Olympics report questions Chicago transit, money

Chicago has not received a gold medal on its bid to host the 2016 Olympics, an International Olympic Committee document released this morning shows, though a clear cut leader for the race to become the host city of the 2016 Olympic Games has not been declared either.

The document, that reviews and assesses the bids of the four cities vying for the 2016 Summer Olympics, showed traffic, financing and transportation concerns worry the Olympic committee.

The worst of the report was directed toward traffic and transportation concerns, the report reads.

Committee members said in the report that, while the travel concepts released to the IOC committee results in short travel times for the athletes and organizers, the efficiency of transportation for spectators would depend on a significant increase in the capacity and use of public transportation and other plans to reduce traffic.

"With (Metra) expected to take approximately ⅔

of the overall 2016 Olympic rail traffic. Such an increase would be a major challenge given the magnitude of Chicago's general rail infrastructure and rolling stock upgrade needs," the document reads.

The report, which runs 98 pages, was released at about 7 a.m. on the Internet.

The report comes exactly one month before the IOC will pick the 2016 host city. Chicago is a finalist along with Tokyo, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro.

While Chicago was criticized in the report, the other cities were also criticized for some of the issues surrounding their plan to host the games and the report, itself, did not give a recommendation on which should get the games.

The report also adds that traffic would need to be reduced in the city by 25 percent before the games, and 50 percent during the games, specifically around the McCormick Place on Lake Shore Drive.

In addition, Chicago was criticized for not providing a full guarantee to cover a potential economic shortfall as requested in the host city contract provided by the Olympic committee. Instead, the city proposed a capped guarantee of $750 million, with $500 million covered by the city and $250 million covered by the state of Illinois. Simultaneously, Chicago had formally requested to amend the Host City contract, at which point, the committee informed the city that the standard contract applied to all cities.

The committee was also concerned a full-financing guarantee for development of the Olympic Village was not provided during the committee's visit,

On top of all that, though, Chicago was given the bronze medal in terms of public support because residents at two other host cities supported the games more than Chicagoans did.

"The commission feels that whilst each of these cities could organize the 2016 Games, there are risks and opportunities inherent to each project which it is the commission's duty to clearly identify to the IOC members before the elect the 2016 host city," the report said.

However, IOC members tend to vote for individual reasons, including geopolitical factors, and the final presentations by the four cities in Copenhagen will also be crucial.

The report is based on visits by the evaluation commission to the four cities in April and May.

Chicago bid officials are expected to discuss the IOC's report at a Wednesday afternoon news conference.

Associated Press contributed to this report.

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Related documents</h2> <ul class="morePdf"> <li><a href="/pdf/olympicreport0902.pdf">Read the full report </a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>