OECD Territorial Reviews: The Chicago Tri-State Metropolitan Area, United States 2012
The OECD Territorial Review of the Chicago Tri-State metropolitan area, the first of its kind conducted by the OECD in the United States, assesses the region’s capacity to contribute effectively to regional and national economic performance and quality of life. The Review focuses on four thematic policy issues: i) the effectiveness and coordination of workforce development programmes in the Chicago Tri-State metro-region; ii) the metro-region’s capacity for innovation; iii) its role as a major centre for logistics in North America; and (iv) its capacity to encourage green growth over the long term. The review also focuses on the state of region-wide institutional collaboration and offers a vision for effective tri-state region-wide stakeholder engagement.
Transportation and logistics in the tri-state region
This chapter focuses on the region’s transportation and logistics functions. This major continent-wide player in passenger air travel, air cargo, railways and trucking generates significant employment and value-added activity. The chapter suggests that the state of the hub’s economic health should be of concern not only to local and state-level stakeholders but to the US federal government as well. The hub faces serious challenges – space constraints, congestion, financing issues and poorly integrated, region-wide planning to sustain its capacity to contribute meaningfully to regional and national growth. The chapter outlines the need for greater planning and co-operation among stakeholders. Key players from the various transportation modes and industrial sub-sectors making up the hub need to work together across state lines to drive interstate collaboration in the form of a comprehensive Tri- State inter-modal plan.