Chicago will add 50 speed cameras as part of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s plan to balance this year’s budget, increasing the stock of the devices used to ticket drivers by 30% citywide.
The city’s Department of Transportation confirmed this week that it is “actively working” to install the 50 cameras this year but declined to share the locations, saying they have yet to be finalized.
Multiple aldermen told the Tribune CDOT officials called them in the past several days to float addresses in their wards for a new speed camera, all of which were intersections the aldermen said constituents had raised concerns about when it came to speeding and crashes.
The cameras are controversial. While some aldermen say they are a useful traffic enforcement and revenue tool and have long asked for more in their wards, others note historic racial disparities in ticketing, and say the burden the tickets places on working-class drivers makes the cameras a regressive way to raise money.
Johnson’s political calculus is particularly tricky. He counts among his progressive base many Chicagoans who prioritize safety for pedestrians and cyclists. But he has also promised to look for ways to tax wealthier people rather than relying on policies that hit poor people hard.
Currently, 162 speed cameras are located throughout the city, so the additions — which Johnson has said will raise money to pay for a chunk of Chicago police positions he restored in his 2025 budget — will bring the total to 212.
Mayoral ally Ald. William Hall said last year when the mayor first proposed the additional cameras that they could go “in wards where aldermen want them.” But it’s still not clear exactly how city officials will decide where to place the devices, though Johnson would clearly prefer to get buy-in from local council members rather than face blowback.
“New cameras will be installed on a rolling basis throughout the year. CDOT will publicize new locations ahead of the cameras being activated,” CDOT spokesperson Erica Schroeder wrote in a statement. “The final decisions on identifying, selecting and designing automated speed enforcement camera locations are made on a case-by-case basis, taking into account a variety of factors including feasibility, effectiveness and equity.”
Each new camera location will have an initial 30-day grace period, during which speeding drivers will be let off with a warning notice in the mail. After that, those caught going 6 to 10 mph too fast will get $35 tickets, while $100 tickets will go out to those recorded going 11 mph or more over the limit, as is the standard citywide.
Johnson’s team first floated the new cameras as a means to raise $11 million to pay for Police Department positions related to the federal consent decree in his 2025 budget. His first proposal slashed the 162 roles, eliciting outcry from police reform experts and the Illinois attorney general until he reversed course.
Restoring those vacancies added $11.65 million to the 2025 deficit, so the administration addressed that by saying it will install $2.64 million worth of new speed cameras, which would generate an estimated $11.43 million in new revenue. Another $2.86 million would be gleaned from accounting in the police budget for how those 162 consent decree positions were unlikely to be filled at the start of this year.
The mayor’s budget office did not address questions on whether those figures were still up-to-date.
Johnson isn’t the first mayor to see a financial windfall from ticketing Chicago drivers.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel first turned the speed cameras on in 2013, and they brought in more money than expected. That started a trend of the city repeatedly leaning on the devices as a way to raise funds in recent years, even while Emanuel insisted the program was meant to improve safety near schools and parks, not bolster the bottom line.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot in 2021 lowered the ticket threshold from 10 mph over the limit to 6 mph over, to help close a $1.2 billion budget deficit. Critics of Lightfoot’s change tried in vain to roll it back that year.
The cameras have also been condemned for the fact many are only tenuously connected to the parks or schools near which they are supposed to be protecting pedestrians from speeders.
The city does not own the devices, which utilize a 3D radar to capture video and license plates. The cameras are leased from vendor Verra Mobility, formerly American Traffic Solutions.
Schroeder’s statement said locations for new speed cameras are decided based on a “data-driven process that uses crash data and stakeholder feedback to identify areas experiencing traffic safety concerns.” Only intersections designated “Safety Zones,” or 660 feet from a park or school, are considered, per state law.
Locations of active speed cameras are available in the city data portal and on ChicagoTrafficTracker.com.
