CTA officials hope to award construction contracts this year and complete the project in two to three years. Mayor Daley has made several trips to Washington, sometimes accompanied by aldermen, to press the case for federal aid to rebuild the Douglas Branch. He thanked the city's Congressional delegation, aldermen and Gov. George Ryan for their support of the project. The schools are improving. Crime is down.
Jobs are plentiful.
Housing is going up all over the city, including neighborhoods that people had written off just a few years ago. As a result, more and more people are living and working in the city. And they need good mass transportation to get to work and to other attractions in the city. After declining steadily for 15 years, the number of passengers on the CTA has increased for the last two years. And it will carry even more passengers after the CTA makes these capital improvements.