In October, it was infuriating when the Creamsicle-colored criminal's USDOT Secretary Sean Duffy, also an ex-reality TV show star, announced the department was freezing over $3 billion in pre-approved federal funding for CTA projects. This money had been earmarked for the long-awaited Red Line Extension and the Red & Purple Modernization Program.
Duffy's rationale for the track-blocking was "discriminatory, unconstitutional" Disadvantaged Business Enterprise measures by the transit authority. Not only was this a blatant effort by the Trump administration to mess with a blue state, but the reasoning was completely bonkers. The CTA's efforts to create a level playing field for DBE contractors were actually previously required by the feds for USDOT-bankrolled initiatives.
At the time, Prairie State politicians assured the public this aggression would not stand. U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley stated, "This is our money, and as a leader in transportation funding, I will fight to make sure we get it back."
In the same press release, Gov. JB Pritzker, a frequent detractor of the Orange Khrushchev, struck a similar note. "Illinois is entitled to this funding, and I will continue to stand up to these reckless attacks on Illinois working families and communities," he declared.
Meanwhile, transit policy experts indicated that, while this Trump administration charade would waste time and money, the CTA would ultimately prevail. "This situation is patently absurd," noted the Urban Institute's Yonah Freemark on Bluesky. "USDOT claims that... Chicago's transit projects need to be put on ice because they developed DBE goals *in line* with federal policy."
Nik Hunder, a transit analyst and advocate who's written at length about the of the $5.7 billion RLE's financial challenges, posted on Bluesky, "Yes [the feds] have attempted to cancel it, no it will not withstand a legal challenge. This is a 'don't like it' rescission attempt which is not protected the [Code of Federal Regulations]."
Happily, after much legal wrangling, these predictions turned out to be correct. On Tuesday, March 24, the CTA announced that the Judge Thomas Durkin, of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, granted a temporary restaining order against the federal funding freeze.
"The prolonged payment pause, which began last October, has threatened continued progress on RLE and RPM," the transit agency stated in its news release. "Without court intervention, CTA would have been forced to stop work on both projects this Friday [February 27].
"Today, the CTA secured a major victory for the Red Line Extension and the residents of Chicago’s Far South Side," CTA Acting President Nora Leerhsen stated in the March 24 release. "RLE will provide transit access and opportunity for generations to come, and we are fully committed to seeing it move forward."
The ruling called for the USDOT to start paying up last Friday, March 27. But the CTA acknowledged a potential fly in the ointment, the possibility that the feds might obtain a stay on the restraining order before that deadline.
In an interview with Fox Chicago that ran last Thursday, March 26, Quigley acknowledged that this FTA ploy was simply a disingenuous attempt to own the libs. "It's apparent they're just going after blue cities," he said. "This was a vindictive, petty, frankly illegal move, and I think that's why the court's ruling makes sense."
Fortunately, the Cheeto Benito's minions didn't secure a stay on the TRO in time, so the defrosting has begun.
Last Friday afternoon, the CTA announced that they expected to get $114.5 million this week. "In compliance with Tuesday’s Order, the FTA has reopened the reimbursement portal to allow CTA to submit invoices, effective immediately," the press release stated. The transit agency predicted the moolah would arrive by this Friday, April 3, "consistent with ordinary processing timelines."
"Today we celebrate that justice has been brought to residents of the Far South Side and all of Chicago," stated chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson in last Friday's press release. "The Red Line Extension will connect long-waiting communities with the opportunity and beauty of Chicago while bringing Far South Side residents increased access to employment and educational opportunities across our city."
Needless to say, transit advocates are pleased about the announcement as well. "The unfreezing of funds for the Red Line extension is great news for one of the largest transit projects in America," Urban Institute's Freemark told Streetsblog today. "Nonetheless, stakeholders in Chicago will need to remain vigilant to ensure they receive the rest of the funds the CTA has been promised by the federal government."
Transit analyst Hunder implied that the outcome was a foregone conclusion. "CTA has the backing of decades of tort law," he wrote SBC this evening. "I look forward to seeing a permanent injunction issued so the CTA can continue construction on the Red Line Extension and receive reimbursement for the Red Purple Modernization as they are rightfully entitled to in both full funding grant agreement they signed with the federal government. With the CTA already pushing the opening date of the Red Line Extension back to August 2031 (from June 2030) before major construction has begun, it cannot afford any further delay from political theatre."
In a statement to Streetsblog today, Equiticity Executive Director Oboi Reed implied the announcement is bittersweet. "This is both a victory and an indictment," he wrote. "For far too long, Black communities on Chicago’s Far South Side have been denied the public investment, connectivity, and dignity we deserve regarding transit and the broader transportation ecosystem, while being told to keep waiting for basic transit infrastructure that other communities receive as a matter of course. The unfreezing of federal funding for the Red Line Extension and Red & Purple Modernization projects is welcome news, but it also underscores a deeper truth: mobility justice is racial justice, and equitable transit is not extra, it is essential."
"These projects are about more than trains and tracks; they are about repairing historic disinvestment, expanding access to opportunity, and affirming that Black people and Black neighborhoods have the right to be connected, to move freely, and to thrive," Reed concluded. "This moment happened because people organized, pushed, demanded, and refused to accept abandonment as the status quo, and now government must move with urgency and accountability to deliver what our communities have long been owed – transportation equity and mobility justice."
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