Infrastructure

Health and medicine

Chicago is home to the Illinois Medical District on the Near West Side. It includes Rush University Medical Center, the University of Illinois at Chicago medical center, and John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County, the largest trauma-center in the city. The University of Chicago operates the University of Chicago Hospitals, which was ranked the fourteenth best hospital in the country by U.S. News and World Report. It is the only hospital in Illinois ever to be included in the magazine's "Honor Roll" of the best hospitals in the United States.

The University of Illinois College of Medicine at UIC is the largest medical school in the United States (1300 students, including those at campuses in Peoria, Rockford and Urbana-Champaign). Chicago is also home to other nationally recognized medical schools including Rush Medical College, the Pritzker School of Medicine of the University of Chicago, and the Feinberg School of Medicine of Northwestern University. In addition, the Chicago Medical School and Loyola University Chicago's Stritch School of Medicine are located in the suburbs of North Chicago and Maywood, respectively. The Midwestern University Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine is in Downers Grove.

The leading healthcare informatics organizations are located in Chicago, including the American Medical Informatics Association and the Health Information Management Systems Society. These organizations include as members many healthcare IT vendors and the CIO/VP Technology leaders of most American healthcare operations. The American College of Surgeons, American Dental Association, American Hospital Association, American Medical Association, and the American Osteopathic Association are based in the city.

Transportation

Chicago is considered to be the premier transportation hub in America. It is an important component in global distribution, as it is the third largest inter-modal port in the world after Hong Kong and Singapore. Additionally, it is the only city in North America in which all six Class I railroads meet.

Seven interstate highways run through Chicago. Segments that link to the city center are named after influential politicians, and traffic reports tend to use the names rather than interstate numbers. The Kennedy Expressway is I-90 from the Loop to O'Hare International Airport. The Dan Ryan Expressway is I-90/94 from south of the "Circle Interchange" to the I-57 Split, and from the I-57 Split south is the Bishop Ford Freeway. The rest of I-94 is called the Edens Expressway. I-90 becomes the Chicago Skyway when it breaks off from the Dan Ryan Expressway. Other named highway segments are the Stevenson Expressway (I-55) and Eisenhower Expressway (I-290).

The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) handles public transportation in the City of Chicago and a few adjacent suburbs. The CTA operates public buses, a rapid transit system, and an elevated train known as the "Chicago L" or "El" to Chicagoans, as well as rapid transit service to Midway and O'Hare Airports. The Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) provides service in forty surrounding suburbs and partially into the city.

Metra operates commuter rail service in Chicago and its suburbs. The Metra Electric Line shares the railway with the South Shore Line's NICTD Northwest Indiana Commuter Rail Service, which accesses Gary/Chicago Airport. Pace operates a primarily-suburban bus service that also offers some routes into Chicago.

Chicago is served by Midway Airport on the south side and O'Hare International Airport, one of the world's busiest airports, on the far northwest. In 2005, O'Hare was the world's busiest airport by aircraft movements and the second busiest by total passenger traffic (due to government enforced flight caps). Both O'Hare and Midway are owned and operated by the City of Chicago. The State of Illinois has debated opening a new airport near Peotone. Gary/Chicago International Airport, located in nearby Gary, Indiana, serves as the third Chicagoland airport. However, as of mid-2006, the airport does not support any scheduled passengers service.

Utilities

Electricity for all of northern Illinois is provided by Commonwealth Edison, also known as ComEd. Their service territory borders Iroquois County to the south, the Wisconsin border to the north, the Iowa border to the west and the Indiana border to the east. In northern Illinois, ComEd (a division of Exelon) operates the greatest number of nuclear generating plants in any US state. Because of this, ComEd reports indicate that Chicago receives about 75% of its electricity from nuclear power.