RTA board getting used to its new oversight powers

With great power comes great responsibility, as every superhero knows.

So the Regional Transportation Authority is taking gradual steps to increase its oversight of the CTA, Metra and Pace boards -- new power the General Assembly gave it in January.

So perhaps it wasn't surprising that RTA officials did a bit of Monday morning quarterbacking concerning a much-criticized Chicago Transit Authority mega-project at a meeting on Thursday.

The CTA last week announced it was downsizing the controversial plan for a transit center under Block 37, defined by State, Dearborn, Randolph and Washington streets in downtown Chicago.

The agency had proposed a $213 million super station linking the Red and Blue lines with express trains to O'Hare International Airport. But cost overruns have put the project in limbo while the city looks for private funding, although the CTA plans to commit $45 million more for construction work.

So on Thursday, after RTA directors heard details of a plan to increase oversight of Pace, Metra and CTA's budgets and capital projects, the Block 37 project was mentioned.

Several officials commented that the RTA's beefed-up role would have given it the potential to veto the Block 37 plan or at least scrutinize it thoroughly.

In the meantime, the CTA is expected to report to the RTA about its plan to spend additional money on the station.

The issue, however, is complex, RTA Chairman Jim Reilly said, adding, "if you've spent $213 million, you don't want to throw it away."

The RTA's change in status was part of a state law that increased funding for mass transit through a sales tax increase.