Preferred alignment for CTA Red Line extension selected

CTA

The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) has selected a preferred alignment for the Red Line Extension (RLE) project, which is set to extend the Red Line to 130th Street from 95th Street.  

The RLE project is intended to provide new access to rail service for the city’s Far South Side residents, CTA said.

“Today, we are taking a major step towards extending the Red Line to 130th Street and delivering the jobs and economic opportunities that go with it,” Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said. “By extending the Red Line south we are strengthening Chicagoans’ connections to each other, to opportunity and to the world.”

The proposed 5.3-mile extension would include four new stations near 103rd Street, 111th Street, Michigan Avenue and 130th Street. Each new station would feature bus and parking facilities, as well.

The CTA said it received extensive public feedback and technical analysis regarding the RLE project.

The transit authority selected a route for the project that would:

• Begin the extension at 95th Street and run along the west side of the Union Pacific Railroad tracks from I-57 south to approximately 109th Street
• Cross the Union Pacific Railroad tracks and run along the east side of the tracks until crossing the Metra Electric tracks near 119th Street
• Continue south to 130th Street

“We are happy to introduce our preferred alignment for the Red Line Extension, a transformational project that will expand rail service to Chicago’s southernmost communities and create better access to jobs, education and opportunities,” CTA President Dorval R. Carter, Jr. said. “We made this selection based on feedback from the community, and look forward to moving forward on this project.”

The CTA said the preferred RLE alignment would minimize the effects on local businesses and homes and takes advantage of several large, vacant sections of land that will enable economic development opportunities.

The RLE project is part of Mayor Emanuel and CTA’s “Red Ahead” plan for the Red Line that includes the ongoing $280 million construction of a new 95th Street Terminal, which is set for completion in 2018.

The CTA also said the project is expected to facilitate more than 6,000 jobs.

CTA will host a public open house on Feb. 13 to present the alignment to the community. The transit authority is set to produce a final Environmental Impact Study (EIS) that will include further preliminary engineering work and analyze impacts of the proposed alignment.

The engineering work must be completed before CTA can apply for more than $1 billion in federal funds to support the project, which has an estimated cost of $2.3 billion.

CTA said it intends to apply to the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) for entry into the Project Development Phase of this project, which would allow the transit authority to pursue federal funding for the project under the competitive federal “New Starts” program.