Chicago Gets a $1.1 Billion Federal Grant for North Side Transit Improvements

"The Chicago Transit Authority has secured nearly $1.1 billion in federal grant money for major upgrades to North Side CTA tracks to reduce delays and overcrowding," report Mary Wisniewski and Nereida Moreno.

The federal funding required matching local funding, which required the city to quickly approve a new special taxing district. "The city had been working to land the grant before President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in Jan. 20," add Wisniewski and Moreno. The taxing district is "expected to generate more than $851 million over the next 17 years"—almost all of which will go toward the North Side CTA project.

"The grant will be used to replace the track structure and improve bridges and viaducts between Lawrence and Bryn Mawr avenues," according to the article. The grant will also go toward upgraded signals between Belmont Avenue and Howard Street and "to build a 'flyover' that will separate the Red and Purple line tracks from the Brown Line tracks north of Belmont Avenue."