CTA president Dorval Carter, Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Sen. Dick Durbin and Rep. Mike Quigley participate in a ceremonial groundbreaking for the second phase of the Red Purple Modernization project [Alex Nitkin/The Daily Line]

Chicago’s Far South Side is likely still about a decade and $1 billion in secured funding away from being able to claim a piece of the CTA Red Line, but state lawmakers brought the vision a step closer to reality this week, just as a similarly massive overhaul of the Red Line’s north branch takes a critical step forward.  

The Illinois General Assembly sent Gov. JB Pritzker a bill (SB1822) on Monday that would give Chicago leaders more legal leeway to establish a tax-increment financing district around the 5.6-mile path of new Red Line track planned between 95th and 130th streets. The city in 2016 created a similar “transit TIF” to open up funding for the $2.1 million Red Purple Modernization project now underway on the North Side.