In some ways, 2016 was a rough year for those of us who care about sustainable transportation in Chicago. Six people were fatally struck while biking in the city this year—an average number according to the Chicago Department of Transportation. However, several of these were high-profile cases that shook the cycling community, including the nation’s first bike-share fatality, deaths on popular bike routes like Milwaukee Avenue, and a hit-and-run case that’s still unsolved.

The most obvious example of an equity-minded infrastructure improvement was the expansion of Divvy. The bike-share network added 1,050 new bikes and 85 new docking stations in 2016, mostly in underserved communities on the south and west sides, bringing the grand total to 5,800 bicycles and 580 stations. Meanwhile, the Divvy for Everyone initiative, which offers $5 annual memberships to lower-income residents, reached about 1,700 members this year, up from roughly 1,100 by the end of 2015, the program’s inaugural year.

  • In August the $43 million Union Station Transit Center opened across the street from the Metra and Amtrak hub, easing bus-train transfers, and a new bus lane was recently added on Canal. The CTA is also testing prepaid bus boarding at the Madison/Dearborn Loop Link bus rapid transit station, which could significantly cut travel times if it’s implemented at all eight BRT stops.
  • In early October the last three sections of the city’s wildly popular Riverwalk extension opened between LaSalle and Lake Street.
  • Later that month, the CTA released a draft environmental impact study for the $2.3 billion Red Line extension, finally making some traction on a project that south-siders have wanted for decades.
  • And on November 30, the City Council approved a new tax increment financing district that will help fund the $2.1 billion Red and Purple Modernization Project, which includes new track structures and stations, plus the controversial but necessary Belmont flyover.

We shouldn’t take this bounty for granted. Federal transportation dollars that were so plentiful under President Barack Obama are likely to dry up after Donald Trump takes over next month. As I discussed in a previous column, the Republican platform essentially calls for defunding all forms of travel that don’t involve cars, trucks, or planes. And Trump, a noted Chicagophobe who frequently used our city as a whipping boy during the election, is unlikely to show our city much grant-money love as president.