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Rep. Buckner on the transit fiscal cliff: “We need the right mix of revenue and reform to make the system work the way it’s supposed to.”
Right now, the elephant in the room for Chicagoland public transportation planners and advocates is the looming regional transit fiscal cliff as federal COVID-19 funding subsidies run out. According to the Regional Transportation Authority, which oversees the CTA, Metra, and Pace, the three systems will face a $770 million total shortfall – almost 20 percent of the operating budget – in 2026. The RTA says that if the issue is not addressed by this spring, the result would be higher fares and reduced service, leading to less ridership, aka the dreaded "transit death spiral".
January 31, 2025
Reimagining Chicago’s DuSable Lake Shore Drive is a generational opportunity to reshape the city
McCoy Cantwell was born and raised in Chicago and now live in Los Angeles, where he's pursing a master's degree urban and regional planning at Cal Poly Pomona. He wrote this piece as a class assignment to discuss a current planning issue.
McCoy Cantwell
January 30, 2025
Old Town row: Ald. Hopkins won’t support proposal for 500 transit-friendly apartments due to NIMBY backlash
Sign a (non-developer-affiliated) letter of support for this project here.
January 29, 2025
Travis Duffey: A bike advocate and artist who flipped through life
It's relatively simple to eulogize people who were well-loved, or even just generally liked, and who never really did much out of the ordinary in their lives. Longtime Chicago cycling advocate Arthur Travis Duffey, known as "Flip Bike Travis," was not such a person.
January 28, 2025
High Speed Rail Alliance proposes “Five Essential Fixes” to bring Chicago Union Station into the 21st Century
Earlier this month, The Travel mentioned Chicago Union Station – along with Baltimore's Penn Station – as being one of two American Amtrak stops that needs a revamp. "Much of the [Chicago] station’s infrastructure feels outdated and disconnected," the website noted. "The lower-level concourses, where most passengers navigate, lack the charm and appeal of the main hall... The station’s confusing layout and aging facilities often frustrate travelers."
January 27, 2025
Hit-and-run SUV driver killed Ukrainian immigrant Halyna Hudzan, 66, near church her husband formerly led in West Town
Update Monday 4/28/25, 12:45 PM: Block Club Chicago reports that on Thursday, April 24, the Chicago Police Department and the U.S. Marshals Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Force arrested Iryna Kalach, 39, and charged her with the hit-and-run killing.
January 24, 2025
Tragically, ten more CDOT records of 2024 pedestrian fatalities on Chicago surface streets bring the total number to 38 deaths
Last Tuesday, Streetsblog Chicago published summaries of nine 2025 pedestrian and bike fatality cases on surface streets in the city of Chicago, which we hadn't previously covered in our Fatality Tracker posts.
January 24, 2025
Repost from January 2025: Biking in Chicago during the dead of winter: It’s easier than you might think
Update 1/23/26, 11:30 AM: This morning I completed my annual Polar Vortex tradition of biking a couple miles from SBCHQ to Montrose Harbor to catch the sunrise. It was it was -5F and it’s gotten colder since then, but I was pretty comfy. (But, like last year, Polar Plunge folks [unsanctioned – the official one been cancelled this year due to the subzero weather] were more hardcore than me!)
January 23, 2025
Watch: Discussing 2024 CDOT bikeway wins, and where there’s room for improvement, at ATA’s Chicago Advocacy Connect event
The Active Transportation Alliance kindly asked Streetsblog Chicago to talk about what we saw last month during our Bike Lane Fest 2024 excursions.
January 22, 2025
Alex Rivera, 32, struck and killed by his wife, who was “attempting to drive off,” was the first pedestrian fatality on Chicago streets in 2025
Tragically, it appears that Chicago saw its first pedestrian fatality case of 2025, with the killing of Alex Rivera, 32, on Sunday, January 5, in the Chicago Lawn community area.
January 22, 2025
