The RTA Community Planning program provides funding and technical assistance to local governments to help foster the growth of sustainable, equitable, walkable, and transit-friendly communities. Since 1998, we have completed more than 200 projects. Read the latest success stories in the 2023 Implementation Report.
2024 Community Planning and Station Activation Projects have been selected, described below.
The Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) has selected eight projects chosen from among 21 applications submitted to the RTA’s Community Planning Call for Projects that ran from February 26 through March 22, 2024. The applications were vetted by a project selection team composed of staff from the RTA which interviewed applicants and obtained feedback from the RTA Service Boards (CTA, Metra and Pace) as well as other partners and technical assistance providers.
Since 1998, the RTA’s Community Planning program has provided funding and technical assistance for transit-oriented planning and implementation initiatives with local partners throughout the six-county service area. The goal is to foster the growth of sustainable, equitable, walkable, and transit-friendly communities around transit assets by encouraging transit-supportive land uses and infrastructure. The program aids local economic development by increasing equitable access to employment centers and amenities to serve the constantly evolving needs of our diverse population.
How projects were selected
Projects selected this year fall into two categories, those that develop a new plan and those that implement a plan. Under planning, Equitable Transit-Oriented Development, or eTOD, plans are offered to create a vision for compact development styles with a mixture of land uses and high-quality environments for accessing transit. When implemented, municipalities can achieve a walkable, mixed-use area centered on transit that supports the daily needs of residents. This year we added emphasis on equity to advance a more equitable planning process and to ensure plan recommendations will benefit all residents of the community.
Transit Corridor plans identify ways to attract more people to travel a corridor using transit by strategizing to improve access to transit for people walking or using a bicycle, and identifying development design and policy strategies that are more pedestrian and transit friendly.
Neighborhood Mobility Hubs and Mobility Improvement Plans help municipalities identify very specific infrastructure improvements for pedestrians and bicyclists that are designed to increase the reach and accessibility of transit services.
Curb Management Studies explore the use of curb space in transit served areas and create recommendations to better manage the growing and sometimes competing needs for curb space while prioritizing bus and rail access.
Recognizing that implementing the vision created in the plan is often a difficult task, especially at the local municipal level, the RTA provides various types of implementation assistance that support a number of frequent plan recommendations, such as updating a municipal zoning code, establishing a special financing district and pairing municipalities with volunteers from the private development community who offer real-world feedback to them on economic development strategies near transit.
In project selection, the RTA prioritized technical assistance that will benefit disadvantaged populations by focusing on assistance to high need municipalities as well as to project areas in economically disconnected and disinvested areas. We supported existing relationships by offering implementation activities to previous planning recipients. We prioritized assistance to emerging topics, challenges, and innovative ideas. And, we sought to foster community empowerment by ensuring projects selected can have a robust and inclusive engagement process that ensures all voices in the community will be heard. To advance this, the RTA offers compensation for time and expenses to residents that decrease barriers to participating in the planning process, and to optimize our efforts for creating a plan with the most benefit to the community and its’ residents. The RTA budgets funds for community members whose voices and opinions are important, but who may not have otherwise been able to participate due to transportation expenses, childcare or family responsibilities or work obligations.
The total preliminary budget for all eight projects is $877,000, which is comprised of $781,500 in RTA funds and the remaining $95,500 in local match from the applicants.
2024 Program of Projects
| Applicant | Project Type | Project Description |
Archer Ave. Corridor Study | The Chicago Department of Planning and Development seeks assistance to conduct a corridor study of Archer Avenue, from Halsted to Cicero, to evaluate land use, zoning and development opportunities with a focus on areas around the CTA Orange Line stations. The City will use the plan to identify key development opportunities along the corridor, align vision for the corridor with land use and zoning recommendations, and create a strategic implementation plan for the Archer Ave corridor. The study will also seek to understand opportunities for enhanced pedestrian mobility and safety, bike lanes and mobility hubs, and ways to leverage the CTA public transit assets. | |
Hazel Crest Metra Station eTOD Plan | The Village Hazel Crest seeks RTA support to develop an eTOD Plan for areas west of the Hazel Crest Metra station, leveraging the transportation assets in the area to balance investment and begin to deliver community benefits through greater pedestrian, bicycle, and commuter activity. The Village would like to identify investment in the area for higher density, high quality multi-family workforce housing near the Metra station, with quality amenities at a reasonable price point that does not exist today, while also advancing Village goals to create an Arts District in the area. The plan will also identify pedestrian walkability and added bicyclist safety installments that would improve accessibility to the area and to Metra and Pace services. | |
TOD Zoning Code Amendments | The Village of Itasca seeks RTA support for zoning code updates that will allow the types of development envisioned in the Village's adopted Downtown Itasca Strategic Action Plan, completed in 2022 through the RTA's Community Planning program. Zoning amendments will be centered on downtown Itasca and areas surrounding the Itasca Metra station and will include such tasks as drafting tables for dimensionallot standards as well as allowable land uses, address parking ratios for mixed use developments, develop unified design guidelines for Downtown Itasca, as well as develop specific guidelines for the Itasca Historic District. | |
Lockport Metra Station eTOD Plan | The City of Lockport seeks RTA assistance to develop an eTOD Plan for the downtown area of Lockport including the area surrounding the Lockport Metra station. The goals are to better connect downtown with the Metra station and with nearby Pace bus service. This would be accomplished with identifying infrastructure improvements, redevelopment opportunities of parcels around the station, and improved connections for people walking and biking between downtown and the Star Innovation District, a former industrial site that is targeted for mixed-use development. | |
Roosevelt Road Corridor Plan | The Village requests assistance from the Chicago Metropolitan Agency on Planning (CMAP), in partnership with the RTA, to develop a corridor plan for Roosevelt Road that addresses transportation safety and economic development considerations within the context resiliency, inclusive growth, and prioritized investment. The corridor plan will address pedestrian/bike/transit access and safety and determine the feasibility of economic development projects, the potential for infill housing, mixed-use development, and the bolstering of commercial development. | |
Dempster Street Corridor Plan | The Village of Morton Grove seeks RTA assistance to re-envision the Dempster Street corridor which is served by Pace Pulse. The corridor plan will provide a cohesive vision for Dempster Street that identifies parking solutions, leverages, and connects transit assets, expands retail and employment-generating development, and identifies complementary opportunities for new housing. The Village also desires to encourage transit-supportive reinvestment, support existing and future business, and provide needed services and amenities to the community. In addition, the Village hopes to broaden diversity in housing choices along the corridor, attract investment and development, and better manage parking. | |
Round Lake Metra Station Developer Dialogue | The Village of Round Lake seeks RTA Developer Dialogue assistance to solicit feedback from members of the private development community on Village strategies to attract development at seven Village-owned parcels in the downtown area near the Round Lake Metra station. The developer dialogue would be a follow-on activity to implementing the Village's Comprehensive and Downtown Plans. The Village has enhanced motivation to sell and approve development of the Village owned properties that have been vacant and under Village control for many years and seeks a refined strategy in doing so. | |
Waukegan Metra Station and Pace Terminal Developer Dialogue | The City of Waukegan in partnership with the Waukegan Port District seeks developer feedback on parcels immediately east of the Waukegan Metra station. Both the City and the Port District have a future vision for their parcels but seek to identify the most beneficial and impactful method to attract development. Feedback from the panelists will assist the City and the Port District with identifying the most beneficial and impactful method to develop the areaand to gather strategies in creating and implementing adeveloper selection process. |
Eight Transit Station Activation projects were selected from a group of nearly 20 applicants submitted in the 2024 Community Planning Call for Projects, described below.
The Transit Station Activation grant program was launched following the RTA Public Transit Safety and Security Summit in February 2024. The selected projects will bring activities near transit, create a welcoming environment, and help address real or perceived public safety issues. Each project will receive between $10,000 and $20,000 in funding to plan and host public events that will take place summer and fall of 2024.
| Applicant | Location | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Chicago Film Archives | CTA - Cicero Green Line | The Chicago Film Archives (CFA) will enhance the existing projection system at the street-level mezzanine of the Cicero Green Line station which was installed in March 2023 to project 20th century home movies from Chicagoans. The film exhibition is called "we love" and is a six-minute film followed by a sampling of home movies from CFA's archive. The movies are projected on the lobby wall and run 24 hours a day. The home movies from communities of various backgrounds all resonate with feelings of love, belonging, and safety. To enhance this feature, CFA will research and identify families with home movies who live in the West Garfield Park community today, digitize their home movies and add them to the exhibition. The addition of home videos of local families will encourage travel and bring excitement and acknowledgement to the lives of people in the neighborhood. |
| Gardeneers | CTA - 63rd and Cottage Grove | Gardeneers will execute a one-day plant-based pop-up festival at the 63rd and Cottage Grove Green Line station that aims to showcase the impact of plant-based foods, urban agriculture, biomaterials, and sustainability on individuals' health and the ecosystem. The plant-based pop-up festival will bring together organizations and individuals who are at the forefront of the plant-based movement to showcase their work in an engaging and interactive setting. Through a variety of activities, presentations, and demonstrations, the festival will educate and inspire attendees about the benefits of plant-based living and sustainable practices. Festival components include hands-on gardening sessions to explore urban agriculture practices, a handpicked selection of plant-based products and local artisan goods for sale, musical performances, food, and giveaways. |
| Mandala - Red Line | CTA - Morse Red Line | Mandala South Asian Performing Arts will host live music and dance performances at the Morse Red Line station that will reflect the unique cultural identity of the neighborhood and the diversity of the City of Chicago. Mandala will present one live musician that represents the neighborhood and two musicians that reflect other cultural neighborhoods in the city. In their application, Mandala South Asian Performing Arts stated they believe the one-day event will help riders will become acquainted with the neighborhoods they pass by in their local community, and locals will get to appreciate the vibrant diversity of the city they live in and help commuters to feel safer about gathering at the CTA stations. |
| Maywood Chamber of Commerce | Metra - Maywood | The Maywood Chamber of Commerce will host a one-day event that celebrates Maywood's historical and cultural treasures and underscores its accessibility by transit with a three-pronged event centered on the Maywood Metra station along with nearby Pace bus service on 5th Ave. The first is a guided tour, via walking or trolley-car, around the various sites that span Maywood Park from First Avenue to Fifth Avenue. Next, various institutions in Maywood's Arts and Cultural District will host an open house where residents and visitors can learn about their respective offerings. The Maywood Chamber of Commerce will be the host organization and use the occasion to promote its services and the good of its members. The third and final aspect of the event will be a musical performance conducted by Working-In-Concert (WIC), a Chicago-based musical organization that promotes cultural education and diversity through musical performances. |
| Metra | 79th Street Station in Chatham and 147th Street Station in Harvey | Metra will host one-day community celebrations coinciding with the completion of station reconstruction projects at the 79th Street (Chatham) station on the South Side of Chicago and the 147th Street Station in south suburban Harvey, both on the Metra Electric Line. Components of the events could include food vendors, live music using local musicians, face painting, clowns and balloon artists, safety presentations, children's games and activities, meet-and-greet booths with community organizations or elected officials, social media photo opportunities, educational information from transit ambassadors, poetry readings and promotional giveaways. |
| Pace | Joliet Transit Center | Pace, in coordination with the City of Joliet, will host a one-day transit activation event during the annual Kidz Fest hosted by Joliet City Center Partnership. The Pace element of the event will be held in the commuter parking lot adjacent to the Joliet Transit Center. The goal of this event is to promote safety and security along with increasing ridership, while also celebrating Pace’s 40th anniversary. Different stations will be set up in designated areas of the event that will include family-friendly activities and games, giveaways and food. |
| Rogers Park Business Alliance - Loyola | CTA - Loyola Red Line and Routes 151 and 147 | The Rogers Park Business Alliance will hire local bands to perform at the Loyola CTA station plaza and on patios of several businesses located near CTA Route 151 and 147 bus stops on Sheridan Rd. from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. on three different Friday evenings over the summer. Access to the performances will be free and open to the public and limited seating and refreshments, such as water and popcorn, will be provided. The funding will help revive the pre-pandemic "Summer on the Plazas" pop-up performances to help enliven the Sheridan Road corridor on summer evenings. |
| Uptown United - Lawrence | CTA - Bus Routes 36 and 81 in Uptown | Uptown United will hold free yoga sessions on multiple Saturday mornings throughout the summer. The free outdoor yoga will occur on open and accessible section of private property along Broadway and adjacent to CTA Bus Route 36 (Broadway) and 81 (Lawrence) and be open to the public. |
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