Leaders break ground on Red Line extension

WEST PULLMAN (WBBM Newsradio) -- People living on Chicago's Far South side are now closer than ever to having a CTA Red line stop near their homes, after elected and community leaders formally broke ground on the long-promised and long-delayed extenson of the transit line.

Friday's groundbreaking at 115th and Michigan represented the ceremonial first step toward building one of the four new Red Line stations planned as part of the extension past 95th Street to 130th.

"The $5.7 billion project is the single largest transit investment in the history of the Far South side," Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson said to applause from the crowd seated under a giant tent at the groundbreaking site.

Many speakers noted that train service to Roseland, West Pullman and other Far South neighborhoods was part of the original "L" plan in the 1960s, but decades of what they described as deliberate disinvestment led to the six-decade-long delay.

"In the early '80s, we were talking about this moment," said State Sen. Elgie Sims (D-17th District). "We were talking about the promise this day would bring. And there have been folks that have been born, and folks that have gone on to glory, before this moment came."

Others noted the city's legal fight with the Trump Administration, which tried to derail already-promised funding over minority contracting provisions until a judge stepped in. Acting CTA President Nora Leehrsen suggested Chicago's legal challenge should not have been a surprise: "I'm not sure they knew exactly who they were dealing with."

Another instrumental figure in securing the Red Line funding, retiring Illinois U.S. Senator, Dick Durbin added: "In (President Trump's) craziness he's never going to stop the Red Line."

The extension project is expected to generate tens of thousands of construction and other jobs, and leaders say it'll cut as much as a half-hour off travel times from the Far South side into downtown, making it easier for people living in those areas to get to jobs, attractions or shopping. Urban historian Sherman "Dilla" Thomas, who MCed the event, put it this way: "They (Far South siders) deserve to be able to take the train to Fulton Market and pay $21 for a burger like the rest of us!"

The stations could be open as soon as 2030.