There is a new and exciting era of bipartisan cooperation among city, state and federal officials in their pursuit of addressing critical mass transportation infrastructure needs. This cooperative effort has led to the passage of a transportation appropriation bill authorizing an additional $832 million in federal funds for Chicago-area transportation needs, including $565 million for critical Chicago Transit Authority projects.
The bill now goes to the White House for the president’s approval.
Illinois residents’ federal tax dollars will not be going to fix problems in some distant region of the country but will be reinvested right back into northeastern Illinois. We have seen tremendous support from our elected officials. Gov. George Ryan’s Illinois FIRST legislation provided the federally required matching funds and helped the state’s projects earn a strong recommendation. Our efforts were also aided by the strong support of Mayor Richard Daley, Sen. Richard Durbin, Sen. Peter Fitzgerald, House Speaker Dennis Hastert, Congressman William Lipinski and the entire Illinois delegation who have all been strong backers of public transit and worked successfully to meet the transportation needs of the region and the state.
The Chicago Transit Authority stands to receive $565 million in funding for renovation work on two CTA rail lines. The funding would mean $320 million to reconstruct the Cermak (Douglas) Branch of the Blue Line, which serves the Near Southwest Side, from Pilsen out to Cicero. Parts of the line are more than 100 years old, and its deteriorated condition has led to slower service and a loss in ridership.
The CTA Brown (formerly Ravenswood) Line serves Chicago’s Near Northwest Side. In recent years, ridership on the line has increased greatly and rush-hour trains are jammed. The $245 million would allow the CTA to extend platforms at Brown Line stations so that longer trains could be used in rush-hour service to increase capacity.
We all need to take note of the fact that securing federal dollars of this magnitude required tremendous statesmanship and forethought, and it was provided by our elected officials at every level. Without Gov. Ryan’s initiative in developing the Illinois FIRST funding program during his first year in office, the reality is that Illinois would not have been in a position to even compete for these federal funds.
Mayor Daley has been a strong supporter of the CTA locally and led several delegations to Washington, D.C., to lobby on our behalf. As decisions have been finalized, the decisive leadership of Speaker Hastert on this issue has made all the difference.
Now with the necessary funding in place, we can begin the task of putting these dollars to work by improving the quality of mass-transit service we provide the Chicagoland region.
