The C.R.E.A.T.E. (hereinafter "BigC" for short) program will allegedly provide grade separations and other improvements that are supposed to speed train -- and in a few cases, roadway -- movements through that spagetti maze of trackage known as the Chicago Switching District. The BigC website lists an imposing array of projects (one could probably double their number with profit) that presumably represent the worst bottlenecks in Chicagoland. The environmental, safety and economic benefits of this work program seem to make BigC a far more intelligent use of bucks than 220 MPH trains to Champaign, and because it involves changes to highway as way as railway alignment, an area properly outside the scope of private railway investment, and because major beneficiaries will be commuter rail and Amtruc passengers, this area is one for which a fairly compelling case of public/private partnerships can be made. By the time BigC is completed (if ever), it will be probably 2035 or later, but that's another story.
Anyhow, read that BigC is ticketed to receive modest stimulus bucks, and wondered if the powers that be have determined which projects(s) on which to blow the wad. Anybody heard anything?
Thanks in advance for your replies.
There's an official website for the CREATE project, although I don't know how current it is. But, for better or for worse, here it is:
http://www.createprogram.org/
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