Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot unveiled a proposal Wednesday for a massive new Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district that would help provide financial backing to a $3.6-billion extension of the CTA’s Red Line on the city’s Far South Side.
The proposed extension would run for 5.6 miles between the Red Line’s current stopping point at 95th Street to 130th Street, according to officials.
Four new stations would be added along the route, with park-and-ride facilities installed at each station to help facilitate vehicular and bike traffic in those areas. A new railcar storage and maintenance facility would also be constructed at 120th Street, officials said.
In all, the project is expected to cost $3.6 billion. The proposed TIF district would pump in an estimated $959 million in funding for the project, with the remaining $2 billion expected to come from the federal government and other sources.
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The project must still be approved by the City Council, and a vote on the measure isn't expected until December at the earliest.
“The Red Line Extension project represents one of the most critical investments in CTA’s history, and will undoubtedly be a transformative development for our Far South Side community.”
According to officials, 67 million riders used the Red Line in 2019, making it the CTA’s most heavily-used line.
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If approved, the TIF would be the second created specifically for transit in Chicago. The first was designed to help fund the Red Purple Modernization project, generating $622 million in funding toward the $2.1 billion project.
According to a press release, a Transit Facility Improvement Area would be designated between Madison Street and 134th Street, stretching in one half-mile in each direction. That would designate where TIF funds could be spent.
A Redevelopment Project Area would also be designated between Madison and Pershing Road, which would generate property tax growth on 7,726 parcels of land spread out across 1,445 acres within a half-mile of the TFIA.
Finally, a TIF redevelopment plan would be designed to outline the scope, budget and allocation of funds generated by the new district.
“The Red Line Extension will be one of the single-biggest investments on the Far South Side in decades,” CTA President Dorval Carter Jr. said in a statement. “RLE has been a community-input-driven project form the start, and members of the surrounding communities will remain vital in helping shape this project and its path forward.”
Under the terms of the plan, which can be viewed on the Chicago City Clerk’s website, tracks for the project would be elevated between 95th Street and 119th Street before returning to street level through 130th Street on the Far South Side.
Stations would be constructed at 103rd Street, 111th Street, near the intersection of Michigan Avenue and 116th Street, and at 130th Street near the Altgeld Gardens housing complex, according to officials.
