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Gov.
Blagojevich applauds East-West Gateway vote in favor of building new
lanes across Mississippi River without imposing tolls
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Illinois
governor reaches out to his Missouri counterpart and says two sides
should meet and resolve differences
[February 23, 2007]
SPRINGFIELD -- Governor Rod R.
Blagojevich applauded a vote by the East-West Gateway Council of
Governments in favor of the Martin Luther King Bridge coupler plan
that will provide four additional lanes of traffic across the
Mississippi River. East-West Gateway voted 12-10 Thursday in favor
of building a four-lane bridge immediately north of the current
Martin Luther King Bridge.
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"East-West Gateway took a big step in the right direction today when
they voted in support of our plan to build lanes across the
Mississippi River," Gov. Blagojevich said. "We've offered an
affordable plan to achieve our goal of relieving congestion across
the Mississippi River without charging drivers tolls. I look forward
to meeting with Governor Blunt in the near future so we can work
together to make this bridge a reality." "Today East-West Gateway
provided a way for Illinois and Missouri to come together and make
the coupler option a reality," said Mark Kern, the head of East-West
Gateway's governing board and chairman of the St. Clair County
Board. "The issue of money is now off the table. Now all we need is
for the Director of the Missouri Department of Transportation to
allow us to connect to his road system."
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 "I applaud East-West Gateway for voting to build new lanes across
the Mississippi River. We must move forward to ensure that the
people in this region don't have to continue to suffer the headaches
and frustration of bottlenecks and traffic. This is a quality of
life issue for citizens in the Metro East. We owe it to them to act
and do so without charging them tolls," said Illinois State Rep. Jay
Hoffman (D-Collinsville).
Illinois has agreed to pay $261 million toward the cost of the
$525 million project. The Federal government would contribute $239
million, and East-West Gateway agreed Thursday to cover the
remaining $25 million of the cost.
[Text copied from file received from
the
Illinois Office of
Communication and Information]
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