Politics
CTA Kicks Off Construction on Long-Awaited $5.7B Red Line Extension on Far South Side
An attendee signs a poster during a Red Line extension project ceremonial groundbreaking event on April, 24, 2026, near Michigan Avenue and 116th Street, the future site of one of the new Red Line stations. (Eunice Alpasan / WTTW News)
Chicago Transit Authority and elected officials participated in a groundbreaking event Friday to celebrate construction on the long-awaited Red Line extension project.
The ceremonial groundbreaking comes after a federal judge recently ruled the Trump administration must temporarily unfreeze about $2 billion in federal funds designated for the CTA’s Red Line extension project and other improvement projects.
“When our federal funding was threatened, we didn’t step back, we stepped up,” said Chicago Transit Board Chairman Lester Barclay during the event. “No community should have to wait generations to connect to its own city. No community should have to wait 60 years to access all its city has to offer.”
The $5.7 billion extension would connect residents of the Far South Side — particularly those living in the Roseland, Pullman, West Pullman and Riverdale areas — to CTA rail lines.
The Red Line extension will extend the rail line by more than five miles, starting where the Red Line currently ends, at 95th Street, through 130th Street. Four new, accessible stations will be built at 103rd Street, 111th Street, Michigan Avenue and 130th Street.
The project also involves building a new rail yard near 120th Street. The new extension and stations are expected to be completed and in service in 2030.
Chicago Transit Authority and elected officials participated in a groundbreaking event on April, 24, 2026, to formally kick off construction for the long-awaited Red Line extension project. (Eunice Alpasan / WTTW News)
CTA Acting President Nora Leerhsen said during the event that the extension is a historic moment.
“In our city and in our nation, we are plagued by a long past of decisions that deepened our divisions and entrenched inequality,” Leerhsen said. “Until now, the map of CTA’s train lines told that story, as our rail lines each extended to the North and West Sides but stopped short of extending through the South Side.”
The groundbreaking event was held near Michigan Avenue and 116th Street, the future site of one of the new Red Line stations.
The extension hopes to act as an economic catalyst for the Far South Side, according to officials. For many years, entire communities have been cut off from reliable transit and intentionally distanced from access to jobs, education and healthcare, Mayor Brandon Johnson said during the event.
The extension project is estimated to create more than 12,500 construction jobs and an additional 60,000 indirect jobs supporting that work, according to the transit authority.
Last year, the Trump administration paused about $2 billion in federal funding for the CTA over concerns that the Red Line extension project involved “race-based contracting.” The funding freeze was announced amid a broader anti-DEI push from the administration.
The CTA sued the federal government over the withholding of funds last month.
“We can’t predict the madness that’s coming from the White House,” Johnson told reporters. “What we can predict is our ability to fight back and win.”
Nick Blumberg and Blair Paddock contributed to this report.
Contact Eunice Alpasan: [email protected]
