Chicago seeks funds from Biden bill for long-awaited Red Line extension

Chicago hopes to spend at least a quarter of the $4 billion Illinois expects from President Biden’s $1 trillion infrastructure bill to help fund an extension of the Red Line, boosting development in the city’s Far South Side. 

The Chicago Transit Authority says the money is sorely needed for the $2.3 billion Red Line project, first proposed a decade ago, the Chicago Business Journal reported. It would extend rail service from 95th Street, where it now ends, to 130th and add four new stations in between.

“Projects of this magnitude will require federal funding, which CTA is pursuing from a variety of sources, including roughly $1 billion in Capital Investment Grant funds,” Catherine Hosinski, a spokesperson for the CTA, told the Journal.

The extension would be the largest economic development opportunity on the Far South Side in decades and create thousands of jobs in communities located along the route.

“As a part of the Red Line Extension project, the CTA is seeking to address barriers to sustainable employment for residents within the project area and people from economically disadvantaged zip codes,” Hosinski said.

Even if the city secures the funds, the agency faces hurdles. It first needs to complete a Transit Supportive Development Plan that will guide future developments and support the surrounding community’s vision by the end of the year. The next step would be to complete environmental and preliminary engineering work.

[Chicago Business Journal] – Connie Kim