Bridge the Gap: A companion piece to capital assessment report

February 17, 2017

Yesterday, RTA staff presented the agency’s 2016 Capital Asset Condition Assessment Report to the RTA Board of Directors.   The report finds that the RTA region’s 10-year public transit capital needs are projected to reach $37.7 billion, which includes $19.4 billion of deferred investment or backlog and $18.3 billion that’s needed over the next decade for normal capital reinvestment. The Service Boards receive federal, state, and local dollars to fund capital projects.  With the State’s ongoing financial crisis, state funding in support of infrastructure has decreased significantly, further exacerbating the funding shortfall.  

Today, the RTA is releasing a companion piece to this report called “Bridge the Gap.” This piece further illustrates why transit is so critical to our region, the state of our region’s transit assets and our region’s funding needs.  Perhaps most importantly, this piece highlights the capital accomplishments of the CTA, Metra and Pace as well as their needs going forward.

Please take a moment to read this piece and share it with friends and colleagues. Our regional system is a public transportation system, which means it belongs to all of us.  Let’s do all we can to work together to assure it has the funding it needs to serve generations to come.