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President Joe Biden’s proposed budget for next year includes $350 million for the planned Red Line extension, which could send L trains as far south as 130th Street.
But the funding is a long way from being approved — at least for now — as it still needs Congress’ approval before getting the president’s signature.
The potential funding is a critical part of the Red Line extension project, which the CTA expects to cost $3.6 billion. Last September, the agency said it was in line to receive a total of $1.9 billion in federal funding. The proposed $350 million is part of that funding, the CTA said Wednesday.
“The CTA greatly appreciates the support from our federal partners who continuously push for the largest project in agency history to get off the ground,” CTA President Dorval Carter said in a news release.
The project is still in its planning stage, but CTA officials expect construction to begin next year.
The Red Line extension project will extend the south branch of the L line 5.6 miles from the current terminal at 95th Street to 130th Street. Four stations would be built near 103rd Street, 111th Street, Michigan Avenue and 130th Street.
That potential funding is a small part of $4 billion in the Biden administration’s 2025 budget to fund 14 large transit projects across the country.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg took credit Monday for recommending the projects, which include potential funding of $700 million for an Amtrak tunnel between New York and New Jersey and $118 million for a bus project in Madison, Wisconsin.
The CTA said it’s covering the remaining costs with $950 million from the local tax increment financing district, $130 million from the federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement program, $365 million in anticipated state funding and $182 million in CTA bonds and other sources.
Carter has delivered on the promise then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel made in 2015 — that Carter would win federal funding for major projects. But he has failed at day-to-day operations and customer service, mass transit experts say.
Four robberies or beatings occurred on the Red Line from May 6-10, carried out by at least four young women and a male, Chicago police said in a community alert.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s $800 million in tax changes and enhancements would help close the state’s budget deficit, the group noted, but “further tax increases could prove unsustainable for taxpayers given the State’s already high tax burden.”
Of the City Council’s 50 members, 19 — and counting — have signed a non-binding resolution demanding Carter’s ouster. The resolution lays out a lengthy bill of particulars against Carter.
State Sen. Ram Villivalam and state Rep. Eva-Dina Delgado are calling for the creation of the Metropolitan Mobility Authority to oversee all public transit operations and replace the RTA.
CTA President Carter has held the job since 2015 and has served under three mayors. It’s time for a new captain who can right CTA’s ship and restore public confidence in public transit’s future.
About 14% of those in the apprenticeship program found permanent full-time employment with the transit agency, a Sun-Times investigation found. Others, some strung along for years, remained in low-paying roles with no benefits.
Dorval Carter Jr. got a rough ride from CTA riders — but a markedly smoother one from the City Council’s Transportation Committee after recent efforts to increase hiring and promises to bolster service.
The Yellow Line, which connects north suburban Skokie to the city via the CTA, reopened to commuters Friday after a train collided with a snowplow on the tracks in November.
The transit agency has been running shuttle buses along the Skokie Swift line since the Nov. 16 crash near the Howard Street station, when a southbound train struck a CTA snowplow being used for training.
Sallina Sareth was found dead inside a top-floor apartment in the 5200 block of North Bernard Street Tuesday afternoon. An unidentified man was hospitalized in fair condition.
Pat Scala’s family ran Scala Packing Co., a meat wholesale business supplying restaurants. He promoted Italian beef sandwiches, now universally recognized as a Chicago icon, beyond the city and suburbs.
