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Yesterday, officials from Alsip, Ill., the Illinois Department of Transportation and CSX Transportation participated in a ceremony to mark the completion of a Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency Program (CREATE) project in Chicago’s south suburbs.

The $19.5 million project, known as CREATE Project B12, included adding a third mainline track and upgrading signals from 123rd Street to the Cal Sag Channel near Alsip, as well as constructing a new rail bridge over 127th Street. The project will help reduce crossing delays in the congested south suburban corridor, through which 77 freight trains operate each day. Trains traveling to Barra and Blue Island yards had to wait at the location to access the yards, causing congestion on the mainline.

Eighty percent of the project was funded through the 2005 federal surface transportation bill; railroad contributions covered the remainder, according to a prepared statement.