Study: CTA Should Prioritize Red Line

Study: CTA Should Prioritize Red Line

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A new study says that of all the proposed Chicago Transit Authority expansions, the Red Line train should have the greatest priority.

Community organizer John Paul Jones often uses the word equity when explaining why the Red Line needs to extend past 95th Street.

JONES: The ill of not having a mass transit system in that region because you don’t have an opportunity to really broaden your land-use strategies. That has put the Far South Side in a real kind of quagmire.

Jones says these isolated neighborhoods could benefit from new housing and small businesses if the el train is extended. Jones worked on the University of Illinois-Chicago study.

The CTA is looking at expanding the el track to 130th Street. If that happens, it will take several years.