Ryan Dickey
Metropolitan Planning Council is excited to see the City of Chicago moving forward on major upgrades for the Chicago Transit Authority's Red and Purple lines!
On Wednesday, Nov. 30, Chicago City Council approved the creation of a Transit TIF to fund major rehabilitation work on the CTA's busiest train line. The Transit TIF will dedicate a portion of the tax revenue from increased property values along the north part of the CTA Red Line to pay for the high-priority Red/Purple Modernization Project. Revenue from the Transit TIF will form part of the local match that the City must provide to receive a $1.1 billion federal grant.
With little or no funding help coming from the state, the Transit TIF allows Chicago to finance this critical transit investment without relying on help from Springfield. The legislation that enables the creation of this Transit TIF also gives the City the option to create future Transit TIFs for extending the CTA Red Line south, rebuilding the Forest Park branch of the CTA Blue Line or modernizing Chicago Union Station. Given our state's $43 billion infrastructure deficit and an uncertain future of federal funding from the Trump administration, Transit TIFs will be an important tool in ensuring that we are able to make the necessary investments in the transit assets that keep us moving and our economy growing.
Read more about the TIF and the Red/Purple Modernization at Streetsblog.