Every year, Chicago makes decisions about where to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in the infrastructure that keeps our neighborhoods functioning: streets, bridges, public facilities, water systems and other long-term improvements.

These decisions may sound technical, but their impact is deeply personal. They influence whether streets flood during heavy rain, whether aging infrastructure gets replaced, whether public spaces receive improvements, and whether neighborhoods are prepared for the changing climate.

And for Chicago residents, there is a new opportunity to pay attention and speak up.

In late 2025, Chicago adopted a new process requiring the City’s proposed annual capital improvement projects to be submitted to City Council for approval. The plan must provide information including where projects are located, their anticipated costs, the criteria or needs assessments used to select them and expected timelines. The City Council Committee on Economic, Capital and Technology Development will consider the plan, and Council rules allow the committee to hold community hearings to help determine priorities for the Capital Improvement Program.

That creates something Chicago residents have not always had when it comes to capital planning: a clearer window into how major infrastructure decisions are being made and an opportunity to ask whether those decisions reflect the needs of our communities.

Infrastructure investment is an equity issue

Where public dollars flow matters. Chicago neighborhoods do not enter the capital planning process from the same starting line. Decades of public and private disinvestment have left some communities with greater infrastructure needs and greater vulnerability to environmental and economic challenges. Treating every neighborhood identically today does not erase the effects of decades in which investment was anything but equal.

Urban flooding offers a stark example. CNT has documented the unequal burden of flooding across Chicago for years. Our analysis of flood-related insurance claims between 2007 and 2016 found more than 229,000 claims totaling $433 million, with 87 percent of flood damage claims paid in communities of color. Research has also identified neighborhoods on Chicago’s South and West Sides as particularly vulnerable to urban flooding.

Today, heavier rainfall is colliding with aging infrastructure and neighborhoods already carrying multiple environmental and economic burdens. A flooded basement is not simply an inconvenience. It can mean lost belongings, mold, health risks, missed work and repair costs that can destabilize a household long after the water recedes. CNT’s ongoing flooding work is designed to better understand these overlapping vulnerabilities and help direct resources toward communities facing the greatest risk.

The Capital Improvement Program gives Chicago an opportunity to address those inequities systematically. Rather than asking only which infrastructure projects are ready to move forward, we should also be asking: Which communities face the greatest risks? Where has infrastructure investment historically fallen short? Where can public dollars do the most to reduce cumulative harm?

Those questions can help turn equity from an aspiration into part of the way Chicago makes investment decisions.

A new opportunity for Chicago residents

The schedule and details for public participation in the upcoming CIP process have not yet been announced. CNT will share additional information as it becomes available.

But residents do not have to wait to get ready. This is the time to learn how infrastructure conditions affect your neighborhood. Talk with your neighbors and local community organizations. Learn about challenges such as urban flooding and the investments that can reduce risk. Ask how your neighborhood’s needs are being identified and how projects are being prioritized.

Most importantly, begin talking with your elected officials about what an equitable Capital Improvement Program should look like.

We encourage residents to ask their alderperson and members of the City Council to consider vulnerability, historic disinvestment, cumulative environmental burdens and community experience when determining where capital resources should flow. Infrastructure dollars should not simply follow the loudest voices or reinforce patterns established by previous investment. They should help close gaps, reduce risk and build stronger neighborhoods across Chicago.

When opportunities for public participation are announced, residents should be prepared to participate, whether by attending a hearing, providing public comment or contacting their elected representatives.

Be ready to make your voice heard

Chicago’s infrastructure will help determine how well our city responds to the challenges of the coming decades. Decisions made through the Capital Improvement Program today can shape neighborhoods for generations.

Greater public visibility into those decisions is an opportunity worth using.

Learn about the issues facing your neighborhood. Understand how Chicago’s capital planning process works. And encourage your elected officials to prioritize investment where need and vulnerability are greatest.

Public hearing dates have not yet been announced. CNT will continue following the Capital Improvement Program process and share opportunities for residents to participate as more information becomes available.

In the meantime, learn more about why equitable infrastructure investment is critical to addressing urban flooding in Chicago in CNT’s recent article, “The Rain Is Getting Worse. Our Response Is Getting Smarter.”