The Chicago Skyway in Illinois: Implications of Local Initiative, Decentralized Control, and Independent Financing

The history of the Chicago Skyway in Illinois, from its inception in 1953 to its 99-year lease in 2005, is examined in this paper. As one of the last U.S. toll roads to be built before the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, the skyway’s administration reflects the decentralized and relatively flexible institutions of highway administration that prevailed at the time. Chicago officials were able to finance the skyway with revenue bonds to address an anticipated traffic crisis resulting from uncoordinated planning for the Indiana Toll Road. However, Chicago’s independent initiative came with a lack of oversight and resulted in questionable design parameters, traffic projections, and financing. Skyway bonds went into default in 1963, and decades of financial shortfalls and deferred maintenance followed. In the 1990s, improved traffic and revenue allowed for debt retirement and physical rehabilitation. Its lease to an investment group led by Australia’s Macquarie Bank indicated a new paradigm of decentralized highway administration that included an important private-sector role. The $1.83 billion deal was hailed as a triumph for Chicago and a model for future transactions, but once again, its value for investors was questionable. A half-century of skyway history reveals some of the advantages and risks of a decentralized and relatively unregulated system of highway financing and administration.

• Record URL:
  https://doi.org/10.3141/2297-15
• Summary URL:
  http://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=The+Chicago+Skyway+in+Illinois%3a+Implications+of+Local+Initiative%2c+Decentralized+Control%2c+and+Independent+Financing&author=L.+Dyble&publication_year=2012
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://www.trb.org/Main/Blurbs/168502.aspx
• Authors:
  • Dyble, Louise Nelson
• Publication Date: 2012

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: References;
• Pagination: pp 121-127
• Monograph Title: Finance, Pricing, Economics, and Equity Issues
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board
  • Issue Number: 2297
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0361-1981

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Administration; Decentralization; Financing; History; Private enterprise; Risk analysis
• Identifier Terms: Chicago Skyway
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Economics; Finance; Highways; Policy; I10: Economics and Administration;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01471774
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 9780309262989
• Report/Paper Numbers: 12-4093
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Feb 5 2013 8:17AM