It would save a significant amount of time; something like 6 minutes.

In the case of a Cermak Green, it could just be that they do not have the width available for a fully ADA compliant station without going staggered. While Morgan had the luxury of building out over sidewalks, the Cermak Green abuts private property, so creating a station within the narrow gap between tracks is crucial to keep costs down.

^ I'm curious about how the ADA standards are construed. As far as I know, ADA concerns clear space around obstacles, and you could remove platform obstacles pretty easily, apart from vertical access. Set the platform up like Harlem or Cumberland with a box around the tracks and platform which supports the canopy and signage. Enclose the box to avoid the need for platform windbreaks. Suspend everything else from the canopy.

Yes, this would add cost, but you're also cutting the length of the station in half. This doesn't leave as much platform room for waiting passengers but it does provide a platform free of obstacles.

I don't know about 6 minutes, but it's probably the single biggest thing you could do to speed up Red and Purple trains, other than removing slow zones. On a 40-minute trip, cutting 2 or 3 minutes is a pretty big improvement.

Edit: Okay, the scheduled Red Line time from Wilson to Addison is 5 minutes. This includes a station stop at Sheridan. The thing is, trains rounding these curves must slow dramatically when there is another train on an adjacent track. Given the frequency and the overlap of Red and Purple trains, this happens pretty often. I know this personally, having ridden the Red Line daily for several months. Let's say it adds two minutes of delay over the scheduled time. A properly-designed high speed curve with a new Sheridan station would eliminate the delay and maybe shave a minute or two off of the scheduled times through the corridor for a total savings of three-four minutes.

My preferred solution, of course, would be to sink the North Main Line into a Sheffield subway through Wrigleyville, which would grade-separate Clark Junction, provide a new high-capacity subway station at Wrigley/Addison, and eliminate the Sheridan curve. North of Irving Park, the tunnel would curve westward to the current alignment and return to the elevated. The problem is accommodating all four tracks. I don't know if it's possible to dig a four-track tunnel with anything other than cut-and-cover.

Thought I'd post some recent photos of the new Morgan Street station under construction on the Green/Pink line. It's scheduled to open probably sometime this summer (btw, these aren't my photos):

First two from Zol87 (flickr):
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7034/6...6a1f3708_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7018/6...bf62e3c4_z.jpg

Last six from CurbedChicago (flickr):
http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6227/6...cbfa3f2c_o.jpg

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6216/6...fdefe723_o.jpg

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6112/6...bb38593a_o.jpg

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6102/6...cec295f7_o.jpg

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6036/6...d053ebd8_o.jpg

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6236/6...ea265faa_o.jpg

New Skokie CTA station could open by March

Trib Local Skokie
By Brian L. Cox Special to the Tribune
Thursday at 7:46 p.m.

http://triblocal.com/skokie/files/ca...345_resize.jpg

^^^ I have to say I'm pleased with how the canopy has turned out. I thought it was going to be all fugly pomo and that's actually a pretty cool, modernish design for the shelter.

Do I recall correctly that the plan for streetscaping and a road diet to make Oakton a bit less pedestrian-hostile is on indefinite hold?

I don't know about indefinite hold. Skokie was so anxious to put it in that they did a trial version last summer with paint and cones. I'm sure the trial revealed issues that need to be addressed in the final design, and as always, finding the funding is a challenge. I never heard that Skokie was shelving the plan, though.

The few times I drove through there during the trial period, traffic seemed to be flowing smoothly.

The Oakton station looks great, although the paint is pretty yucky, and I was hoping for a translucent roof.

Here's some lousy photos I took of the Halsted Bridge. As you can see, it's not finished but you can drive / walk across it.

http://www.umich.edu/~ifmuth/20120105construction5.jpg

http://www.umich.edu/~ifmuth/20110105construction6.jpg

http://www.umich.edu/~ifmuth/20110105construction7.jpg

http://www.umich.edu/~ifmuth/20110105construction8.jpg

Looks like I spoke too soon; the village is shelving the plan. :hell:

Residents bitched to the village council about increased traffic on their side streets, but the data collected by the study specifically showed that there were no major increases in traffic. "Surely if you narrow a road, that traffic has to go somewhere, right? Well, gosh darnit, it's not gonna go in front of MY house!"

Surprisingly, though, all the businesses and landowners along Oakton were strongly in support of the road diet. I guess they were unable to sway the neighborhood residents.

All is not lost, though - Skokie was planning to fund the road diet and other streetscape improvements out of a TIF that is set to expire. Without the road diet, Skokie is freed up to make other, more extensive improvements to the downtown streetscape. No word on what those might be but they will have a large budget to work with so we might get something pretty nice.

I am a former motorman and CTA "L" trains are operated around curves without any bearing at all to other trains on other tracks or trains operated on other tracks in opposite direction.

The only exception is when there are personnel on the right of way, workers, track walkers, etc. Then only one train at a time can pass those track level workers, straight track or curved, with the Loop bound train given preference. There was a lot of track reconstruction at Sheridan this past year with personnel on the right of way, and that is what you might have experienced.

David Harrison

^ Ah that might be it.

January 17, 2012
Mayor Emanuel Opens Newly-Renovated Grand Avenue Red Line Station

The article also talks about plans for the following new stations:

Clark/Division
Cermak Green Line Station
Washington/Wabash Loop Elevated Station

http://www.cityofchicago.org/content...nestation.html

This seems like a crappy time to make a big public announcement. Illinois' whole allotment of CMAQ funding is in jeopardy. I guess the city could fund these things with bond revenue and then pay back the bondholders with the CMAQ when it is restored in a few years. That still puts the city on the hook for the interest, though.

6300sf is pretty spacious for the new Clark/Division mezzanine, especially for a secondary entrance. Here's hoping the city doesn't push forward with the crappy Disney design they've been using.

I do like that all three will open periodically in 2014. We're gonna have a good couple of years here in Chicago. In 2012, we get openings of Grand, Oakton, and Morgan. In 2013, we get the Jeffrey and Central BRT and probably some other stuff.

Just a random thought, but what does everyone think the best alternative to the disney tile is? There has to be an ultra modern, sexy, material that resists grime and graf better than the crappy tile.

Gorilla Glass? Too expensive?
Polished stone? Too expensive?
Ceramic alternatives? Ugly? Expensive?
Metals? Too easy to dent?

yay to the long overdue Washington-Wabash station and getting that side of the loop down to two stations finally

hopefully they are thinking about redoing State/Lake soon which is downright dangerous during some rush periods and special events downtown

^^ State/Lake, if renovated, needs to include a direct transfer to the Red Line. You could just build an enclosed stairway in the median of State that directly connects the two mezzanines with no street access. Handicapped access would be trickier, but you could probably embed an elevator in one of the adjacent buildings (Page Bros. or 190 N. State).

I saw this at Museumsquartier in Vienna. All of that city's metro stations are organized on a 1m grid, so wall panels, floor panels, and ceiling panels can all be mass-produced easily. Each station uses different materials, and individuality is achieved using different configurations on the 1m grid, artwork installations, and sometimes display cases set into the wall.

I believe Gorilla Glass is for consumer electronics. This particular glass material (spandrel glass) would be great for Chicago because of its large panel sizes.

-Installation costs are cheap since there are relatively few pieces.
-Since it directly adheres to the concrete wall behind, or to sheetrock, it won't shatter like a window would.
-Broken panels should occur rarely if at all, and they can be swapped out easily because the panels are so big, with little or no visual difference over the original panels.
-The smooth, reflective surface is easy to clean, will not stain even after decades of use, and the reflective quality makes the cramped underground spaces feel larger.

Plus, the spandrel glass is pretty similar in concept to the original Vitralite of the Initial System stations, so it's an historical homage.

http://farm1.staticflickr.com/42/775...4c16806c_z.jpg
flickr/Ronja

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3581/3...be99e9f9_z.jpg
flickr/andynash

^^^That would be slick.

Gorrila Glass is primarily going to be used in consumer electronics, but there is no reason why it can't be applied elsewhere once prices for it drop far enough. The problem right now is that it is expensive. The benefits of gorrila glass is that it is almost impossible to crack, chip, or scratch which means etchers and every day damage would be foiled.

The station you posted is gorgeous, but how to they prevent etchers from going to town on it?