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If that was what they based their decision on and were consistent then it would be one thing but the routes chosen and the message delivered is just wonky. CTA concedes that they did not truncate 11 because of ridership but because it paralleled the Brown Line. Quote:
And the new version of 11 and the new route south of Fullerton play that out. If it was about ridership, then surely 11 shouldn't go all the way to Howard. Are people taking the 11 out to the Lincoln motels or Home Depot where they have to walk through large parking lots? No. In the end they are only cutting out less than 3.5 miles of the route but it is 3.5 miles of a decent and growing commercial district. Sure it helps operationally and if that were the main reason they CTA should have explained it better. In the end, 11 is being truncated because it runs parallel to the Brown line even though routes that run parallel to other L lines are being kept. Routes with less ridership are being kept. The plan calls for inconsistent changes and if CTA cannot effectively communicate why the inconsistencies exist, then they will face a public backlash. On a completely separate note, there was a ground breaking ceremony for the Ravenswood Metra stop. (Which will have bus service on Lawrence but no longer on Wilson if CTAs plan is implemented). I will see if I can get over there to see the new temp. platform north of Lawrence and once they start doing actual construction work to get some pics but it is getting harder to do it with the sun going down earlier. Coverage at Center Square Journal, Metra Breaks Ground For New Lawrence Ave Station. Highlights from the article: Quote:
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Chicago unveils 1st pedestrian safety plan
September 6, 2012 By Bridget Doyle Read More: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...,2929678.story Quote:
http://www.trbimg.com/img-5048339d/t...120906-001/600 |
The Trib is reporting that construction on Clark/Division is imminent. Work should run until mid-2015.
I'm hoping the street entrances they use are something modern, in line with the modern design of the new mezzanine. If CTA's committed to using a prototype, the ones created for Clark/Lake are pretty cool and seem to fit with the "wave" motif in the Clark/Division design. http://www.chicago-l.org/stations/im...ke.wells01.jpg |
I always really liked the Wells-Lake canopy (designed by Teng & Assoc.), but modernism didn't fare well under Daley's watch. Now I fear the die is cast (somewhat literally) for a standardized Victorian Revival canopy, as we've seen on Dearborn, at State & Polk, and in the last year at Congress & LaSalle and at Grand & State.
Monday's Tribune story confirms it. |
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Among the interesting tidbits [and there are some interesting ones (changes to six point intersections, changes to highway overpasses, road diets)] is a small little blurb that can be found on page 69: Quote:
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Chicago ready to buy land near Union Station for bus rapid transit center
September 12, 2012 By FRAN SPIELMAN Read More: http://www.suntimes.com/news/cityhal...it-center.html Quote:
http://www.suntimes.com/csp/cms/site...YPE=image/jpeg |
Open Streets, closed coffers: City Hall takes a pass on Chicago’s ciclovia.
September 11, 2012 By John Greenfield Read More: http://gridchicago.com/2012/open-str...rid+Chicago%29 Quote:
http://farm9.static.flickr.com/8442/...36c5fd77ae.jpg http://farm9.static.flickr.com/8307/...a05dc0c311.jpg http://farm9.static.flickr.com/8460/...eb7e3ae3b8.jpg http://farm9.static.flickr.com/8305/...daec24a80c.jpg |
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CTA board OKs decrowding plan Tribune story here.
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Are they replacing the Catenary along the South Shore & Metra Electric lines...?
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Fortunately, the (open) staircases used at Grand are fairly simple and acceptable. The ornate stuff they installed at LaSalle is cartoonish, oversized and totally inappropriate for Clark/Division with its tiny sidewalks, so I hope we don't get that. Do all the subway entrances need to be covered? |
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Sucks if you're in a rush, but grab the handrails and you should be fine.
It's also possible to include heating elements beneath the stair treads, and obviously there's a trench drain at the bottom. |
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In terms of first cost? It's probably a wash. Each of those fancy entrances with roof costs several hundred thousand dollars (link).
I'm not sure about lifecycle costs. Underground heating systems don't have the best reputation, but it depends on what kind of system you use and how the stairs are built. |
I'd wager dollars for doughnuts that the entrances will be very similar to the entrances at Grand. I think the garish LaSalle St. entrances had more to do with the Congress Parkway improvement then with providing cta riders with covered access. Huge sweeping cast iron banana leaves fits in better with a lush luxurious pedestrian boulevard envisioned in the Congress Parkway renderings but doesn't fit well in the cramped busy sidewalks of Clark/Division.
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Dispute over how to split funds divides RTA board
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...5,0,3371081.s\
tory By Richard Wronski, Chicago Tribune reporter September 15, 2012 Advocates for the CTA who were just appointed to the Regional Transportation Authority board by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel helped thwart efforts Friday to approve 2013 budget goals, effectively putting the RTA in violation of state law. The dispute — over a comparatively minor sum of discretionary funding for the three transit agencies the RTA oversees — pitted Chicago representatives on the agency's 16-member board against suburban directors. Despite two offers of compromise by the suburban officials, the Chicago representatives, led by former CTA Chairwoman Carole Brown, dug in their heels and refused to yield. "I'm uncomfortable with the erosion of funding for the CTA," Brown said. Joining Brown were two new members of the board, Anthony Anderson and Christopher Melvin Jr., whose appointments by Emanuel were announced Thursday. Approval of the budget measure needed a supermajority vote of the board, 12 votes, but fell short 8-6. Two board members were absent. As a result, the RTA board failed to approve the budget goals, known technically as marks, intended to provide guidance for the transit agencies as they formulate their budgets. Friday was the state-mandated deadline for the RTA to act. Officials knew of no repercussions the RTA faces by not approving the goals. But some suburban board members, including Dwight Magalis, of Libertyville, expressed frustration at not fulfilling the agency's statutory obligation. RTA Chairman John Gates Jr., who tried to broker a compromise, cast the lone vote against adjourning Friday's meeting without a resolution. At issue was the percentage of discretionary funding that the RTA would allocate to the three transit agencies in 2013. The RTA staff proposed reducing the CTA's share from 98.3 percent in 2012 to 95.2 percent in 2013. Metra and Pace would split the remaining 4.8 percent. The difference reflected about $6 million of more than $1.276 billion in the combined proposed operating budgets of the CTA, Metra and Pace for next year. But Brown and the other CTA advocates rejected this move, saying the transit agency was entitled to the "lion's share" of the RTA's discretionary funds. Meanwhile on Friday, Gates and Joseph Costello, the RTA's executive director, unveiled a plan to fund equipment and infrastructure improvements on the transit systems through a $2.5 billion bond program. Officials hope to bring the proposal before the General Assembly for approval next year. rwronski@... Mike Payne |
Civic group calls for end to RTA
Remember back in August when George Ranney of Metropolitan Strategies said the RTA (and it's Service Boards CTA, Metra, and Pace) should be dissolved and re-organized?
Well here (Post #9617 below - "Dispute over how to split funds divides RTA board") we have a perfect example of how they are A L L much too DAMN C H I L D I S H to be in control of Billions of Transit dollars, and providing competent and appropriate Transit services to the NE Illinois region ("He got a bigger piece of pie, boo-fracking hoo"). Mike Payne http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2...ce-civic-group Civic group calls for end to RTA Transit agency should be merged with regional planning unit, group says August 12, 2012|By Richard Wronski, Chicago Tribune reporter One of Chicago's most influential civic groups is calling for an end to the Regional Transportation Authority, saying the nearly 40-year-old agency is broken and should be merged with another. The effort by Metropolis Strategies is spearheaded by the group's president and CEO, George Ranney, who said the relationship between the RTA and its subordinates — the CTA, Metra and Pace — is dysfunctional and ripe for a change. "In Chicago, we've been content to go along with a transportation system that was once a real champion and now is in real danger of becoming derelict," said Ranney, who is widely credited with being the architect of the RTA when it was created in 1974. Metropolis Strategies said it believes the agency is no longer the best overseer of the nation's third-largest transit system, which provides more than 2 million rides a day. A better plan, the civic group proposes, would be to create a new entity by merging the RTA with the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, a low-profile organization responsible for land use and transportation planning in northeastern Illinois. The move would integrate regional planning and transit oversight, Metropolis Strategies said. It also would save at least $10 million a year, or about 20 percent of the agencies' combined budgets, by reducing overhead, administrative costs and duplicate functions, the group said. "It's time to bring some fresh thinking to the transit issue," said Ranney, 72. "Continuing to ignore the problem as we are now ... is a road to disaster." RTA Chairman John Gates Jr. disputes Metropolis Strategies' assessment. While describing longtime friend Ranney as thoughtful, Gates defends the RTA performance and dismisses a merger with CMAP as a "pie-in-the-sky idea." "I'd love to cure cancer. I'd love to see Middle East peace. But (combining the agencies) doesn't really work as a practical matter," said Gates, who took over at the RTA in 2010 after a successful business career as co-founder of CenterPoint Properties Trust. "Given the scale of what the RTA does, it would swamp what CMAP does, and probably lessen CMAP's effectiveness," he said. A scathing critique Independent experts don't appear to be sure, either. DePaul University transportation professor Joseph Schwieterman, who has written a book about the history of Chicago's planning efforts, said the RTA proposal raises issues of governmental efficiency, taxing power and political obstacles. "This landscape is pretty complex," Schwieterman said. "But you could say it's worthwhile to explore all the options, given our region's problems." Ranney said his goal is not simply to get rid of the RTA. Rather, he said, the region needs a new agency that can respond better to the challenge of shrinking transit use in the face of growing population. Between 1980 and 2010, Metropolis Strategies said, the region's population has grown by 1.2 million, or 17 percent, to 8.3 million. Meanwhile, annual RTA system ridership has decreased by 20 percent, down 162 million annual rides to 652 million rides. In 2007, Illinois Auditor General William Holland issued a scathing critique of the RTA, calling for an overhaul of the agency. The report cited a lack of leadership and oversight and feuding among the transit agencies, among other problems. The Legislature responded in 2008 by enacting a new state law beefing up the RTA's powers while boosting its funding from sales taxes and Chicago's real estate property transfer tax. A serious mismatch remains between what the law directs the RTA to do and its capacity to deliver, said Metropolis Strategies, conceding the agency has played a vital role over the years. The RTA's Gates said the agency is exercising proper oversight, but acknowledged that integrating the three service boards into a regional system remains a challenge. "In the DNA of all the service boards, there is a certain amount of mistrust of the others," he said. "This is something we have to overcome." At RTA board meetings, directors representing the city and suburbs often split into factions favoring the CTA, Metra or Pace. "That's a very good thing," Gates said. "If everybody sat there and sang 'Kumbaya' all the time, they'd probably be wasting a lot of assets and a lot of time. Now there's a very healthy competition for the scarce resources." Political hurdles CMAP is the federally designated metropolitan planning organization for the region. It is responsible for approving transportation funds, including money for the RTA's capital programs. CMAP's chairman, Gerald Bennett, said the agency's directors discussed the Metropolis proposal at a board meeting in June but took no action. "We want to know more details on what would be involved," said Bennett, the mayor of Palos Hills. |
Jeffrey Jump
Apparently this is the new branding for the Jeffrey BRT, which will include new bus liveries and signage. I assume it has the potential to be extended to future BRT lines, like LA has MetroRapid or NY has Select. I can't decide if I like it or not. It's got simplicity working for it, though. http://www.transitchicago.com/assets/1/brt/jumplogo.png http://www.transitchicago.com/assets...ngshowcase.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8305/8...d6696607_z.jpg source |
There has been quite a lull in the UP construction by my house. Most of the work has moved north of Lawrence and south of Montrose even though some bridges, like Montrose, aren't finished. Here are some photos.
Montrose has not been touched in awhile http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8295/8...7afc2fef_z.jpg but the other side is ready http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8029/8...f78ef8e5_z.jpg The north bound temporary platform is under construction. The cranes in the distance are working on Winnemac http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8037/8...a65d6e58_z.jpg The retaining wall is coming together south of Montrose. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8303/8...7b756d51_z.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8452/8...739b2093_z.jpg |
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