Mayor Lori Lightfoot hailed President Joe Biden’s $1 trillion infrastructure bill on Monday, saying it would help expand the CTA Red Line to 130th Street and remove lead service lines.

       Lightfoot said she could not give a timetable for various projects as the city is waiting for information from the federal government about how much funding will come in the form of pure grants or some other distribution. The city doesn’t yet know how much money from the federal infrastructure bill will flow to Chicago.

       Riders exit a CTA Red Line train on Aug. 10 at the 95th Street station. (Vashon Jordan Jr. / Chicago Tribune)

       “We’re anxious to get going as quickly as possible,” Lightfoot said.

       In planning the next steps, Lightfoot said Chicago officials are prioritizing infrastructure, transportation, lead pipes, broadband work and infrastructure around electric vehicles. Lightfoot said she’s “particularly excited about some of the things that haven’t gotten the attention,” like expanding broadband internet access around the city and upgrading electric vehicle infrastructure.

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       Lightfoot is currently working on a plan for 650 pipe replacements during 2021 that is going much slower than the administration hoped. Chicago has more toxic pipes than any other U.S. city. Illinois has more than any other state, largely because local plumbing codes required the use of lead to convey water into homes until Congress banned the practice in 1986.

       A new state law gives Chicago a half-century to finish the job — a timeline demanded by the mayor.

       A key project that would greatly expand transit access in Chicago is the long-envisioned 5.3-mile extension of the Red Line south from its current terminus at 95th Street to 130th Street, adding four additional stations. The $2.3 billion expansion would service an area on the Far South Side and suburban Riverdale long referenced as a transit desert.

       Though Lightfoot didn’t say how long it would take to start the Red Line expansion, she said the federal bill should “kick-start the construction.”

       “This is really the first time that we’re going to see the opportunities to take the plans off the drawing board and put them into action,” Lightfoot said.

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