News Updates

CMAP refines financial forecasts and project evaluations for the 2026 Regional Transportation Plan 

The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) continues to advance the 2026 Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) through extensive research, data analysis, and public engagement. Since engagement began, CMAP has reached more than 40,000 people across the region, with more than 1,500 residents from all seven counties completing the RTP questionnaire. Priorities we’ve heard include concerns about speeding, congestion, and transit access, along with calls for greater investment in transit, walking, and biking infrastructure. These insights, combined with ongoing partner collaboration, are shaping the strategies that will guide the region’s transportation future.

CMAP is also developing a long-range financial plan to ensure the RTP remains fiscally constrained, transparent, and resilient through 2050. This includes preparing revenue and expenditure forecasts, conducting a financial risk assessment, and exploring new funding strategies such as sales tax modernization, tolling and a potential road usage charge. In addition, CMAP — in close collaboration with transportation partners — has identified 137 regional capital projects that are under evaluation for how well they advance regional goals; the draft benefits report and interactive map of these projects are now available online. 

Financial plan update 

To meet federal requirements for fiscal constraint, CMAP is developing long-range financial forecasts for the RTP to estimate baseline revenues and expenditures and identify additional reasonably expected revenues. Working with a financial plan resource group, CMAP has refined transparent and accurate forecasting methods to guide investment priorities through 2050. A forthcoming Financial Plan Risk Assessment will evaluate uncertainties — such as future revenue availability, cost escalation, and project delivery — and identify mitigation strategies to ensure a realistic and resilient plan.  

As with past financial plans, projected expenditures for 2027–2050 exceed baseline revenues, highlighting the need for new funding sources. To explore options, CMAP has published Transportation funding strategies: Revenue options for consideration in the Financial Plan for Transportation and Tolling and pricing strategies: Revenue options for consideration in the Financial Plan for Transportation, with a white paper on implementing a road usage charge in Illinois is forthcoming. 

Key insights:

• Significant investment and collaboration are needed to maintain and modernize the region’s roads, bridges, and transit networks.
• Reasonably expected revenues make up approximately 13 percent of the draft fiscal constraint. Without these new sources, the region will fall short of realizing the RTP’s priorities.

Regional capital projects

Through coordination with partner agencies, CMAP has identified 137 regional capital projects (RCPs) for possible inclusion in the RTP. Each project is being evaluated for how well it advances regional transportation goals. The evaluations consider measurable criteria such as existing asset conditions, travel time reliability, and the expected impacts on regional travel delays and emissions based on outputs from the regional travel demand model. A draft RCP Benefits Report summarizing the benefits that each proposed project offers to the region is now available. The RCP candidates can also be viewed in an interactive map. CMAP will continue to update and refine this report through the end of the year.

Key insights:

• Candidate regional capital projects total more than $80 billion in anticipated construction costs (in 2025 dollars).
• Interstate and transit rail reconstruction and capacity projects represent about two-thirds of the candidate RCP construction costs.

Share your voice in shaping the region’s transportation future

CMAP wants to hear from you as we continue developing the 2026 Regional Transportation Plan. Your input helps guide the strategies and investments that will shape how northeastern Illinois moves in the decades ahead. Take a few minutes to share your thoughts on transportation priorities, challenges, and opportunities by completing the RTP questionnaire.