Illinois River Cities And Towns Initiative To Hold First Meeting
The newly formed Illinois River Cities and Towns Initiative is holding its first annual meeting November 5-6 in Peoria, Ill. The IRCTI, which officially formed in February (WJ, Sept. 24, 2024), has been appointing officers and getting itself organized.
The Illinois River is a critically important barge corridor, providing cost-effective transportation for major bulk commodities like grain, coal, and petroleum to global markets and facilitating multimodal connections between inland ports and the Great Lakes. The IRCTI is a regional grouping of 15 ports along the Illinois River, modeled after the successful Mississippi River Cities and Town Initiative. Its audience includes ports, riverfront communities, regional planning organizations, government agencies, businesses and anyone interested in advancing rural riverfront economic development.
Participants can register online at cornbeltports.com/corn-belt-ports-illinois-partnership-summit-registration-form-2025.
Speakers will include mayors of ports along the river who serve as joint co-chairs of the IRCTI, including Rita Ali, mayor of Peoria; Robert Hasty, mayor of Ottawa, Ill.; John Kahl, mayor of East Peoria; Chris Brown, mayor of Morris, southwest of Chicago. Missey Schumacher, mayor of Channahon, serves as secretary.
The meeting will be held at the Gateway Building, with a joint reception by the IRCTI and Illinois Waterway Ports Commission to be held at the nearby Peoria Riverfront Museum. The Peoria event’s purpose is “to begin implementing a common, shared vision and regional strategy to reduce transportation costs and risks, secure needed infrastructure investment, and deliver a cleaner, greener, sustainable, resilient and healthier economic and natural system for the Illinois River (part of Marine Highway 55) and the Upper Mississippi River (Marine Highway 35).”
The IRCTI’s goals include working to secure significant state and federal grant funding and appropriations for cities along the river and championing a comprehensive ecosystem restoration and sustainability program. IRCTI plans to work closely with similar groups, including the MRCTI and the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative.
