Dive Brief:
- A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the U.S. Department of Transportation and Federal Transit Administration to resume payments for two Chicago infrastructure projects by Friday, according to a court ruling.
- Chicago Transit Authority sued in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois March 17 after those agencies withheld more than $2 billion tied to the Red Line Extension and Red and Purple Modernization last fall.
- The ruling granted CTA a temporary restraining order against the government, but also issued a stay on that order until 10 a.m. Friday, after which the government must restore funding, pending any subsequent action. The two projects would have entered “demobilization,” or a costly delay phase, on Friday, according to the ruling.
Dive Insight:
The order is a major victory for the residents of Chicago’s Far South Side, said Nora Leerhsen, CTA acting president, in a statement.
“CTA promised the community that it would fight for the RLE, and this ruling is a massive step toward restoration of funding for this historic project,” said Leerhsen. “We are fully committed to seeing it move forward.”
The FTA awarded funding for the Red and Purple modernization project in 2017 and later approved the Red Line Extension grant in 2025. The two projects together anchor the CTA’s Red Ahead program, a multibillion initiative to upgrade Chicago’s transit system.
Federal officials issued a policy change in October 2025 around diversity and inclusion programs, specifically DOT’s Disadvantaged Enterprise Program, and placed the CTA’s grants under review. Funding had not resumed after the review period.
The ruling follows a similar outcome to litigation in New York, where a judge ordered President Donald Trump’s administration to resume funding on the Gateway Project’s $16 billion Hudson Tunnel.
Without court intervention on both projects, construction activity would have stopped.
A joint venture of Chicago-based Walsh Construction and French construction company VINCI Construction serves as the general contractor and design-build team on the Red Line Extension. A Walsh and Irving, Texas-based Fluor JV serves as the general contractor for phase one of the Red & Purple modernization.
DOT did not immediately respond to a request for comment. According to Fox 32 Chicago, a DOT spokesperson said: "The Department remains committed to ensuring that taxpayer dollars are spent wisely and in accord with the laws and Constitution."
