(The following article by Virginia Groark was posted on the Chicago Tribune website on May 18.)
CHICAGO — State grant money for Chicago Transit Authority rail cars, Metra station improvements and new Pace buses would lapse if it isn’t spent by June 30, under two bills pending before the General Assembly.
State legislators, who are facing a $1 billion gap in the upcoming budget, want to delay spending the $70 million that previously was awarded for regional transit projects.
But transit officials said withholding the money could jeopardize $200 million in federal dollars because some of the grants provide the local match necessary to leverage those funds. In addition, they said state grant money hasn’t been spent because it can take many years to implement some of the projects.
“You don’t just go down to the corner store and buy buses,” said Pace Executive Director T. J. Ross.
Bids must be solicited, a manufacturer must be picked and then it can take a year for the buses to be delivered, he added.
It’s unclear if the bills have the political backing to pass. House Speaker Michael Madigan’s spokesman, Steve Brown, said the House version doesn’t seem to be moving forward, even though Madigan is listed as a sponsor. But the sponsor of the Senate bill, Sen. Donne Trotter (D-Chicago), defended the legislation, citing the state’s budget crisis.
“Until we can be told that these dollars need to be reappropriated to them, we are not going to let it just sit around for another year,” he said.
The legislation creates another potential financial setback to the region’s three transit agencies, which already were forced to scale back their capital budgets this year because the state has not replaced the Illinois FIRST bonding program.
“The capital funding we really need to maintain the existing system and then to go on to expand the system to meet the challenges we face of reverse commutes and suburb-to-suburb travel is in jeopardy,” Regional Transportation Authority Executive Director Paula Thibeault said recently.
Thibeault and other RTA officials are in Springfield this week meeting with legislators and state officials to discuss the issue. The authority put together a two-page analysis that lists more than a dozen examples of projects that would be terminated, scaled back or delayed if the bills are passed.
But Illinois Department of Transportation spokesman Matt Vanover said none of the projects will be canceled. Instead, he said they will have to wait a year, though there is no guarantee the money will be available then.
According to the RTA, the projects include CTA plans to rehabilitate existing rail cars, make rail station improvements at various locations and upgrade the public address systems. The bulk of the CTA funds–about $46 million–would help pay for the rail cars, replacing existing cars that are more than 30 years old.
CTA has gone out to bid for 206 cars with additional options that could raise the total to 706 cars. About 50 cars would be part of the Brown Line expansion project, which will extend station platforms to accommodate eight train cars rather than six, CTA officials said.
For Metra, the legislation would affect rail station improvements in Round Lake Beach, preparatory work for a station at Roosevelt Road in Chicago and restoration of the 99th Street station in Beverly, officials said. It also would postpone construction of a new Metra station in Bartlett, which is a key element in the village’s town center redevelopment project, according to Jim Plonczynski, the village’s community development director.
For Pace, the legislation would affect the purchase of 45 buses and improvements to various bus garages. It would also affect the purchase and installation of traffic signal priority equipment, which enables buses to trigger or maintain a green light. The agency is counting on the devices to help its buses travel through suburbs more quickly.