I don't say this glibly, but I cannot stress enough how good Pritzker is for Illinois at this moment in time:

Gov. Pritzker announces $40.99B multi-year construction program

Jul 7, 2023

"SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) - Governor JB Pritzker announced the largest multi-year program to fix and repair infrastructure in state history: $40.99 billion over six years.

The new program is the first time in more than ten years that IDOT is releasing a comprehensive approach to invest in all modes of transportation: roads and bridges, aviation, transit, freight and passenger rail, waterways, as well as bicycle and pedestrian accommodations.

“Over the next six years, we’re investing over $40 billion to improve all modes of transportation across our great state. That means better roads and bridges, modernized transit and aviation, and expanded and faster passenger rail service,” said Governor Pritzker. “Rebuild Illinois has increased safety, efficiency, and opportunities for residents all over the state — and over the next few years, we will keep building on that progress, with all 102 counties of Illinois included in the multi-year program.”

The Fiscal Year 2024-29 Proposed Highway and Multimodal Improvement Program will invest $27.03 billion in roads and bridges, with $4.6 billion identified for the current fiscal year.

A total of $13.96 billion is planned for other modes, which includes $9.85 billion for transit, $2.67 billion for freight and passenger rail, $1.25 billion for aviation and $190 million for ports and waterways.

Projects are spread out across state and local transportation systems, across each of the 102 counties in Illinois.

The program aims to improve 3,006 miles of highway roads and just over 9.8 million square feet of bridge deck on the state system, with anticipated funding maintaining 738 miles of roads and 1.1 million square feet of bridge deck for infrastructure overseen by local governments.

The program will increase the investment in Illinois roads and bridges by $2.43 billion over six years...."

https://www.wandtv.com/news/gov-prit...ff0e95437.html

Indeed.

I've taken the Van Galder to Madison several times and... not sure it's ever been early into Union Station?
This is the Rockford station https://www.google.com/maps/@42.2689...6656?entry=ttu

yeah, weird location for Huntley (I guess... cheap land? but not even within the village limits!), but great for IRM. Much better than biking there from Woodstock which is probably the best current option for getting there without a car.

Do we know which projects this money is ticketed for? How does it tie in with the CREATE program? I assume some goes toward Red Line Extension, but I can't find a project-based breakdown.

Important to remember this is a spending plan based on forecasted revenues, but revenues go up and down and priorities change year-to-year. Also note some projects are "in the plan" but allocated at $0 because leaders still want to do them, but there's no money available. So basically take this with a big grain of salt.

PDF
Road/Highway Projects
Multimodal Projects

ArcGIS Map:
Highway
Multimodal

It looks like projects for RTA service boards (CTA, Metra, Pace) are not included here. Some highlights:

O'Hare Work:
$550M for the new T2 Global Terminal and Satellite Concourses
$611M to rebuild I-190 and ramps/interchanges

Midway Work:
$53M for "Terminal Building Envelope" - could be an exterior reno, or just a really big roofing job
$21M for "Multimodal Access" - possibly improvements/rerouting of the pedestrian corridor from the terminal to the Orange Line station

Freight Rail/CREATE
$183M for Ogden Junction project - this will replace all of the crumbling viaducts along the Rockwell Sub, which runs thru East Garfield Park, Tri-Taylor and North Lawndale.
$497M for projects along the 75th St Corridor (Forest Hill Flyover, track work, Metra SWS Flyover, Columbus Ave underpass, Auburn Park bridge raising)
$60M for an underpass at Archer Ave/Kenton
$32M for Pullman Junction upgrade
$48M for Dolton Interlocking upgrade
$97M for noise abatement around Clearing Yard in Bedford Park

Passenger Rail
$222M to complete the Chicago-St Louis project (not sure what work is remaining still)
$274M for Metra to Rockford
$392M for Amtrak to Quad Cities
$99M for upgrades to the Amtrak Illini/Saluki Corridor, mostly downstate but also some will go to Union Station Access

Roads/Highways
$1.1B to rebuild/widen I-80 through Minooka, Joliet, New Lenox including new Des Plaines River bridges
$12M to study the core part of the Kennedy/Dan Ryan between Ohio St and 31st St (hopefully highway caps will be studied, but not explicitly mentioned)
$366M to rebuild or rehab 20 crumbling bridges along the Eisenhower between Maywood and the Loop. Here's hoping for wider sidewalks, bike lanes and better pedestrian connections...
$27M to rebuild Ida B Wells Drive where it tunnels through the Old Post Office.
$82M to rebuild the 95th St/Stony Island intersection including rail viaducts (this is not a CREATE project but CREATE-adjacent)
$91M to elevate the intersection of Harlem/65th above the Belt Railway tracks (this is also a CREATE project)
$142M to build a new road overpass on Rte 60/83 over the EJ&E in Mundelein
$54M to rebuild the Pershing Road overpass at Racine Ave

I'm confused..... Why do they have the runway extensions and additions for the O'Hare modernization program listed in there?

Took the Blue Line to/from O'Hare to the Loop this week and it was an excellent choice! Only $5 to get to the Loop, and $3 to get back to O'Hare... waaay cheaper than an Uber or taxi. Trains had frequent headways and and were reasonably clean and safe. When I went back to O'Hare in the morning I saw the rush hour trains coming in and they were packed like sardines in there! Chicago has a very enviable transit system... definitely one of the best in the US. I liked how the stations have lots of CTA employees around.

The cuts to Amtrak proposed by House republicans would basically kill the Chicago Hub Improvement Program. Here's hoping the Senate's appropriations to maintain funding levels succeed.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/2023/7/...ding-editorial

Blue Line Forest Park Branch Rebuild - Phase I
 

July 25, 2023









https://www.transitchicago.com/asset...d-Brochure.pdf

Damn - They aren't wasting any time on this.

From Twitter if you’re looking for something to do Friday night:

I hope CTA can get the funding for the rest of Forest Park branch.

I assume they're waiting to see if they can do it at the same time they rebuild the highway.

Given how relatively wide that stretch of the blue-line is, I feel like there is a really major missed opportunity to prepare the tracks for future HSR, especially if there was some sort of extension/connection to either the UP/Green line to the north, or the BNSF line to the south. Not really sure how, but those two lines seem like the best extensions of existing lines for HSR heading west from Chicago :shrug:
Pipe dream, I know, but still nice to think about.

A youtube blogger who loves HSR but is realistic about pairing up cities for HSR, only has one good, not great, just good, midwest city pair. Chicago to Indianapolis, with a score around 5. He uses a gravity model for rnaking, or scoring city pairs for HSR. Almost the entire NEC scores over 20, DFW to Houston and LA to LV around 10, and just about all other city pairs in the USA scored below 5.
Going west of Chicago, as I recall, none scored over 2.5. If you wish to learn more, visit City Nerd you tube site and this particular video.
https://youtu.be/pwgZfZxzuQU
And this specific one for Chicago
https://youtu.be/TcCQko9vJBg
The best city from Chicago for a HSR line is Indianaoplis again. Grand Rapids Michigan to the east outdraws any city to the west. He fully explains his gravity model based on population of both cities multiplied together divided by the square of the distance between them, with an additional modification per his ridership, elapse time graph. Why preserve a right of way to the west where there are zero good HSR city pairs?

I don't think it's a particularly useful path for HSR.

The best use I can think of is for an O'Hare Express train, but it's gonna be cheaper to just run that train via the existing Metra NCS line with upgrades to let it bypass freight and other Metra trains. Fortunately there are no plans to use this space for anything else, including highway lanes, so it'll be there for decades to come if a new need arises.

This based on Alon Levy's ridership model which has known shortcomings. The closest international comparison to the Midwest is France, with Chicago as Paris and then lines radiating out to other cities. Alon readily admits his model does not accurately predict the actual HSR ridership in France. Not to mention, the "outlying cities" in the Midwest are much larger than those in France.

It's true that American cities tend to be more auto-oriented than Europe or Asia, but it's also true that people will put up with a lot of inconvenience to save some money. Make the train the same cost as driving or cheaper, and people will flock to the trains despite the lack of local transit/last mile connections.

As the article notes, this has little chance of passing in its current form.

And if Amtrak/FRA/Biden administration is concerned about losing CHIP, then maybe they should just award the damn grant already.

If Pritzker wants credit on repairing infrastructure, how about not spending two years replacing a culvert for a little ditch under Rt. 83? Most days there is no one working at all.
Finish the projects started before planning new work.

Gia Biagi Resigning as CDOT Commissioner

https://chicago.suntimes.com/city-ha...outdoor-dining