A billboard campaign helped to lead a movement warning motorists about I-80 bridge safety, stoking public-safety fears and ultimately convincing state lawmakers of the need to approve a $45 billion infrastructure plan in 2019.
The Chicago Tribune ranked the billboard campaign as “among the top political stories of the year, if not the decade.”
Construction unions paid to display the messages “Cross bridge at your own risk” and “Bridge ahead in critical condition” on electronic billboards near Interstate 80 bridges over the Des Plaines River in Joliet.
Here is a television news article about the billboard campaign.
The billboards heightened motorists’ fears about crumbling infrastructure and generated bipartisan support for the $45 billion Rebuild Illinois program. The billboards also created a pressure point as lawmakers debated the need for infrastructure spending during their spring 2019 budget negotiations.
Insiders Take: If you ever wondered whether billboards are an effective conduit for free speech, these two quotes from the Tribune opinion piece says it all:
“Marc Poulos, executive director of the Indiana, Illinois and Iowa Foundation for Fair Contracting, said the billboards were a pressure point as lawmakers debated the need for infrastructure spending during spring budget negotiations.”
The Tribune opinion piece added:
“After years of inaction by legislators and reluctance to raise taxes to pay for infrastructure needs, the Will County billboards helped generate billions in spending that will create thousands of jobs in the Chicago area and in every part of Illinois.
Those are pretty impressive results for an advertising campaign.”
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