The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) announced that the Red Line expansion Project, which would construct a 5.6-mile expansion of the Red Line to 130th Street, will get an additional $100 million in federal financing, bringing the project closer to the CTA’s goal of starting ground in 2025.
The government Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement (CMAQ)/Carbon Reduction Programme will fund the project with a $100 million grant, following a $30 million award from the same source in 2021. The news comes after the government Transit Administration announced in September 2023 that the RLE project would receive $1.973 billion in government “New Starts” financing.
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The Red Line Extension, brought about by then-Mayor Richard J. Daley in 1969, will seek to expand the CTA Red Line from 95th Street all the way down to the city’s southern boundary around 130th Street. The $3.6 billion project, which is now in the design phase, will add another 5.6 miles of heavy rail and connect the Far South Side communities with four additional stops. The Red Line will start at 103rd and Eggleston, 111th and Eggleston, Michigan Avenue at 116th, and 130th Street near Altgeld Gardens. Along the new lines at 120th St., the project also includes a train storage yard and repair shop building.
More on the funding for the Red Line expansion project
The remaining money for the project will come from a $950 million Transit TIF approved by Chicago City Council in 2022, as well as other sources. The CTA plans to award construction contracts in late 2024 and start building in 2025. The new Red Line Extension is scheduled to open in 2029. “CTA is successfully putting together the critical funding we need to build the transformational Red Line Extension, which will increase access to transit for Far South Side residents and serve as an economic catalyst for the region,” said Dorval R. Carter Jr., president of the CTA.
