Monday, September 23, 2019

Red Line extension slipping away? #Ward09


I found this article from The Chicago Crusader over at the resource for Chicago transit history - Chicago-L.org
With Trump now in office, the chances of securing federal funds for the Red Line Extension project are slim. And with the lower property values of the Red Line Extension Project area, the Metropolitan Planning Council has estimated that, at best, an RLE transit TIF would raise only $200 million over the next 35 years.

To his credit, Emanuel spent $280 million to rebuild the 95th Street Red Line station that opened last January.

When compared to other projects on the North Side, including the latest Red-Purple Bypass project, the South Side projects looks like peanuts and another example of the inequity of services between the North and the South Sides.

During the mayoral campaign many candidates including Lori Lightfoot, in political forums, acknowledged that federal funding is the only real option for financing the Red Line Extension Project. But none had come up with creative alternatives for a project that has been on the back burner for so long.

Last summer Governor JB Pritzker passed his $41.5 billion capital spending plan, which would be spent on public roads, transit, schools and other public, state-wide projects. Transportation would get $28.6 billion and $3.4 billion will go to mass transit. There was no mention of funds going towards the Red Line Extension project and no one made a fuss about it, not even Black leaders.

Shortly after he was elected, Pritzker said funds for the Red Line Extension project would come from the Illinois Transportation and infrastructure funding bill, which is part of his passed $41.5 billion capital spending plan. Since then, Pritzker has been largely silent. With Trump in the White House and little funding and vocal leadership, Pritzker seems the only leader whose administration can keep the Red Line Extension project from being a dream deferred.
Especially noted was the efforts to secure funding for improvements to the Red, Purple, and Brown Lines on the north side. This was noted as the largest capital project in CTA history... 

1 comment:

  1. Once a new Democratic White House administration wins in 2020, all threats to funding this project ceases. (https://myrinnew.com)

    ReplyDelete

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