Walsh-VINCI breaks ground on Chicago's $5.7bn Red Line Extension, with station work to follow in 2027

Walsh-VINCI Transit Community Partners broke ground on 24 April 2026 on the Chicago Transit Authority's $5.7bn Red Line Extension in Chicago, Illinois - the largest transit construction programme in CTA history and one of the most significant rail infrastructure starts in the United States this year. The design-build contract awarded to Walsh-VINCI is valued at $2.9bn, with a $1.9bn Full Funding Grant Agreement signed with the Federal Transit Administration providing the largest federal transit grant the CTA has ever received.

What is being built

The extension will add 5.6 miles of new track, running south from the existing 95th/Dan Ryan terminus to a new 130th Street station, bringing rapid rail to Chicago's Far South Side communities of Roseland, Washington Heights and Riverdale for the first time. Four new fully accessible stations are planned:

• 103rd Street
• 111th Street
• Michigan Avenue/116th Street
• 130th Street (new southern terminus)

The route will use elevated precast concrete bridge segments between 95th/Dan Ryan and 119th Street, assembled with a gantry system to limit disruption, before transitioning to at-grade track for the final section. A new rail yard and maintenance facility will also be built near 120th Street.

Construction scope and schedule

Walsh-VINCI has divided the project into six geographic zones to allow concurrent work across multiple sites. Current activity - drilling for elevated track columns and pouring concrete foundations - is running across the corridor. Station construction is scheduled to begin in 2027, with the full extension targeted for service in 2030.

The project's total budget of $5.75bn is funded through a combination of the FTA grant, state contributions and CTA capital funds. At roughly $1bn per mile, the per-mile cost is in line with comparable recent transit expansions in Los Angeles and Seattle.

The CTA estimates the extension will make approximately 25,000 additional jobs reachable within a one-hour commute for Far South Side residents, and that roundtrip riders between the future 130th Street station and the downtown Loop will save up to an hour in travel time once the line opens.

Federal funding dispute and resolution

Construction did not proceed without friction. The current federal administration withheld funds that had already been approved for the project, triggering a legal challenge. A federal judge ordered the Department of Transportation to restore the funding in March 2026, clearing the path for the April groundbreaking.

The $1.9bn FFGA - signed in January 2025 - remains the binding federal commitment. The legal episode has added scrutiny to how federally dependent transit projects manage funding risk, a concern that extends well beyond Chicago.

Related milestone on the North Side

Separately, Fluor and Walsh Construction reached substantial completion on phase one of the CTA's $2.1bn Red and Purple Modernization project in July 2026, with final completion for phase one expected in November 2026. That project replaced over two miles of track and installed 11 miles of new digital track circuit signalling, increasing throughput on the Red, Purple and Brown lines immediately.

Together, the two programmes represent more than $7.8bn in active or recently completed CTA rail construction - a concentration of transit capital work in a single US metro that will keep the Chicago construction market busy through the end of the decade. The pace of foundation and column work on the Red Line Extension over the coming winter will be the first real test of whether Walsh-VINCI can hold the 2030 service target.