CTA funding plan for $3.6 billon Red Line extension uses almost $1 billion in property taxes

A CTA Red Line train at the Garfield station on the South Side. (Sun-Times Media)

Chicago Transit Authority wants to help fund a long-stalled extension of the Red Line by creating a new tax increment financing district sure to face an uphill battle in the City Council.

The $3.6 billion project will extend the Red Line to 130th Street from its current terminus at 95th Street. The CTA must come up with $1.44 billion, and it plans to raise $950 million of that with a transit TIF similar to one created to fund a Red Line rehab on the North Side.