Rodriguez for Congress campaign
Job Creation
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[August 24, 2016]
Job creation must be the highest priority
of the next congressman to represent the IL-18th, and the urgency
for immediate employment opportunities is greatest in the district’s
western counties. Although support for improvements and innovations
in the transportation sector constitutes one of the best means to
stimulate job creation as we upgrade the nation’s infrastructure of
roads and bridges, one project in particular stands out as having
the ability to be singularly transformational to the economic health
and vitality of the residents of the IL-18th district and that is
the completion of the Interstate 72 corridor across northern
Missouri. It might seem to be counterintuitive for a congressional
candidate in Illinois to advocate on behalf a federal highway
construction project in a neighboring state, but this is type of
innovative approach that Junius Rodriguez supports to move beyond
the narrow parochialism of partisan politics. It is also the kind of
project that would require broad bipartisan support in order to be
realized.
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The original plan for the Interstate 72 corridor
when it was first conceptualized in the late-1970s was that it would
become a major east-west artery through the Midwest cutting across
Illinois and Missouri. The Illinois portion of the highway was
constructed, but its western terminus lies today at Hannibal, MO,
just two miles within Missouri. Completion of the corridor from that
point westward toward the greater Kansas City area would foster job
growth not only within the construction industry but also through
the aggregate building materials industry in the tri-state region.
While such job creation in the short-run is significant, it pales in
comparison to the long-term prospects for job growth as an influx of
motorists and travelers would cross much of the heartland of the
IL-18th on a daily basis. Additionally, the completion of another
significant east-west artery would alleviate traffic congestion in
places like Des Moines, the Quad Cities, Chicago, and St. Louis
while also preparing the nation to meet the infrastructure demands
that will be needed for the next generation of transportation in the
United States.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2016/Jun/20/images/ads/current/cca_laptop-sda021709.png)
Congressman Darin LaHood did support a bipartisan bill to support
infrastructure projects in December 2015, but that legislation did
not include the completion of the Interstate 72 corridor even though
that project was labeled a “high priority” by the American
Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO).
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![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2016/Jun/20/images/ads/current/brickey_lda_061314.png) Moreover, while Congressman LaHood has voiced the
standard platitudes regarding the general importance of
infrastructure improvements, he has steadfastly refused to support
the proposal backed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to raise the gas
tax to fund necessary improvements to the nation’s road and bridge
system. (The gas tax, which has not been raised since 1991, is
currently unable to cover necessary maintenance costs on the
nation’s transportation infrastructure despite dire warnings that
significant portions of our current system are “structurally
deficient.”) Junius Rodriguez believes that wise
investments must be made today in funding the needed improvements to
roads and bridges that can not only create jobs in the short-run but
also alleviate many of the long-term transportation bottlenecks for
the coming generation. Rodriguez stated that “Prudent use of scarce
resources in the Highway Trust Fund can have tremendous economic
benefit to rural isolated counties that have been left out of the
recovery that is currently underway. The Interstate 72 project, in
particular, has the potential of generating thousands of new jobs
and bringing opportunity to the places that have been forgotten for
all too long.” [Democratic
nominee Junius P. Rodriguez for 18th congressional district of
Illinois] Past related
articles
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