Chicago event marks latest CREATE federal funding, touts program’s national significance

CHICAGO — If there were two messages hammered home during a press conference to celebrate the latest federal funding for the CREATE project, they were these: CREATE may be a local program, but it has national implications. And it is the textbook example of public-private partnership.

The event today (Friday, Dec. 13) was to mark a pair of U.S. Department of Transportation grants for the next phase of the Chicago Regional Environmental and Transportation Efficiency program’s massive 75th Street Corridor project, the notorious tangle of rail lines on the city’s South Side labelled as the nation’s biggest rail bottleneck. In October, CREATE was awarded $209.9 million under the federal Mega (formally, the National Infrastructure Project Assistance) program. That is the largest federal grant in CREATE’s 21-year history, said Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, one of 13 speakers on a frigid morning at CSX Transportation’s Forest Hill intermodal facility. CREATE received another $81.3 million under the DOT’s Infrastructure for Rebuilding America, or INFRA, grants [see “Chicago CREATE project receives …,” Trains News Wire, Oct. 21, 2024].

The money is specifically earmarked for realignment of Belt Junction and the 80th Street Junction. Belt junction is a pinch point where parallel CSX, Union Pacific, Norfolk Southern and Belt Railway of Chicago tracks crisscross; 80th Street junction is a similar tangle of Belt Railway, NS, and UP tracks. Commuter operator Metra also travels through Belt Junction, while Amtrak is part of the traffic at 80th Street, adding to the congestion at both sites.

“When they laid these tracks in the 1800s, before automobiles were invented, they couldn’t have envisioned how we’d change railroading,” said Metra CEO/Executive Director Jim Derwinski. “This will now change how we can railroad.”

For Metra, that will mean fewer delays for its SouthWest service trains that pass through Belt Junction. But the changes will be felt far beyond the reach of the commuter operator. Fixing the bottleneck “is going to have benefits states away,” Derwinski said.

It’s a reasonable claim based on CREATE’s statistics that 47% of all rail container traffic moves through Chicago, as does 86% of cross-country intermodal rail traffic and 69% of cross-country freight of all times.

“The funds we celebrate today will relieve the inflammation currently causing a chokepoint,” said Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton. “When the tracks are reconfigured and the congestion has cleared, we will look back on today as a milestone in Illinois’ national legacy.” Said Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle, “As the freight hub of North America, Cook County plays a pivotal role in keeping goods moving across the country. With that role comes responsibility to our residents, businesses, and the nation to get it right.”

In more than two decades, CREATE has completed 34 of a planned 70 projects; the 75th Street Corridor is among five under construction, while 15 others are either in the environmental review or final design states. The total cost for those projects is estimated at $5.8 billion; $2.5 of that has been committed so far, with $1.4 billion from the federal government, $717 million from Illinois, $534 million from railroads, and $252 from local governments.

“I believe we have created a model to show how we must work together on these complex projects,” said Omer Osman, the Illinois secretary of transportation. “Partnerships such as the one we are celebrating here today show a shared vision … The day of just one agency or local government going it alone are all over. To do big things require cooperation and hard work to ensure that we are all moving in the same direction.”

Such cooperation does not come easily, noted Derwinski (“anybody that works with railroads knows we are very territorial”) and U.S. Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.). “The amount of cat herding that has to be done to make projects like this come together is just remarkable,” Casten said.

Casten and U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) both said CREATE is envied by other areas: “We have people from all over the country saying how can we recreate CREATE where we are?” said Quigley, who serves on the transportation subcommitted of the House Appropriations Committee. But it remains unique in its scope as a joint effort of four levels of government, Amtrak, Metra, eight railroads, and the Association of American Railroads.

“Everyone has skin in the game,” said AAR CEO Ian Jefferies, “and a willingness to understand that if I support this project today, even if I don’t get immediate benefits from it, one, it benefits the region, it benefits the nation. But also, the next project is probably going to more directly affect me. So it is a long-term vision, a long-term commitment, and a long-term investment that has made it such a success.”

A challenge for another project

While also celebrating the event, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) had another joint project in mind during his time at the podium. And his unhappiness there may be one more indication how difficult it is to put a CREATE-style effort together.

“We have a major project pending in this state called CHIP,” said Durbin. “It involves Chicago’s Union Station.” The Chicago Hub Improvement Program would involve track realignments on the South Side and in Michigan, as well as major upgrades to Union Station [see “Chicago Hub project vies for big chunk of federal grant money,” News Wire, Aug. 3, 2023]. “It is a critical element in modernizing railroads in Chicago and the state of Illinois. There’s a billion dollars on the table, a billion federal dollars, if we can come forward with an agreement by the principals who have been at the negotiating table for months and months and months.

“I’ve been nice about it … I’ve talked with all of them. It boils down to this: Amtrak, Metra, Canadian National, and UP have a deadline of midnight Monday night to come to an agreement. Enough is enough. Reach an agreement and let’s move forward.”