Mayor Rahm Emanuel joined members of the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus to call for a statewide capital bill to pay for critical transportation infrastructure needs, funded largely through an increase in the state motor fuel tax which has remained flat for gasoline since 1990. Illinois has not passed a statewide capital bill since 2009. According to the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP), the region needs $24 billion in added revenue through 2050 to maintain the current system, without addressing the backlog. In addition, CMAP estimates that another $32 billion is needed to improve the condition, enhance and expand the current system. Decades of underinvestment have created a significant backlog of projects to reach a state of good repair. Federal and state revenues that support transportation investments have not kept up with costs or inflation. Recent signals from Washington point to growing reliance on state and local revenues to fund these needs. The state needs to raise revenue for infrastructure, and a 20 to 30 center per gallon increase in the motor fuel tax and other traditional transportation funding sources is a reasonable and widely-supported place to start. Other states and regions are far ahead of the State of Illinois and metropolitan Chicago in raising revenues to support infrastructure projects.