The Chamber's Transportation Committee operates under the general goal to influence and expedite decisions relating to transportation improvements for Des Moines County business and industry. Located adjacent to the Mississippi River, Burlington offers many modes of transportation including highways, air, rail and river. Our Transportation Committee offers updates and support from all forms of transportation in Des Moines County including both Highway 34 and 61 Coalitions.

The Highway 34 Coalition is a bi-partisan, bi-state coalition of governments, economic development groups, chambers of commerce, businesses and travelers who actively support the completion of US 34 as a four-lane expressway, providing a safe and reliable transportation corridor connecting the region to the global economy. Our long-term goal is to improve and expand the current highway into a four-lane expressway between Kewanee, IL and Ottumwa, IA. Our current focus is expanding the 23.6 miles of two-lane highway between Monmouth, IL and the Carman Road.

The Highway 61 Coalition, launched in Burlington February 2004 after a local delegation asked the Iowa Transportation Commission (ITC) to complete a long-promised 4-lane upgrade to US 61. (Much of the 180-mile project along Iowa's eastern border from Missouri to Wisconsin was done y 2000; in 2001, the ITC cut the final 34 miles from its 5-year plan while adding hundreds of millions for roads in and around the state capital.) Coalition members are city and county government, economic development and private business leaders in Lee, Des Moines, Louisa and Muscatine counties. (Their model is the Highway 34 Coalition, formed about 15 years ago to lobby for 4-lane upgrades to US 34 from Ottumwa, Iowa, to Galesburg, Ill.; our Chamber is a charter member, and all but 24 miles of that 120-mile project are done or in progress.)