What types of transportation do you use during an average week, and how has this shaped your view of transportation policy?

I mostly use my car, but previously when I lived in Chicago I used the L daily and buses weekly. When I need to go downtown I typically take the metra.

What are some transportation challenges in your district?

In my district, and the suburbs at large, it's very difficult to get around without a car

The Illinois Department of Transportation (“IDOT”) plays a significant role in transportation throughout the state, in Chicago, and Cook County. What is your opinion on their role with the Chicago Department of Transportation, Cook County Department of Transportation and Highways, local communities, and the impact that has?

As my district is entirely located in the suburbs, and predominately in DuPage county, I do not interact too much with Chicago and Cook county agencies so I may be ignorant to some issues. That being said I think IDOT does a good job in maintaining our current transit infastructure, but much of that infastructure is older and in need of modernization. I would like to see IDOT be given additional fudning to both improve our existing roads and highways, and to look at expanding other forms of transit so that Illinois residents don't need to rely so hevily on cars for transportation. This will cuts down on pollution in our state and lead to less congestion on our roads.

How do you view the Illinois General Assembly’s role in setting IDOT’s priorities for public transit, passenger rail, and strengthening accessibility in transportation?

I believe that the general assembly's role should be to push IDOT to improve transit accessibility throughout the state by creating high standards for our transit goals, and issuing appropriate funds to reach those goals. Transit outside of the Chicagoland area in our state is very poor and I believe that we need to invest in better transit throughout the state to better connect all of our state's communities. While it may be a bit more of a long-term goal, I would love to see more rail lines cosntructed throughout the suburbs to better connect different towns to eachother, and I would like to see our state invest in high-speed rail to better connect northern and southern Illinois.

States like Colorado, Minnesota, Virginia have passed legislation that has shifted their transportation infrastructure spending towards projects that prioritize safety, transit and cycling, and greenhouse gas mitigation. What’s your position on Illinois’ current transportation infrastructure spending, and if you could change anything, what would it be?

While I think Illinois has some impressive transit infastructure, it is too heavily concentrated in just Chicago. I would like to us expand our infastructure to other parts of the state as well. Having more buses, railways, and other forms of transit will allow people to cut down on driving and in turn greenhouse gas emissions. We should also push to make sure that all future infasturcture projects are as environmentally friendly as possible, and run on green energy.

This fall, the Illinois General Assembly passed a historic investment in transit operations – as well as significant governance reforms in the establishment of the Northern Illinois Transit Authority. How do you view the Assembly’s role in ensuring both the short- and long-term success of this legislation?

In the short-term we need to give the new NITA clear directives in terms of expanding access to tranist in northern Illinois and look for way we can save money through new effiecienices through havign a larger combined agency. In the long-term we need to provide better funding to this new entity. While the road fund's interest works as a temporary stop measure for the agency, we need to make sure that it has more secure long-term funding. I would like to see new funds allocated from progressive sources such as a wealth tax or a digital ads tax on big tech companies.

What is your position on investing to expand passenger rail service in Illinois, including the development of high-speed rail?

I am supportive of investment in rail and high-speed rail in Illinois. Not only will this allow more people to use public tranist, but it will also improve our environment by cutting down on car emissions, and will help connect parts of our state togehter which can only be reached by car currently.

Federal funding for Illinois transportation projects – such as the Red Line Extension and Red-Purple Modernization projects – has come under threat from the Trump administration. How can legislators shore up funding for critical infrastructure projects under a hostile federal climate?

I tihnk there are several solutions we can look at to replace federal funding that has been withheld. We can raise new revenue through progressive sources like a wealth tax onbillionaires, or a digital ads tax on big tech companies. We can sue the federal government for illegally withholding funds, but this can take a while and cost a lot if legal fees. Lastly, we can look to without an equilvalent amount of Illinois tax dollars to the federal government that we are having withheld in retaliation of the Trump administration illegally withholding funding.