Transportation bill may bring more transit funds to Chicago

A new federal transportation bill contains some good news for Chicago’s transit users and also includes provisions that advocates say will reduce the dangers posed by the dozens of crude-oil trains that pass through the area each week.

Transportation officials say the CTA, Metra and Pace stand to gain as much as 11 percent more federal funding for big-ticket capital projects as a result of the proposed legislation. The money would help keep infrastructure such as bridges and tracks in good condition and pay for new equipment.

The $305 billion bill would extend federal transportation funding for five years and bring “fiscal certainty” to the transit agencies as they plan for the years ahead, according to Joe Szabo, executive director of the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, and former head of the Federal Railroad Administration…Please click here to read Richard Wronski’s story in the Tribune.