Four engineering teams have been chosen to design the major portion of the Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency (CREATE) program to remove bottlenecks in railway junctions in the Chicago area. 

As part of a $1 billion project, the Belt Junction and 80th Street Junction Replacements will replace or renovate roughly 100 bridges and other buildings across a 6-mile stretch.

Partners behind the CREATE program revealed the selections of Norfolk Southern. Parsons Corp. leads two design package teams, while each of Hanson Professional Services Inc. and Gannett Fleming Inc. will lead one team individually. 

Each of these four chosen teams has a list of smaller, certified DBEs to undertake certain tasks and reach the CREATE team's 30?E participation target. The DBE objective is a component of Norfolk Southern's pledge to extend economic and educational opportunities within the community, according to Valerie Nesbitt, director of supplier inclusion and sustainability. 

The CREATE team plans to submit their designs in 2025 for further review. The EW2 project has not yet received funding for its construction. 

EW2 is a component of the $4.6 billion CREATE program's $1 billion 75th Street Corridor Improvement Project (CIP). More than 70 projects are part of the program: the collaboration between Chicago, Illinois's Cook County, the USDOT, Metra, Amtrak, and numerous freight railroads. 

For the 75th Street CIP's final design, the CREATE partners are utilizing a $132 million infrastructure for Rebuilding America funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation.