{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://visclosky.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/visclosky-announces-project-development-status-for-south-shore-expansion", "Visclosky Announces Project Development Status for South Shore Expansion", "2016-09-28", "2016", "2016-09", "Democrat", "House", "IN", "Peter Visclosky", "V000108", "visclosky.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Washington, DC \u2013 Today, Congressman Visclosky announced that the Department of Transportation\u2019s Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has moved the South Shore expansion forward into the Project Development phase.\nCongressman Pete Visclosky stated, \u201cI am excited to learn that the FTA has recognized the value of the South Shore expansion through this designation.\u00a0 It is another successful step forward to not just expand South Shore service, but to build a regional economy that provides innumerable benefits for current Northwest Indiana residents and future generations.\u00a0 I have no doubt that the success of this designation is due to the resilient efforts of NICTD, as well as the RDA, the State of Indiana, and all of the contributing communities.\u00a0 Their collective support has generated this outstanding forward momentum. \u00a0I will continue to work very hard to support the efforts to have commuter trains running on the new expanded track as soon as possible.\u201d\nMichael Noland, President of NICTD, stated, \u201cThis is great news.\u00a0 We have been working closely with the Congressman\u2019s office, the FTA, and communities that would be served by the West Lake Corridor and look forward to advancing the project through the environmental and preliminary engineering process.\u00a0 Improving access to jobs by making commuter rail service faster and more convenient will lay the ground work for new private development throughout the region.\u201d\nBill Hanna, President and CEO of the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority, stated, \u201cThis is a key step toward completion of the West Lake expansion of the South Shore line. We are now closer than ever before to the largest commuter rail investment in Indiana history \u2013 an investment that will create thousands of jobs in Northwest Indiana and provide world-class access to Chicago, the ninth-largest economy on the planet. We are grateful for the support of Congressman Visclosky, the State of Indiana and the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District in this endeavor, and look forward to continuing to work together to see the new line through to completion.\u201d\nFor additional information on the FTA grant process, click here.\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://visclosky.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/visclosky-announces-project-development-status-for-south-shore-expansion"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.0226170998066664, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}