The Chicago Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) Board of Directors recently authorized issuance of up to $100 million of 30-year general obligation RTA bonds to finance multiple state of good repair projects to bolster the condition of the region’s transit infrastructure.
“State and federal dollars are not sufficient to support our capital needs, so the RTA is using its bonding authority to keep our region in a state of good repair,” said RTA Board Chairman John Gates, Jr. “Our region needs approximately $33 billion to bring the existing system to a state of good repair. The RTA is meeting a portion of the need with this bond issuance. The recent favorable reports from the three ratings services only reinforce the importance of the RTA and its ability to benefit the region in this way.”
The bonding will fund projects that benefit the region’s public transit riders through enhancements to Chicago Transportation Authority, Metra and Pace bus capital assets, specifically tied to state of good repair, in the categories of rolling Stock, track and structure, electric signal and communications and stations and passenger facilities
Qualifying projects would include projects that upon completion would have a useful life of at least 20 years; projects that will reduce the region’s state of good repair backlog and projects that replace assets, which fall into the category of “worn” or “marginal” as identified in the Capital Asset Condition Assessment.
