One of the city’s largest departmental budgets, but also a heavily grant-funded one, much of CDOT’s operations are self-funding or funded independently of the rest of the city budget. The department is responsible for the city’s roads, bridges, lighting, and underground infrastructure coordination.
Chicago Department of Transportation Snapshot: Appropriation & Staffing Changes from 2026 Budget
CDOT is only 12.4% locally-funded, with more than half of its budget coming from federal grants and roughly another quarter from state grants.
Construction of buildings and structures, CDOT’s largest appropriations category, is up $154.6 million from the previous year’s budget, a 22.7% increase. Outside contracting through the professional and technical services appropriation is also up $2.6 million, or 2.5%.
A new $3.825 million appropriation from the EPA’s Diesel Emission Reduction Act federal grant is one of the department’s largest single-line increases, listed as being for “Purposes as Specified” with no further information in the budget book or grants supplement.
Historical Context
CDOT’s total appropriations have been growing rapidly in recent years, driven by substantial increases in state and federal grants as well as revenues from the vehicle and motor fuel funds.
From 2011-2026, CDOT’s budget grew at an average rate of 10% annually, or 7.3% when adjusted for inflation through 2025, compared to a citywide average rate of 5.5% (inflation-adjusted 3.2%). The current proposal would continue the trend of rapid growth, increasing the department’s appropriations by 8.7% from the previous year.
Chicago Department of Transportation Appropriations and Inflation-adjusted Appropriations (2025 dollars)
Values in nominal dollars.
Values in 2025 dollars. No supplied inflation factors for 2026, 2027; those years remain gaps.
City budgets do not break out “fringe” pension and benefit costs for non-grant positions by department, instead grouping them together as citywide expenses under the Finance General section of the budget. To better reflect the real cost of service for departmental operations, BGA Policy has included an estimate of pension and benefit costs for the years 2018-2026, using Department of Finance fringe memos from each relevant year. An estimated fringe cost for the 2027 proposal uses the average annual rate of increase for each of the inputs into the fringe formulae.
Based on the city’s fringe formulae, the CDOT fringe cost for nongrant employees averaged 6.4% from 2018-2026, compared to a citywide average of 26.8%. (Departments with a larger proportion of their budget dedicated to non-employee costs or with a larger proportion of grant-funded employees tend to have lower fringe costs, as their pension/benefit costs are either already factored into grant funds or are a smaller percentage of the overall departmental budget.)
Chicago Department of Transportation Appropriations with Estimated Fringe Cost of Pensions and Benefits for Budgeted Non-grant Positions, 2018–2027 (proposed)
Over the past four complete budget years for which local fund actuals/encumbrances data is available, CDOT spent on average 92% of its locally funded budget, compared to the citywide average 86.6% local fund spend.
Chicago Department of Transportation Local Fund Actuals, 2022–2025
Overall, the department’s budgeted headcount grew at an average annual rate of 3.1% from 2011-2026, compared to a citywide average annual change of -0.1%. The current proposal would increase budgeted headcount by .8% from the previous year.
Chicago Department of Transportation Budgeted Workforce, 2011–2027 (proposed)
From January through September of 2026, the months for which full-time position vacancy data is currently available, CDOT averaged a 10.2% vacancy rate, compared to the citywide average of 11.2%.
Chicago Department of Transportation Full-time Vacancies, Jan-Sept 2026
76 of the department’s budgeted full-time positions were persistent vacancies (defined as the number of positions within the same combination of title, subsection, section, division, department, and fund codes that remained vacant in all nine months of available data):
Chicago Department of Transportation Persistent Full-time Vacancies, Jan-Sept 2026
Setting aside title changes, promotions, and similar adjustments of positions within general job categories, half of CDOT’s proposed net increase of 12 positions/FTEs comes from a net increase of six positions within Civil Engineer titles, followed by three new Field Service Director positions.
Chicago Department of Transportation Net and Percent Position/FTE Changes, 2026 to 2027 (Proposed) Budgets
CDOT is 12.4% locally-funded in this year’s budget proposal, down slightly from the previous year’s 13.1%. More than half of CDOT’s funding comes from federal grants, with a further 23.6% from state grants
Chicago Department of Transportation Fund Comparison, 2026–2027
Unlike most departments, a large portion of CDOT’s budget is not directly personnel-related. The department’s single largest appropriations category is for construction of building and structures, and the department holds a very large sum of grant funds in reserve balance as well.
Chicago Department of Transportation Top 10 Largest Appropriations, 2027 proposed
Because CDOT is so heavily grant-funded, local fund actuals paint a limited picture of departmental spend, but in 2025, the most recent complete budget year for which local fund actuals and encumbrances data is available, CDOT spent 92.3% of its locally-funded budget.
Chicago Department of Transportation 2025 Actual Spend (Local Funds)
Construction of buildings and structures, CDOT’s largest appropriations category, is up $154.6 million from the previous year’s budget, a 22.7% increase.
A new $3.825 million appropriation from the EPA’s Diesel Emission Reduction Act federal grant is listed as being for “Purposes as Specified,” with no further information in the budget book or grants supplement.
Outside contracting through the professional and technical services appropriation is also up $2.6 million, or 2.5%.
The amount of grant funding held in reserve balance is down -$7.7 million, a -0.9% reduction from the previous year.
Chicago Department of Transportation Net and Percent Appropriation Changes, 2026 to 2027 (proposed) Budgets
Geoffrey Cubbage analyzes policy and budgets at the Better Government Association, covering state lawmakers and Chicago City Council. He joined BGA in 2022 after directing policy and economic development for Chicago’s 40th Ward.
