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Transportation leaders, advocates to assist with Chicago mayor-elect transition
The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) and many of its partners will lend their transportation expertise to assist with Chicago's new mayoral administration.
CMAP Executive Director Erin Aleman will serve on Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson's Transportation Subcommittee. The subcommittee features many prominent transportation and leaders in the region, including Illinois Sen. Ram Villivalam; Jennifer (Sis) Killen, superintendent of the Cook County Department of Transportation and Highways; Tom Kotarac, senior vice president of transportation and infrastructure for the Civic Committee; Olatunji Oboi Reed, executive director of Equiticity; and others.
The subcommittee is being co-chaired by Illinois Rep. Kam Buckner, RTA Board Chairman Kirk Dillard, and Roberto Requejo, executive director of Elevated Chicago.
Johnson named nearly 400 people from the business, nonprofit, activist, and government communities to his transition team and subcommittees. The subcommittees' contributions will culminate in a written report in the coming weeks to guide the work of his administration.
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PART to recommend solutions shaping future of the nation's second-largest transit system
Big, bold solutions are needed to secure the financial viability of northeastern Illinois' transit system coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic with emergency federal assistance expiring and ridership remaining below pre-pandemic levels.
The Plan of Action for Regional Transit (PART) project will recommend actionable solutions to the Illinois Governor and General Assembly that can improve operations and the experience of the many riders who rely on transit for seamless and affordable trips throughout the region.
CMAP is engaging a diverse group of stakeholders from the business, community, environmental, labor, and civic sectors, along with the public, in the process.
CMAP and the many partners and stakeholders involved in PART have been organizing the process around broad themes:
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The system we want: Ideas to rebuild public confidence, increase ridership, and improve the experience for all types of riders — to ensure transit service is seamless and affordable.
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How we pay for it: Necessary reforms and funding options that can close the multimillion-dollar shortfall facing the region's transit system.
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How to implement it: Efforts to address governance structures and how funding is distributed.
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Transportation Committee recap: New project analysis tool and PART
CMAP is developing a new tool intended to help better inform local transportation decision-making and more comprehensively evaluate how transportation projects can benefit northeastern Illinois.
Staff updated Transportation Committee members about the Transportation Project Analysis Tool, or TPAT. The ongoing work at CMAP looks to provide decision makers with a better understanding of the outcomes of regionally significant projects, a list of 71 major transportation projects in northeastern Illinois that was approved last fall as part of CMAP's update of ON TO 2050.
The new tool aims to make data related to the project process more accessible and useful for CMAP staff, project sponsors, and our region's communities. Staff will form working groups in the summer to fine-tune the development of TPAT before demonstrating how the tool can be used in the fall.
Staff also recapped the recent activity with the PART project, sharing how discussions on draft recommendations will proceed later this year.
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A year of significant progress: CMAP's annual report highlights work to advance transportation
Northeastern Illinois had an exceptional year. From building consensus on priority projects to awarding technical assistance grants, CMAP continued to support transportation improvements that can make northeastern Illinois a stronger, more resilient place to live.
CMAP’s 2022 Annual Report looks back at the significant progress we made and highlights our work toward improving the region’s transportation system, addressing climate resiliency, and ensuring we have a thriving economy –– while embracing and applying an equity lens.
The report also highlights our continued efforts to deliver local assistance and resource and inform and engage diverse audiences. Take a look!
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Visit CMAP's infrastructure page to learn about Safe Streets for All, other grant opportunities
The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) is accepting applications for more than $1.1 billion total in funding that goes toward local projects that improve roadway safety. Cities, towns, counties, tribal governments, and metropolitan planning organizations can apply for the latest round of Safe Streets and Roads for All grant funding through Monday, July 10.
Created through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), the competitive Streets and Roads for All program helps communities plan and execute projects that can reduce the number of deadly and dangerous crashes on our highways, streets, and roads.
In February, USDOT awarded more than two dozen communities with implementation grants from the first application cycle. The awardees included CMAP, which received $3.9 million to develop a first-of-its-kind traffic safety framework for northeastern Illinois.
You can learn more about the new Safe Streets and Roads for All funding opportunity and other ongoing competitive grant opportunities on CMAP's IIJA webpage.
The IIJA webpage serves as an informational resource for northeastern Illinois' communities, helping break down the different funding opportunities available under the historic infrastructure law and tracking how projects are being implemented in the region.
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Request for proposals: CMAP seeks consultant for Safe Streets and Roads for All safety plans
CMAP is requesting proposals for project oversight and management for the Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) Countywide Safety Action Plans in northeastern Illinois. The deadline for responding to the RFP is 3:00 p.m. on Friday, May 5.
CMAP is seeking a consultant to provide project management and oversight of the development, delivery processes, and quality control of activities related to the SS4A Countywide Safety Action Plan program. This will include assistance with the selection, management, and oversight of up to seven consultants who will develop six countywide safety action plans, as well as a regionwide engagement and equity campaign.
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Waukegan pedestrian and bike infrastructure investments gain federal support
USDOT has awarded funding to Waukegan for technical assistance to help advance projects that improve walking and biking in communities along the northern lakeshore.
Waukegan partnered with North Chicago and CMAP to apply for funding through Thriving Communities, a new program launched under IIJA.
The program provides two years of technical assistance to communities that are under-resourced and disadvantaged to help them better access federal infrastructure funding and deliver transportation projects that strengthen communities.
In Waukegan, these projects include a feasibility study covering Sheridan Road/Illinois Route 137 and the Amstutz Expressway to enhance bicycle and pedestrian mobility and reconnect neighborhoods, as well as efforts to implement the Northern Lakeshore Trail Connectivity Plan.
The Northern Lakeshore Trail Connectivity Plan — created through CMAP's technical assistance program — calls for more than 100 miles of walking and bicycling trails across the communities of Beach Park, North Chicago, Waukegan, Winthrop Harbor, and Zion.
CMAP is excited to continue to support Waukegan and our other partners with projects that help advance our regional goals of non-motorized transportation options and walkable, connected communities.
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How can the viability of transit be ensured in the decades to come?
CMAP Executive Director Erin Aleman participated in a recent transportation conference, sharing thoughts and expertise on the importance of transit reform and why change is needed to ensure the viability of transit in the decades to come.
Panelists shared perspectives on the fiscal cliff facing transit systems, and the role transit plays in spurring economic development and addressing equity and accessibility. Aleman stressed the role all CMAP partners play to make sure transit can better serve people no matter where they’re headed.
"We’re making historical investments in transportation capital, but what are we doing if we can’t run it?" Aleman said. "If we are going to change transit, we need to change the way decisions are made."
Questions about governance, along with improvements to service and rider experience and funding options, also have dominated CMAP’s ongoing work with stakeholders to develop the PART project.
The conference, called “Public Transit in a Post-Covid World: Building a Financially Stable, Equitable, and Accessible Mass Transit System," was co-hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, the Civic Federation, and the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago.
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Apply now for IDOT grant program to make public transportation safer and more equitable
The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) seeks applications for a competitive grant program intended to expand safe and equitable access to public transportation.
Grants will fund studies that cover planning and preliminary engineering issues related to multimodal travel. Past projects have focused on bus-on-shoulder travel, transit equity, trails and bikeways, transit system expansion, the travel habits of people with disabilities, and transportation for veterans.
Applications can be submitted until 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, May 24. IDOT will announce grant awards later this summer.
Counties, metropolitan planning agencies, municipalities, state agencies, public transit agencies, and state universities are urged to apply. The grant program includes $2.5 million total in funding, and awards in the past have averaged $200,000. A 20 percent non-federal match also is required.
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