Known by many around the world as the Windy City, Chicago is a top destination in the United States. With its skyscrapers, basketball heritage and a peculiar bean sculpture loved by tourists, the city has a lot to offer, and it just keeps growing. Recently, city representatives have decided to make some big changes, therefore important investments for new infrastructure projects in Chicago have been made.
One of the main topics that have been circulating among many cities around the world has been renewable energy, and how to implement it. In Chicago, the City Council, the Chicago Department of Transportation and the Chicago Infrastructure Trust have teamed up to improve the city’s lighting situation. The representatives want to reduce energy consumption, and plan on doing so over the next four years. The plan foresees $160 million in changing the city’s 270,000 public lighting lamps, which results in approximately 85 percent of the city’s lighting.
Other than the lighting system, Chicago is set on renovating other parts of the city as well. Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel is one of the city’s biggest supporters. After having presented the “Building a New Chicago” plan six years ago, the mayor’s office stated that 60,000 new jobs were introduced. The mayor, though, doesn’t want to stop there, and last year announced new projects, and 40,000 new jobs along with them. The projects will revolve around bettering various fields, like the city’s energy, water and transport system.
The projects aim to modernize Chicago, giving the country’s third biggest city a fresh face. One of the most anticipated projects is the O’Hare Express: a high speed train connecting Chicago’s International O’Hare airport to downtown Chicago. The linking train has long been desired by residents and tourists, and is said to minimize the transport time by 50 percent, down to 20 minutes—an impressive statistic for America’s third busiest airport.
And speaking of impressive, Chicago’s plans have piqued the interest of President Donald Trump. The president in fact was so pleased with the projects and previous results that he too pledged to back two projects. The first being the $1 billion renovation of the 92-year old Union Station. With 120,000 passengers daily, and the circa 300 trains that pass through, the project will modernize the transport hub, and add 1,000 new jobs to the market.
Always in the transport field, the second project looks at renovating the North Side public transport lines. The renovation is looking like it will cost around $2.1 billion, with 2,100 new jobs on the market. The modernization will also involve three subways lines (the Purple, Brown, and Red lines), which carry around 200,000 passengers on an average weekday. The renovation will speed up traveling times, and increase efficiency. With so many exciting new projects coming up, Chicago is looking better than ever.
