Rahm Emanuel

Even if you voted for Chuy García, if you know how effective automated enforcement has been for preventing serious crashes in other cities, you may be relieved he didn’t get a chance to shut down all of Chicago’s traffic cameras. However, García and the other challengers did residents a service by drawing attention to ways that the Emanuel administration has mismanaged the program, which forced the mayor to take steps to reform it.

This morning, local politicians heralded $7 million in new funding for a terminal planning study and service development plan that will help increase capacity at Chicago’s 90-year-old Union Station and on the rail lines that lead to it. This comes in addition to the $12 million that Amtrak pledged back in January for rehabbing the historic terminal. The city of Chicago eventually hopes to work with the United States Department of Transportation, the state of Illinois, Metra and Amtrak to undertake a complete overhaul of the station, which would take several years and cost an estimated $500 million.

Whether you were rooting for Mayor Rahm Emanuel or Cook County Commissioner Jesús “Chuy” García, I think most Streetsblog readers will agree that there were some positive outcomes for sustainable transportation in yesterday’s municipal runoff election. Regardless of how you feel about Emanuel in terms of the economy, education, crime, transparency, ethics, and other issues, it’s safe to say he was the more progressive candidate when it comes to walking, biking, transit, and traffic safety.

This morning I pedaled down the Lakefront Trail to WBEZ's studios at the end of Navy Pier to talk with "Morning Shift" host Tony Sarabia about a questionnaire the Active Transportation Alliance sent to all of the mayoral and aldermanic candidates. Listen to the full recording of our on-air conversation here.

The freshly renovated California station on the Blue Line’s O’Hare branch reopened today after being closed for six weeks, an interminable wait for locals who rely on the train stop. Originally opened in 1895, the station recently received both structural and cosmetic improvements. These include a larger building footprint, refurbished walls, stairs, and platforms, new lights and signs, and more bike racks.

U.S. transportation secretary Anthony Foxx stopped by the CTA’s Granville station this afternoon to announce Chicago as the first city to be awarded a $35 million federal “Core Capacity” grant to modernize the Red and Purple lines. He also put a word in for President Obama’s proposal for a long-term transportation funding bill, the “Grow America” act.

Despite the gloomy weather this morning, hundreds of people pedaled to Daley Plaza for the annual Bike to Work Rally, where city officials provided an update on Chicago cycling initiatives. Among the cyclists were pedicabbers defying the city’s recently enacted ban on rush-hour pedicab use in the Loop to protest the ordinance but, happily, no $500 tickets were issued.

On Monday, Governor Quinn’s Northeast Illinois Public Transit Taskforce released its final report, underscoring the need for better funding for regional transit. Yesterday, the Center for Neighborhood Technology and the Active Transportation Alliance launched a new campaign, dubbed "Transit Future," to raise that money via a new Cook County-based revenue stream that would help the region leverage federal dollars.

Governor Pat Quinn’s northeastern Illinois task force released its final report [PDF] yesterday, detailing recommendations from its mid-March draft. The task force launched last year, after former Metra CEO Alex Clifford resigned to protest the commuter rail operator's long-running patronage culture.