As interesting as infrastructure is to most people, it's possible this was a bigger story yesterday:
Gov. Pat Quinn on Wednesday put his signature on a historic measure making Illinois the 16th state to allow same-sex marriage, capping a 40-year push for gay rights that picked up major momentum during the past decade.
The bill-signing illustrated the rapidly changing views in Illinois and the nation on gay rights. Supporters first introduced an anti-discrimination bill in the legislature in 1974. It didn't became law until 2005. It took an additional six years for civil unions to be approved, but only about half that time for the gay marriage measure.
Still, support for same-sex marriage is far from universal in Illinois. As politicians talked up the merits of gay marriage in Chicago, down in Springfield, a crowd gathered for an exorcism by the local Catholic bishop in protest of the governor's action.
Excellent. Illinois becomes the 16th state to achieve marriage equality, and the best the opposition can do is hold a (literally) medieval ceremony down the street. Welcome to the 21st Century.
This brings the total number of people living in U.S. marriage-equality jurisdictions to 109.2 million, roughly 35% of the population.