The acting head of the Illinois Department of Transportation on Thursday called the $848 million Interstate 80 plan the “signature” project in the state’s largest capital bill ever.

“We are committed to it,” Omer Osman, the acting state transportation secretary, said of the I-80 project at a luncheon meeting for the Joliet Region Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Comment: Savings from the buyout program will be negligible; it’s a sham. Consolidation is a good idea and will result in some savings for the local pensions, but nothing that meaningfully alters their course.

Some cities are proving to be uniquely problematic, with Chicago, for example, a particularly extreme case. While the city contributed a substantial 33.2 percent of its revenue toward servicing the city’s pensions, the city would have needed to contribute a staggering 66.3 percent of its revenues in order to maintain its existing liability.

Practically without substantive opposition beyond backstabbing within the gambling industry itself, three decades of Illinois lawmakers gradually upping the ante on legalized wagering as a solution to government revenue needs gave way to an “all in” explosion of new and larger gambling venues and more ways for people to part with their money —including online and sports betting.

More than 71,000 people collecting public pensions from six statewide retirement plans have moved out of Illinois, taking more than $2.4 billion annually with them.