Funded by an increase in toll fees, the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority (ISTHA) plans to spend $1.4 billion for capital projects in 2014, the most ever budgeted for a single year.

In addition to a $2.2-billion project to rebuild and widen the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway (I-90), a northwest-to-southeast artery extending from Wisconsin to Indiana state lines, ISTHA is undertaking construction of the $3.4-billion Elgin O'Hare bypass, a project intended to improve access from Chicago suburbs to O'Hare International Airport.

By comparison, transportation spending in other Midwest states is waning. "Illinois is the exception," says Simonson. "Ohio has enjoyed some success in developing alternative plans to fund transportation, but most other states, including Indiana and Wisconsin, are on downward slopes, now that funded programs have wound down. Missouri has seen a particularly drastic reduction in transportation spending."

Larger issues loom, not only in the Midwest, but nationwide. "If Congress can't reach an agreement on the federal budget by Jan. 15, or resolve issues involving the debt ceiling by Feb. 7, financing for construction will continue to be problematic until a more permanent budgeting resolution is achieved," Basu says.