President Preckwinkle, County Department of Transportation and Highways Announce Approval of Invest in Cook Grants

Selected projects highlight Cook County’s transportation priorities.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle today announced the approval of transportation projects selected as part of Cook County’s inaugural Invest in Cook grant program.

On Wednesday, intergovernmental agreements to fund $1.3 million for seven projects selected as part of the inaugural program were approved by the Cook County Board of Commissioners.

Those projects are:

• South Halsted bus corridor enhancement project, which will study the feasibility coordinating service improvements among Pace and CTA  along South Halsted Street to improve critical transit services in the City of Chicago and the south suburbs.
• The rehabilitation of 135th Street in Crestwood, which will likely include a new bike bath, ADA compliant sidewalks and a new storm sewer system.
• Improvements to the Skokie Valley Trail in Glenview, which will provide a regional bike connection between Lake and Cook Counties as well as multiple communities, regional and local trail networks, transit stations, schools, retail establishments, parks, natural areas and employment centers.
• Improvements to sidewalks in Lansing along 176th Place between Torrence Avenue and Locust Street, which will connect residents to businesses and a Pace bus route
• A study of the CTA’s Blue Line that will inform conceptual planning activities and improve the line’s capacity and reliability.
• The Village of Bedford Park will conduct a mobility study and pilot program to examine emerging transportation alternatives, such as ride hailing and sharing applications, to see how they can be used to promote transit connectivity and equal access to employment opportunities.
• The Village of Willow Springs will undertake preliminary engineering studies for the construction of a new truck route connecting Archer Avenue to 40 acres of undeveloped Metropolitan Water Reclamation District property along the Illinois and Michigan Shipping Canal.

The Cook County Board of Commissioners already has approved intergovernmental agreements for additional Invest in Cook projects.

Invest in Cook is an initiative of Connecting Cook County, the County’s first long-range transportation plan in 75 years, which lays the groundwork for how the County invests in transportation to attract and retain businesses, people, capital and talent.

The County’s investment of $7.2 million in the program leverages an additional $7.6 million in federal, state and local funds to advance 30 transportation projects spanning 42 communities. The commitment of County transportation resources will enable $14.8 million in project activity across all phases to get under way in the coming year.

Visit cookcountyil.gov/investincook for more details about each project.