DuPage and Cook Counties are drawing up ambitious plans for new bus and train routes. The centerpiece would be an extension of CTA service.

Right now, Forest Park is the end of the Blue Line, but planners want to stretch it west to Lombard. Lombard President William Mueller says office parks and shopping centers would welcome that.

MUELLER: We have employers out here who’ve got jobs available. The people who come say, we’ve got no way to get there. This would solve this problem for us.

But before the Blue Line grows another inch, it needs new state and federal money. Mueller says the Cook-DuPage Corridor is gaining economic heft, and legislators are bound to notice.

MUELLER: Hopefully, Springfield and Washington, D.C. will follow what we put together and say, Hey, it’s a good plan, let’s make it work for the people we represent.

Transit officials will conduct public hearings on the Blue Line extension and related projects next month.

I’m Shawn Allee, Chicago public Radio.