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1 | HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION
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2 | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois General Assembly have | ||||||
3 | a high concern for the safety of those using Illinois roadways, | ||||||
4 | highways, and bridges; and
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5 | WHEREAS, In recent years bridge safety has made headlines | ||||||
6 | across the nation regarding several areas of concern, including | ||||||
7 | structure, design, and traffic volume; and
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8 | WHEREAS, Illinois has seen too many fatal accidents on its | ||||||
9 | bridges and bridges of neighboring states, especially bridges | ||||||
10 | crossing the Mississippi River; specifically, there have been | ||||||
11 | fatal accidents on the Martin Luther King Bridge connection | ||||||
12 | between Illinois and Missouri that crosses the Mississippi | ||||||
13 | River from East St. Louis to St. Louis, and the William | ||||||
14 | McKinley Bridge that also connects Illinois to its neighboring | ||||||
15 | state of Missouri, crossing the Mississippi River from Venice | ||||||
16 | to St. Louis; and
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17 | WHEREAS, One problem with these two named bridges is that | ||||||
18 | they are both narrower than the width recommended by modern | ||||||
19 | professional standards; the Martin Luther King bridge is 40 | ||||||
20 | feet wide and the William McKinley Bridge is 55 feet wide; and
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21 | WHEREAS, The four lanes at both the Martin Luther King |
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1 | Bridge and the William McKinley Bridge cause cars driving in | ||||||
2 | the center lanes to pass each other head-on at distances as | ||||||
3 | close as 18 inches apart; and
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4 | WHEREAS, Twelve people have tragically lost their lives in | ||||||
5 | crossover accidents in 10 years on the Martin Luther King | ||||||
6 | Bridge, and six people have been killed in crossover accidents | ||||||
7 | on the McKinley Bridge; and
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8 | WHEREAS, The Illinois Department of Transportation has | ||||||
9 | acknowledged that it is not currently investigating ways to | ||||||
10 | prevent crossover accidents because it believes the bridges are | ||||||
11 | too narrow for crossover barriers; and
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12 | WHEREAS, Innovation has made breakthroughs in creating | ||||||
13 | systems, such as narrow cable barriers or moveable barriers, | ||||||
14 | that have shown to be effective in preventing crossover | ||||||
15 | accidents; and protective barriers are becoming common on | ||||||
16 | Mississippi River bridges; the design for the proposed new | ||||||
17 | Mississippi River bridge calls for a concrete barrier, and the | ||||||
18 | Golden Gate Bridge, in San Francisco Bay, California, is | ||||||
19 | scheduled to install a new moveable barrier; and yet neither | ||||||
20 | the Martin Luther King Bridge nor the William McKinley Bridge | ||||||
21 | currently have any barrier or protection between the passing | ||||||
22 | lanes; therefore, be it
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1 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | ||||||
2 | NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE | ||||||
3 | SENATE CONCURRING HEREIN, that the Illinois Department of | ||||||
4 | Transportation study the issue of crossover barriers of all | ||||||
5 | kinds for the Martin Luther King Bridge and William McKinley | ||||||
6 | Bridge and make a report of its findings to the 96th General | ||||||
7 | Assembly no later than six months after the adoption of this | ||||||
8 | resolution; and be it further
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9 | RESOLVED, That copies of the Department's report be sent to | ||||||
10 | the Illinois Secretary of State and the Secretary of the | ||||||
11 | Missouri Department of Transportation; and be it further
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12 | RESOLVED, That a copy of this resolution be sent to the | ||||||
13 | Illinois Secretary of Transportation.
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