Is there any 3d representation of the transit center under block 37?

^
https://www.structuremag.org/wp-cont...ht-Dec-071.pdf

http://www.thorntontomasetti.com/wp-...7_Overview.pdf

Also there is this fun image... yes, that is the outside face of the CTA tunnel. Basically an interstitial space between the foundation wall of Block 37 and the Blue Line tunnel. CTA would have needed to bust through both sets of walls to connect tracks into Block 37.

Snapped a quick pic of the upgraded Garfield station while waiting for the train today.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/NC...=w1312-h984-no

Has the CTA ever done any serious consideration of a new Green Line station in the South Loop? Maybe between Balbo and 8th? Given the office boom in the West Loop around Morgan, and the desire to increase South Loop residential, that's a station that could prove very popular, while filling in a large Green Line gap.
I know that would be very close to Harrison's Red Line stop, but transfers are time consuming and reduce ridership.

They built the Cermak one a couple years ago so it's probably not out of the question. Something near the Harrison Red line stop would probably be useful for the Riverline/Southbank residents. Actually a 15th st green line stop would probably also be useful, but considering the opposition to the new red line stop around there, it might be an hard sell.

I'd rather see the money put into a proper transfer at Jackson/Library from subways to the L. The city even has a big plot of land in Pritzker Park to build escalators/elevators.

I can't point you to the resource, but I have a clear memory of seeing something like that in a large Tribune article about the project written some time during the Daley administration, if you want to focus your Googling down a bit.

Vallas says expand Metra Electric
 

And pump the brakes on Red line ext.
This makes the most sense to me--Extension is wasteful and adds very little new accessibility when compared to beefed up Metra Electric service.

Greg Hinz ON POLITICS
January 16, 2019 01:44 PM
Expand Metra before extending Red Line to 130th Street?
Mayoral candidate Paul Vallas is calling for the city to back-burner plans to extend the Chicago Transit Authority's Red Line and instead focus on upgrading Metra Electric service.
Crains

I agree, especially because the built form of the neighborhoods is already oriented around the ME. A stop could easily be added at Altgeld Gardens.

The current northside red/brown/purple capacity is about 36,000 riders per hour in each direction. Completion of the Clark St flyover will increase this by 20% to about 43,000 riders per hour.

Additional improvements on the north side will give the CTA the ability to run 10-car trains on the Red line and 8-car trains on the Brown and Purple lines. This will increase capacity by another 25% to about 54,000 riders per hour.

Total capacity increase is 50% or 18,000 riders per hour.

This will mean a similar increase in the number of cars running during morning and evening rush hours which will require another large train yard, which the CTA plans to build at 130th St. (The yards at Howard, Kimball and 98th Streets are currently at capacity.)

The total cost of this has been estimated at $7 billion; $4.7 billion for northside work plus $2.3 billion for the southside extension and a new yard at 130th St.

In terms of major capital projects, this is the CTA's #1 priority and rightfully so. The only thing holding up work is the need to find money to pay for it.

See pages A-19, 20 and B-1 in attached CCAC report.

Or the CTA can keep sending red line trains down to Englewood. I'd actually be a fan of unbranching the Green line, sending Green line trains to Cottage and red line trains to Englewood.

The new canopy for the Belmont Blue Line station is taking shape. I have no idea how they will get this to the site, it appears to be all welded already.

http://i68.tinypic.com/df8s9s.jpg
insta/Ross Barney Architects

I don't care how they get it there, that's going to look sick. It should also be pretty visible from the Kennedy which will be a nice counterpart to the El Centro splash of futurism on the other side of the freeway.

It's just too bad they aren't adding a second entrance to this station. The best thing they could do is pop an entrance in at Barry and Kimball offering pedestrians coming from the South and shorter and more humane route.

Yep, will be really convenient for those people at the Subway strip mall, the big box parking lot, and the gas station across the street... :rolleyes:

We shouldn't reward areas with SHITTY urban planning brand new subway entrances...

^ yeah, there is all kinds of garbage development around belmont blue.

but the best buy/aldi strip mall takes the cake as one of the worst garbage development offenders in the city.

they took the loading docks, dumpsters, and other back of house crap that should always be on an alley and put them DIRECTLY fronting kimball, a major city street:

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.9398...7i16384!8i8192

how in the fuck did the city ever allow that?

^ I find myself saying that all the time.

Our planning/zoning people are idiots. They should all be fired.

But I will say this: considering what is across the street from those loading docks, it's not that disappointing.

But once again, I am totally opposed to this new subway entrance. The city should not reward bad planning with flashy new stations.

People love the loading docks in the west loop lol. Loading docks from 1900 are industrial chic.

They could have oriented the building along the expressway side with the back to the expressway at least. Maybe they thought they were being more pedestrian oriented by having the store entrances closer to the subway station.

What are the chances that we start to see some TOD proposals for those large box stores/parking lots near this station? It seems like this area could be prime for development.

I'm not the biggest critic of strip malls, but that was just offensive. That parking lot is too big and the mall should be oriented so the the docks are along the expressway.

I don't think that would have worked from a site planning standpoint. The retail spaces would have been oddly-shaped, the whole point was to draw suburban retailers into the city at a time when the old pedestrian-oriented stores were closing. It's sad, there was an awesome Moderne factory/printing press there before it was demoed for the strip mall.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/29821940@N00/6955984721

But it does present a golden opportunity for TOD. It has expressway and Blue Line access, but not the shitty environment of a median station. And the site is large enough for probably three towers, ideally with a mall or retail component. Hopefully the intersection there can be re-engineered to calm the traffic and ease the crushing congestion. Ideally they eliminate the redundant ramps to/from SB I-90 at Kimball, and put a frontage road along each side of the expressway so entering/exiting traffic doesn't have to make turns at that intersection.