Chicago's Blue Line to receive improvement money (Iran, Iraq, highway)

[dukester.2]

Associated Press12:17 PM CDT, April 20, 2009 CHICAGO - The nation's second largest transit system has already begun using federal stimulus money to repair Chicago's aging subway network.

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and Chicago Mayor Richard Daley told reporters at one subway station on Monday that $88 million is being spent to update the Chicago Transit Authority's Blue Line.

They say the work began over the weekend.

One of the goals is to remove slow zones along the line. Long stretches of Chicago's subway track are so shoddy that trains designed to travel more than 50 mph must slow to the pace of a horse at trot.

The perennially cash-strapped CTA is set to receive a total $240 million in stimulus money. But CTA officials say they'll need nearly $7 billion to bring the more than century-old network into good working.

Chicago's Blue Line to receive improvement money -- chicagotribune.com

[dukester.2]

7 billion is what it would cost to make the Chicago area transit system equal to what cities in Europe, Japan, Taiwan, and now even China similar in population to Chicago have now.

240 million is what the CTA needs to keep its system moderately equivalent to what you may find in developing countries such as Brazil and South Africa.

7 billion is a fraction of what the government spends on highways. Sadly, it is a fraction of the 80 billion or so a year the U.S. has been spending to install an Iran freindly Shi'a dominated government in Iraq.

Guess we all need our priorities....