Cars pass the 95th Street Red Line Station, the train station currently the farthest south on the line and where the Chicago Transit Authority plans to extend from in 2025, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, in Chicago.
Chicago Transit Authority spokesperson Tammy Chase talks about the expansion of the Red Line train route in front of a boarded-up property set for demolition to make room for a new train station on West 111th Street, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, in the Roseland neighborhood of Chicago.
A sign reads "Ready, Set, Soon!" on a boarded-up property set for demolition to make room for a new train station where the Chicago Transit Authority plans to expand the Red Line train route on West 111th Street, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, in the Roseland neighborhood of Chicago.
Adella Bass, health equity director with the People for Community Recovery environmental organization, stands outside the branch of the Chicago Public Library on the far South Side in the Altgeld Gardens community where she lives and works, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, in Chicago, where the Chicago Transit Authority plans to expand the Red Line train route.
Altgeld Gardens, the far South Side Chicago Housing Authority community where the Chicago Transit Authority plans to expand the Red Line train route, is seen Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, in Chicago.
Altgeld Gardens, the far South Side Chicago Housing Authority community where the Chicago Transit Authority plans to expand the Red Line train route, is seen Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, in Chicago.
Ledall Edwards stands inside his family's men's clothing store, Edward's Fashions, which his father opened 50 years ago with the hopes of a southern Red Line train line expansion, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, in the Roseland neighborhood of Chicago.
Buildings across from an empty lot where the Chicago Transit Authority plans to expand the Red Line train route sit along South Michigan Avenue, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, in the Roseland neighborhood of Chicago.
Ledall Edwards stands outside his family's men's clothing store, Edward's Fashions, which his father opened 50 years ago with the hopes of a southern Red Line train line expansion, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, in the Roseland neighborhood of Chicago.
A sign reads "CTA Red Line Extension is coming!" on a boarded-up property set for demolition to make room for a new train station where the Chicago Transit Authority plans to expand the Red Line train route on West 111th Street, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, in the Roseland neighborhood of Chicago.
Isolated Chicago communities secure money for a coveted transit project before Trump takes office
Decades after a former Chicago mayor pledged to extend transit to the city69制片厂制作传媒檚 far South Side, the federal government is committing to the massive project just before President Joe Biden leaves office
Cars pass the 95th Street Red Line Station, the train station currently the farthest south on the line and where the Chicago Transit Authority plans to extend from in 2025, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, in Chicago.
Erin Hooley - staff, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Chicago Transit Authority spokesperson Tammy Chase talks about the expansion of the Red Line train route in front of a boarded-up property set for demolition to make room for a new train station on West 111th Street, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, in the Roseland neighborhood of Chicago.
Erin Hooley - staff, ASSOCIATED PRESS
A sign reads "Ready, Set, Soon!" on a boarded-up property set for demolition to make room for a new train station where the Chicago Transit Authority plans to expand the Red Line train route on West 111th Street, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, in the Roseland neighborhood of Chicago.
Erin Hooley - staff, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Adella Bass, health equity director with the People for Community Recovery environmental organization, stands outside the branch of the Chicago Public Library on the far South Side in the Altgeld Gardens community where she lives and works, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, in Chicago, where the Chicago Transit Authority plans to expand the Red Line train route.
Erin Hooley - staff, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Altgeld Gardens, the far South Side Chicago Housing Authority community where the Chicago Transit Authority plans to expand the Red Line train route, is seen Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, in Chicago.
Erin Hooley - staff, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Altgeld Gardens, the far South Side Chicago Housing Authority community where the Chicago Transit Authority plans to expand the Red Line train route, is seen Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, in Chicago.
Erin Hooley - staff, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Ledall Edwards stands inside his family's men's clothing store, Edward's Fashions, which his father opened 50 years ago with the hopes of a southern Red Line train line expansion, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, in the Roseland neighborhood of Chicago.
Erin Hooley - staff, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Buildings across from an empty lot where the Chicago Transit Authority plans to expand the Red Line train route sit along South Michigan Avenue, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, in the Roseland neighborhood of Chicago.
Erin Hooley - staff, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Ledall Edwards stands outside his family's men's clothing store, Edward's Fashions, which his father opened 50 years ago with the hopes of a southern Red Line train line expansion, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, in the Roseland neighborhood of Chicago.
Erin Hooley - staff, ASSOCIATED PRESS
A sign reads "CTA Red Line Extension is coming!" on a boarded-up property set for demolition to make room for a new train station where the Chicago Transit Authority plans to expand the Red Line train route on West 111th Street, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, in the Roseland neighborhood of Chicago.
CHICAGO (AP) 69制片厂制作传媒 Adella Bass dropped her in-person college classes because it was just too hard to get there from the far South Side of Chicago, where the city's famous elevated train doesn't run. And it can take her nearly two hours to get to the hospital where she is treated for a heart condition.
But things are looking up, with bright red signs across the area boldly proclaiming, "Ready, Set, Soon!69制片厂制作传媒 Next year, the city is poised to start making good on a decades-old promise to connect some of its most isolated, poor and polluted neighborhoods to the rest of the city through mass transit.
The Biden administration notified Congress last week that it would commit $1.9 billion toward a nearly $5.7 billion project to add four new L stations on the South Side, the Chicago system69制片厂制作传媒檚 largest expansion project in history. The pledge, which the Federal Transit Administration is expected to formally sign before President Joe Biden leaves office in January, essentially locks in current and future funding.
Still, Bass fears might try to scuttle it.
Signals abound to assure residents that the project is 69制片厂制作传媒渁 go,69制片厂制作传媒 said Bass, who is raising three young children and works on health equity issues that affect residents of a massive public housing development near her South Side home. "But you just never know with Trump.69制片厂制作传媒
Could Trump slash transit funding?
The $1 trillion infrastructure plan in 2021 focused far more heavily on transit than anything his predecessor advocated. That is why there has been a scramble to finalize some transit grants before Biden's term ends, including commitments last week for rapid transit upgrades in San Antonio and Salt Lake City.
Yonah Freemark, a researcher at the Urban Institute, said Trump unsuccessfully encouraged Congress in his first term to pass budgets eliminating funding for some new transit projects that hadn't secured their grant agreements. But it has been practically unheard of for administrations to claw back projects after they won final approval.
Steve Davis, who handles transportation strategy for Smart Growth America, said Trump could try to redirect future competitive grants to over alternative transportation methods such as transit. He said Trump's Transportation Department could potentially slow down some allocations from already approved infrastructure projects but would have trouble halting them entirely.
69制片厂制作传媒淚f you're building an enormous $2 billion road widening, you need to know you're going to have money in year four or five and there's nothing a hostile administration could do to stop it,69制片厂制作传媒 Davis said.
Bringing back jobs through access
One of the communities that would be served by a new Chicago L station is Roseland, a once-thriving, predominantly Black business district that has fallen victim to the loss of manufacturing and a spike in crime.
Jervon Hicks, who spent many years in and out of jail on gun charges, turned his life around and ended up becoming a mentor for at-risk youth. The new station could help quicken the same transition for others, he said.
69制片厂制作传媒淩oseland needs a makeover,69制片厂制作传媒 Hicks said. 69制片厂制作传媒淲e lack a pet store. We used to have a theater. Take some of these abandoned buildings and turn them into job opportunities.69制片厂制作传媒
Unlike the busy 69制片厂制作传媒淢agnificent Mile69制片厂制作传媒 shopping district on Michigan Avenue in the downtown Chicago Loop, the business district on South Michigan Avenue in Roseland has fallen from more than 90% occupancy decades ago to around 10% now.
Among the surviving businesses is Edwards Fashions. Owner Ledall Edwards hopes transportation will spur more to return.
69制片厂制作传媒淚 don69制片厂制作传媒檛 think it69制片厂制作传媒檒l get to the level it was back in the 1970s, but I think the environment is going to improve because of the accessibility," he said. 69制片厂制作传媒淵ou69制片厂制作传媒檙e going to be able to get people here in this area much faster.69制片厂制作传媒
Rogers Jones, who for 30 years has run the Youth Peace Center next to the future train station, said he can't wait for the transformation.
69制片厂制作传媒淭he community is going to change,69制片厂制作传媒 Jones said. 69制片厂制作传媒淚t69制片厂制作传媒檚 going to be a vibrant community, and people are excited. I know I69制片厂制作传媒檓 excited.69制片厂制作传媒
A 55-year-old promise
Former Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley told residents of Roseland and surrounding areas in 1969 that the L would eventually expand there.
Tammy Chase, a spokesperson for the Chicago Transit Authority, said the cost then would have been $114 million compared to around $5.7 billion now, a figure that would keep rising the longer construction is delayed.
The agency has hired a construction firm, opened a Roseland office in a former paint store and begun boarding up homes that will be demolished for the tracks to run through. Ground is expected to be broken in late 2025, Chase said.
U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley of Illinois, the top Democrat on the subcommittee that oversees transportation spending, points out Chicago's transit system survived wars and depression. It surely also can withstand a pandemic and a presidential administration with different priorities, he said.
69制片厂制作传媒淭he big infrastructure projects stand the test of time,69制片厂制作传媒 Quigley said. "These ups and downs, you have to adjust to them, but you recognize transit always comes back. If transit doesn69制片厂制作传媒檛 come back, it stymies opportunities going forward.69制片厂制作传媒
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