The Nation - News from Nov. 27, 1987

Illinois received one-third of all the federal money earmarked in the last two years for interstate highway repairs, a statistic state officials attribute to Illinois’ old roads and its ability to “work the system.” Only one three-mile stretch of Chicago’s crumbling Dan Ryan Expressway accounted for $109 million of the $339.6 million in discretionary money allotted for interstate repairs nationwide in fiscal years 1987 and 1988, the Federal Highway Administration said. State official Gregory Baise said “it’s hard to turn us down” because of lobbying by the governor, the political clout of key Illinois congressmen and the state transportation department’s having projects ready and able to qualify for funding.