Chicago’s CTA receives $20 million TIGER grant

Illinois will receive a total of $44,288,000 in TIGER grant funding for three Illinois projects in the Chicagoland area and Alton. The grants represent approximately eight percent of total funding available through the program.

The following projects will receive funding:

$20,000,000 – Chicago Transit Authority’s Blue Line/Chicago Bike Share Program
Grant funding for the Chicago Transit Authority will help complete a project to repair 3.6 miles of track on the CTA’s Blue Line between Damen Avenue and Belmont Avenue finishing all track improvements between Chicago’s Downtown Loop and O’Hare International Airport. This project targets deteriorated track in the remaining area of the Blue Line between the Loop and O’Hare Airport which has not yet been completed. It will alleviate CTA maintenance and operating costs, improve the deteriorated infrastructure and allow for shorter headways between trains. The TIGER grant will also help jumpstart Chicago’s planned bike-sharing program. The bike-share program will give Chicagoans access to bike-share facilities at and around CTA bus and rail stations, giving travelers another option to get to their final destination.

$13,850,000 – Multimodal Transportation Center in Alton, Ill.
Grant funding for the Madison County Transit Board of Trustees and the city of Alton will help create a multimodal transportation center in conjunction with the new high-speed intercity passenger rail station in Alton, Ill. The project will support a major expansion of eco-tourism to the Mississippi River region as well as a $72 million public-private investment in the planned Wadlow Town Center redevelopment project on Homer Adams Parkway.

The $13,850,000 in funding will help provide roadway and pedestrian access to the new Amtrak station and for construction of the multimodal and related infrastructure. It will also allow Madison County Transit to improve connectivity through the region including Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, which attracts more than one-third of its 14,000-student body from metro Chicago and other cities along the high-speed rail corridor.