October 18, 2023 – The CREATE Program sponsored a panel discussion regarding the role the 80th Street Junction and the Belt Replacement Project will play in transforming the nation’s passenger and freight rail system. This project will remove North America’s largest chokepoint in the freight rail network and result in significant global, national, statewide, regional and local impacts on the supply chain and passenger rail service.
Recently, the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) applied for a $260 million federal grant from the Multimodal Project Discretionary Grant Opportunity Program to fund the first segment of the 75th Street Corridor Improvement Project (CIP) (the 80th Street Junction and Belt Junction Replacement is the largest component of the 75th Street CIP). Awarded funding will reconfigure track segments and signals at Belt Junction; add a third track to a NS line; replace and restore 14 aging bridge and viaduct structures; and implement mobility improvements on surface streets throughout the corridor.