Durbin, Duckworth, Emanuel Announce $1.48 Million for CTA Red Line Improvements
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel today announced $1,480,000 in federal funding to support improvements for the Chicago Transit Authority’s (CTA) Red Line. The funding, awarded by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), will support the planning of the proposed extension of the Red Line, connecting the 95th/Dan Ryan Terminal to 130th Street.
"This grant funding will continue to help improve the CTA’s infrastructure, which in turn helps revitalize neighborhoods and create jobs,” Durbin said. “Senator Duckworth and I will continue to work to bring Illinois' public transit infrastructure into the 21st century."
“Federal investments like these will improve Chicago’s public transit system to better connect the city’s residents and visitors, improve work commutes and create the good-paying jobs that grow the region’s economy,” Duckworth said. “I’ll keep working with Senator Durbin and others to modernize Chicago’s infrastructure and improve transportation systems across Illinois.”
“The CTA is in the midst of an unprecedented modernization and this grant funding will allow us to continue with those improvements.” Emanuel said. “Extending the Red Line south will help move our city forward, create jobs, drive development, connect residents and secure our place as a world-class city in the 21st century.”
Today’s funding comes from the DOT’s Transit-Oriented Development Pilot Planning Program, which provides funding to local communities to integrate land use and transportation planning with a new fixed guideway or core capacity transit capital investment. Comprehensive planning funded through the program must examine ways to improve economic development and ridership, foster multimodal connectivity and accessibility, improve transit access for pedestrian and bicycle traffic, engage the private sector, identify infrastructure needs, and enable mixed-use development near transit stations.
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