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Chicago officials: improved subway, buses would help Olympic bid
By Michael Tarm
Associated Press Writer
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CHICAGO -- The city’s trains and buses are fine as is, but it’d help Chicago’s Olympic bid if they were better.

That was the message from Chicago Olympic officials Monday about the city’s mass transit system and whether it could serve the around 2 million people expected to visit if the city wins the right to host the 2016 Summer Games.

Chicago hasn’t had to promise any major new transportation projects as a condition of hosting the Games, Doug Arnot, operations chief for the Chicago 2016 Committee, told a U.S. House subcommittee hearing in Chicago.

But finding the cash for long-standing plans to repair and upgrade aging subway and bus networks will help bolster Chicago’s argument that it’s the best qualified of seven candidate cities to host the Olympics, he said.

“Chicago 2016 is not asking for specific improvements for the Olympics -- rather the funding and backing of already-planned transit improvements,” he said. “While not required, improvements would enhance Chicago’s bid.”

Monday’s federal highways and transit subcommittee hearing took place as state lawmakers tried to hammer out a deal on new mass-transit funds. The Chicago Transit Authority has warned of “doomsday” fare increases and service cuts if lawmakers in Springfield don’t find a way to raise the money by Sunday.

The International Olympic Committee is expected to scrutinize transit systems as it selects a city to host the Games. At least two of the cities competing against Chicago, Madrid and Tokyo, boast modern, well-funded subways.

The other cities vying to host become the 2016 host are: Baku, Azerbaijan; Doha, Qatar; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and Prague, Czech Republic. The International Olympic Committee will choose the host city on Oct. 2, 2009.

Chicago’s subway and bus systems are extensive and around 90 percent of proposed Olympic venues will be accessible using currently available mass transit and some temporary services, Arnot said.

But the networks have fallen into disrepair over the years, and CTA chief Ron Huberman told committee members that the systems need urgent injections of cash if long-delayed repairs and upgrades are to get done in time for the Olympics.

Some stretches of Chicago’s 242 miles of subway track are so shoddy that as a precaution trains designed to travel more than 50 mph must plod along at around 5 mph, CTA officials have said. The average age of subway train cars is more than 20 years old.

“If brought up to good states of repair ... we can handle the Olympics,” Huberman said. He added that more than $6 billion will have to be invested in the coming years to properly fix and upgrade the networks.

Others testifying Monday said the prospect of a Chicago Olympics could provide the needed incentive -- with the help of federal dollars -- to finally bring its more than century-old mass transit networks into the 21st century.

“But we will need your help as Chicago will be representing our entire nation when we host the Olympics,” said David Kennedy, executive director of the American Council of Engineering Companies-Illinois.

Several demonstrators who oppose Chicago’s Olympic bid and want more spending on mass transit briefly disrupted Monday’s hearing, forcing a 15-minute delay. One of the protesters shouted, “We don’t need the Olympics, we need the CTA.”

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Reader comments on this story - 6 total

Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.

Lose Chicago, Lose the Attitude wrote on Oct 30, 2007 8:35 PM:

" Can Rod find any more ways to bankrupt our state? Aren't we in debt enough already without downstate having to pay for his pipedreams of hosting the Olympics? What a financial drain on every location who has hosted them. I'm so sick of downstate Illinois being used as his dumping ground - throw a bunch of wind turbines down state - we don't want them here in Chicago, the windy city, but we'll take the power and the Texas-based companies flocking to Chicago to fleece the government and collect the tax credits while downstate Illinois pays for it all. As a life-long resident of Illinois, I move that we vote to disconnect Chicago from our state - can we dump it and make it independent, like Washington DC. Because I sure as H**) don't want it in our state. "

To Chicago wrote on Oct 30, 2007 4:36 PM:

" Lack of planning on your part. Does not constitute an emergency on my part. "

Native. wrote on Oct 30, 2007 2:52 PM:

" So withdraw the Olympic bid. I do not think that downstate should pay for Chicago's mass transit, even when they play the Olympic card. "

Dead Eye Dick wrote on Oct 30, 2007 11:32 AM:

" YaY! Finally we'll be getting new buses for Chicago. As to who's going to pay for them, that's easy. Smokers. They haven't been hammered in a couple of weeks. "

//////////// wrote on Oct 30, 2007 9:06 AM:

" and who do they think is going to pay for this? "

JD wrote on Oct 30, 2007 1:33 AM:

" Is this before or after the CTA threatens to cut routes and raise fares in their monthly doomsday threat? "
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