway is delivering our Move Illinois capital program with diversity, equity and inclusion in mind while working to ensure that the work and improvements made have minimal impact on the environment,” Tollway Board Chair Dorothy Abreu told nearly 200 members of the Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce at a breakfast meeting in Chicago.
The December 7 breakfast meeting, “Infrastructure and Our Future,” featured Abreu, along with Metra Deputy Executive Director of External Affairs Janice Thomas and World Business Chicago President and CEO Michael Fassnacht, who also serves as chief marketing officer for the city of Chicago.
The meeting provided an opportunity for Hispanic Chamber members to meet with industry leaders and learn about opportunities for Hispanic-owned firms to grow their businesses. The Hispanic Chamber represents more than 100,000 businesses, including more than 2,000 disadvantaged business enterprise firms, making it one of the largest communities of Hispanic business owners in the Midwest.
The Illinois Tollway highlighted its efforts to support and grow participation by small, diverse and veteran-owned firms through a wide range of assistance programs.
For example, Illinois Tollway Technical Assistance Program has helped prepare hundreds of emerging and established transportation-related construction and professional engineering services firms, including small, diverse and veteran-owned firms, to compete for contracting opportunities in the heavy highway construction industry. The Hispanic Chamber of Commerce is one of the program providers.
Abreu noted the program has generated more new and diverse firms to participate in the Move Illinois program supporting capital improvements to take care of the Tollway’s existing needs and expand the system to meet the needs of the region’s future.
Looking ahead to 2023, the Tollway plans to continue work on two of its biggest, most complex projects – the Central Tri-State Tollway (I-294) Project and the I-490 Tollway Project. These major projects provide significant contract opportunities for firms of all sizes and types, including small, diverse and veteran-owned firms.
The $4 billion Central Tri-State is being reconstructed and widened from Balmoral Avenue to 95th Street to provide congestion relief, reconstruct old infrastructure to meet current and future transportation demand and address regional needs.
The I-490 Tollway, together with the Illinois Route 390 Tollway, will connect businesses and communities with one of the nation’s busiest airports, transit facilities, major freight transportation hubs, distribution centers and multiple interstate highways including the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway (I-90) and I-294.