It'll be a rainbow of purple, brown, orange and green for the part of the L that green line uses in the loop.

From metrarail.com -

Chicago CREATE Lands $19.2 INFRA grant
 

CREATE Project GS9 Archer Avenue /Belt Railway grade separation

USDOT Selection
Project Description
The Illinois Department of Transportation will be awarded $19,137,780 to grade separate Archer Avenue
roadway and two existing Belt Railway of Chicago (BRC) rail tracks. The project will reconstruct Archer Avenue
and lower it approximately 15 feet under a new rail bridge to serve the existing BRC tracks, add elevated
pedestrian and bicycle sidewalks under the rail bridge with lighting, relocate utilities, and install a combined
storm and sanitary sewer along Archer Ave with rehabilitated combined sewers adjacent to the project site

West Loop Metra station is happening, alderman says

https://urbanize.city/chicago/sites/...?itok=aNyUhpQM

https://urbanize.city/chicago/post/w...n-ogden-kinzie

Will be interesting to see the rendering, if is ever made public. Metra has been planning a flyover at the A-2 interlocking which would also be in this general location... so there might be some kind of long new viaduct involved as well. Both projects are pretty well linked together.

Also noteworthy that they specified Union Pacific. Maybe just an error but the UP tracks are actually harder to build station platforms - they sit on a narrow 4-track viaduct with no room to spare, and they are on a curve which presents problems for handicap accessibility. I always assumed the platforms would be for Milwaukee District trains (MD-W, MD-N, NCS) because those tracks are relatively straight and they have room in which to build. Also, the combined ridership of 3 Milwaukee District lines is higher than UP-W alone so it would be more useful. Of course, the ideal is a super-station where all four lines can stop...

I wish the entire stretch could be put in a subway from Ogden to Canal. As that area continues to grow & evolve, having multiple heavy rail tracks at ground level doesn't seem very fitting for an ideal pedestrian environment. Either elevate (like the tracks a block or two north) or submerge. And it ensures Metra service will continue to operate slowly through this area due to the multiple at-grade crossings.

^ I have long wished for an elevated viaduct through West Loop for the Milwaukee District and Amtrak. A modern concrete structure would look nice and would open up the ground level for a trail and park/plaza space. Toronto is doing something like this at the Davenport Diamond - that is a mirror finish on the sound walls to make the viaduct appear thinner.

edit

How does a platform from Ogden to Ashland connect to the Green line that is a full six blocks south? Or do they only mean the Ashland bus?

I think they just menat you could get off at Ashland and walk down to the Green Line. It's not really 6 blocks, it's under 1/4 mile... not that that stretch of Ashland is very pedestrian-friendly, but maybe it will be in a decade or two.

I mean, I think it’s actually decently ped-friendly. Wide enough sidewalks, historical buildings largely intact. It’s just not interesting yet since there isn’t much active use at ground level. That seems pretty fixable as the Greater Fulton Market District (TM) continues to march west

If this is the rail line that I think it is, they need to do that all the way down the line. As novel as it is to wait for the train on the way to Midway, this is a great step and definitely needs to happen at 55th, 63rd and all the other crossings.

Pete Buttegieg plugging the Red Line extension to 130th, according to the Tribune

CREATE has prioritized the line running west from 55th Junction for grade separations. They have planned an underpass at Central/54th and an overpass at 65th/Harlem.

The crossings at 55th/Kenton, 63rd/Kolmar and Marquette/Kolmar are not being pursued at this time, since they don't have the same (auto/truck) traffic volumes.

^Underpasses/Overpasses being rail or auto?

Interestingly this is the r-o-w I've always daydreamed about running rapid transit down to Worth.

Could you possibly elaborate, please? Not sure what you have in mind.

Are you talking about the North-South leg of the proposed Lime Line extended on the South end along the Southwest Service tracks to Worth?

These projects almost never change the grade of the rail line; the road is either elevated or depressed to form the grade separation. At the scale of a single grade separation, it seems to be cheaper in almost every case to change the grade of the road. When there are multiple crossings in a row being eliminated, the economics usually favor an earthen embankment or trench for the rail line, or occasionally a viaduct on structure.

Central Ave at BRC (this design sucks, hopefully they have redesigned it in the 7 years since the last update):
http://centralbrc.org/downloads/

Harlem at 63rd/65th/BRC:
http://www.il43study.org/documents/

Coverage and renderings of the project:

CREATE partners unveil details of Archer, BRC grade separation
https://www.progressiverailroading.c...721-ARCHER.jpg
https://www.progressiverailroading.c...aration--63986

https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/dept...tegicplan.html

A closer look at CDOT’s plan to close Chicago’s transportation equity gap

https://chi.streetsblog.org/2021/08/...on-equity-gap/

https://www.chicago.gov/content/dam/...ortation21.pdf




https://i1.wp.com/chi.streetsblog.or...ng?w=960&h=317




https://i0.wp.com/chi.streetsblog.or...ng?w=983&h=387

Sen. Tammy Duckworth shared details on how much Illinois will receive from the infrastructure bill, as well as some items she fought for such as transit accessibility and lead pipe removals:

- CTA, Metra, Pace, and downstate transit agencies will get $4 billion, can also compete for additional federal funds

- $1.75 billion to make public transit stations across the country fully accessible to those in wheelchairs

- Illinois will get $9.8 billion for highway projects, $1.4 billion for bridge repairs, $149 million for EV stations, and $100 million for broadband access in rural areas

- $15 billion for a national lead-pipe replacement. Note: Chicagoland has 23% of all the nation's lead pipes

- Partially restoring the full federal deduction on state and local taxes

Duckworth finds way to avoid being 'locked in' at CTA stations
https://www.chicagobusiness.com/greg...d-cta-stations

My friend and I were having a discussion about transit projects in Chicago and the Circle Line came up. We talked about the feasibility of that project, but he also proposed an idea where instead of the circle line, there could be a new line (Silver) that goes straight across across Western Ave from the south to the north. His reasoning is that there are multiple CTA stations on Western (Orange, Pink, Blue, Brown) and that it would be more feasible to connect to these stations and make it easier to get across town. CTA could build a Western Ave station for the yellow line to extend it further north. Likewise, CTA could maybe build one for the green line on the 63rd and halsted branch and extend it west to Western so the line can be further south than the orange line.

So the Silver Line would look like this:

Green Line (63rd) -> Orange Line (49th) -> Pink Line (21st) -> Blue Line (Eisenhower) -> Blue Line (Milwaukee Ave) -> Brown Line (1900 N) -> Yellow Line (Asbury Ave)

Do you guys think this could be more feasible than the Circle Line?

:stunned::stunned::stunned:

Holy crap. I had no idea that was a fact.

Chicago kept installing them much longer than almost anywhere else I am aware of, up until 1986.

Unrelated, the Amtrak-Metra fued has been partially resolved by the STB:

Amtrak-Metra ties are back on track after ruling on Union Station rent

https://chicago.suntimes.com/2021/8/...ortation-board


They're still arguing over the operational stuff AFAIK.

That's a great image and it is very sobering with the gentrification and growth of the North side and decline and decimation of the West and South Side.

Maybe that map is true but I quibble a bit with the methodology of using per capita income instead of household income. What you're seeing here isn't necessarily income inequality, but differences in birth rates.

Under a per capita measurement, a single person making $100K a year appears twice as wealthy as a (traditional) family with two kids and each parent making $100K each. Is the single person's standard of living twice as high as that of the family?

It would probably be less challenging to build, but wouldn’t have that much benefit north of where western crosses the River. There’s a drop in population density west of western at that point. If it was mostly apartment buildings and intersections that could accommodate higher density, I would be more inclined to agree, but I think buses work better here. Where it’s more difficult to reach rail service is around Humbolt park. Too bad there isn’t a Division street subway that meets up with the blue line. But I doubt the tunnels can take all that much additional rush hour capacity

That's part of it but even with that switch in metrics, the results will be the same so tomatoe tomato, potatoe, potato.

Feasable?

I didn't know we included that metric here.

The Red Line Extension is Exhibit A that feasibility doesn't matter.

Not really. The map, as drawn, makes places like Norwood Park look middle-class just because people there have kids. People there LOVE to be considered middle class, when their incomes are anything but. And, on the flip side, paints those who don't have kids (including LGBT folks, etc) as rich elites who don't need city investment.

I'm not minimizing that kids are a big financial burden, but it's important to understand the biases in the data before you look at colors on a map and use that to set city policy.

A crosstown line at Western is only slightly more useful than one at Ashland—not much. The reason is that making two transfers at 2400W takes almost as much time as making one transfer in the Loop.

https://activetrans.org/sites/active.../lime_line.jpg

A crosstown BRT line at 4600W or 4800W (ActiveTransportation Alliance's Lime Line, above) is probably the second most useful investment we could make for improving transit equity. In first place, IMHO, is fare integration and half-hourly clocker schedules for the Metra Electric and Rock Island lines.

Why BRT for the Belt Railway corridor? I understand the advantages of BRT for street running, or if you want to branch off the corridor like Lake Shore Drive, but if you're installing on a grade separated railway corridor why not just invest in a rail line akin to how the Orange Line was built?

I don't even know if it's worth considering light rail, since the primary cost savings from LRT (the ability to run at-grade) is moot here, and other aspects of the L system (short rolling stock, short platforms, smaller loading gauge/curve radius) are closer to LRT than the typical heavy rail standard. Seems to me like you could just do an Orange Line-esque project, but with cheaper Metra style stations and 4-car platforms. Maybe take advantage of the grade separation to do full automation and high frequencies.

It's so obvious the MidCity Transitway needs to be heavy rail I feel stupid even saying it out loud.

Active Trans describes it this way: "The project, which is also known as the Mid-City Transitway, could come in the form of CTA rail or bus rapid transit (BRT)."

If, in fact, it's a fully grade-separated ROW, there's probably little to be gained (other than lower operating costs) from doing it as BRT. However, we could also think of the corridor as an Ottawa-style BRT trunk, from which buses branch out at the north end to continue to various job centers in Skokie or Northfield or around O'Hare. Same at the south end, if we could find any job centers left with more than 100 jobs.

Metra sets meeting to discuss UP North bridge project
 

----------snip-------------

More detail at Metra.

Virtual meeting sign-up link.

Metra's UP-North Rebuild page.

There are 5 grade crossings near Midway (the one at Archer to be eliminated soon) so those would need to be separated.

Other than that, it appears to be a fully grade-separated corridor except at railroad diamonds, which would pose a problem for BRT as well as rail.

I think Bedford Park would fall into that general area

Good article and nice images too (not sure date it was released)

A Model System: Considering Chicago’s Multimodal Transit Nodes
"As America reinvests in infrastructure, it’s critical that public transit services interconnect, building on each other’s strengths."

https://architizer.com/blog/inspirat...ransit-system/

https://blog.architizer.com/wp-conte...2048x1326.jpeg

https://blog.architizer.com/wp-conte...2048x1222.jpeg

https://blog.architizer.com/wp-conte..._1217_019.jpeg

https://blog.architizer.com/wp-conte...ds/Ohare1.jpeg

https://blog.architizer.com/wp-conte...tion_02-1.jpeg

"As federal, state, and local governments consider reinvestment in infrastructure, we turn our attention to the magnificent example set by Illinois’ capital city."

inspires a lot of confidence when the author can't even get the basic facts straight...

Somebody missed 5th grade.

Maybe the author is imagining a future where downstate secedes from Illinois and Chicago has to be the new capital

The city, along with Metra, is hosting a virtual meeting 10/12 to discuss a West Loop Metra stop.

DPD,

@ChicagoDOT and @AldermanBurnett will cohost an informational webinar next month to update the Near West Side community on the feasibility of a future @Metra station and a related track realignment. The event will take place at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct12 http://bit.ly/3lZptJM

This is a no brainer. They could build and open a station over a long weekend for basically no cost. Just pour some concrete next to the existing tracks. Google would probably do it for free.

Of course it'll instead cost half a billion dollars and take a decade.

Oh give em some credit. It'll only cost a quarter billion dollars and take half a decade.

Seriously though im sure it will be a cheesy ye olde rail depot facsimile like so many Metra stations with the brick, the black crook lamps, the wrought iron instead of something that feels modern and airy it will feel heavy and old. Like their rolling stock, that's the Metra way.

^ I'm not so sure about that. Sterling Bay is one of the parties pushing for this behind the scenes, and their contemporary design for the new Clybourn stop would not look out of place in London or Paris.

Also CDOT seems to be taking the lead on the planning process and all the new CTA stations they've done have also been contemporary, if not always elegant. Remember, Metra usually defers to the local jurisdictions for design of stations. The suburban stations all look old-timey because that's what the suburbs want. Peterson/Ridge is admittedly a stinker, but I think that's partly because CDOT wasn't involved and Metra just gave the design commission to the same guys that design their maintenance sheds.

As for the cost, the Fulton Market station is tied up with a new flyover that will eliminate the A-2 crossing, where all the UP-W trains going to Ogilvie have to cross in front of all trains going into the north side of Union (so MD-N, MD-W, NCS, Hiawatha, Empire Builder). That is an important investment to eliminate a major bottleneck on the system, and honestly worth spending half a billion dollars if it unlocks frequent CTA-like service to O'Hare or along the existing Metra lines.

^Agreed.

With Metra—sooner or later, at a cost yet to be determined—taking over operation of the UP lines, there's actually the opportunity to swap the terminals and maintenance facilities such that A-2 would go nearly unused. You'd send the NCS, MD-W, and MD-N trains to Ogilvie, and the UP-W trains to the north side of Union Station. Only Amtrak's Milwaukee trains would have to cross over at A-2.

Will that happen? Doubtful. The situation with UP won't be resolved for another five years, while Metra is anxious to rebuild A-2 with whatever federal money is about to get shaken loose. And the feds give grants for big construction projects—not for innovative thinking.

It's not clear to me that Ogilvie could host MD-N, MD-W, and NCS in addition to UP-N and UP-NW which can't be rerouted. That's a lot of trains, and more importantly a lot of passengers. The concourse space available at Ogilvie may not be enough for the peak crowding and potentially unsafe in the event of a disruption. On the flip side it leaves the north end of Union under-utilized, and it's not clear what new services would fill the void (Rockford trains?)

There's also a vague plan for frequent (20-minute) service from Union Station to O'Hare, which would need to cross over at A-2 in any case.

I guess if you rebuild a fourth track from A-2 to Pacific Junction you can separate MD-N from MD-W and NCS, and send only MD-N to Ogilvie while sending UP-W to Union.

Is the proposed 20 minute O'Hare service going to be on the MDN? Isn't it preferable to have O'Hare service from Union rather than Ogilvie?
Also- is it known if the new Fulton Station will have platforms to service both train lines?

O'Hare service wouldn't ever be on the MD-N. Most likely it would be on the NCS, which comes downtown on the MD-W.

I always wonder if it wouldn't be easier to build a new spur from the (Metra-owned) MD-W into ORD from the south—it runs less than 300 feet from Irving Park Rd—rather than have a big, expensive fight with CP over putting more trains on the NCS.

The Cassidy Tire property is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to connect the UP to the Union Station runthrough tracks, and I hate to see it lost for just another forgettable West Loop highrise.