The formula may be better than you give it credit for. Consider that, if you are sitting in a car at 500 W. Madison, it will take you quite awhile to find a place to stash the car so you can walk over to Ogilvie. Depending on the time of day, the West Loop parking lots can fill up. Circling around, finding an entrance, getting a ticket, finding a space, leaving the car, and making your way to Ogilvie can easily eat up 20 minutes, especially for those who are not particularly city-savvy.

Today was the first day I noticed this, but they have built a temporary (looks permanent) mechanical station just south of Lake/Wells on the West side of Wells basically where the old Randolph platform used to be. The guy I talked to said it was going to be used as a temporary tower while Tower 18 is rebuilt.

^ They sure had been doing a lot of work there at night.

Hope it's gonna be an interesting tower once they've completed it. Chicago has a history of treating control towers as important architectural objects - well, at least at ORD. Maybe this will rub off on the CTA (yeah right).

Are you kidding? Have you seen the ugly things they've built over the tracks in the Kennedy and Dan Ryan?

^^^^
It is sad to see the aesthetic appeal fly out the window in the name of budget constraints. The entire Loop L system has been used as a utility pole for shit in recent years.

No, you misunderstand. The 20 minutes is NOT for the driving portion alone, it's for the entire trip, including the transit portion.

I believe the new metal building on the rebuilt section of the old Wells/Randolph platform also houses the new signal plant so they can take the old stuff on the opposite side out of service (and hopefully remove it).

Hopefully this is a good sign of rising Metra ridership.

Of course not a Jahn or Pei, or even Pappageorge or Loewenberg, or anything like that, but at least I thought I'd hope for something displaying a small tip of the hat to aestheticism. It's springtime; a guy can hope for things a bit even if, well, unrealistic.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...,6493170.story

$29 billion public works program: Illinois legislators back plan to start rebuilding program that would mean increased taxes and fees

By Ray Long, Rick Pearson and Ashley Rueff | Tribune reporters
May 21, 2009

SPRINGFIELD -- State lawmakers on Wednesday fast-tracked a $29 billion public works program that would start to rebuild crumbling roads and transit systems and pay for it with a slew of increased taxes and by legalizing video gambling across Illinois.

A new spirit of cooperation that's bloomed since the January ouster of indicted ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich was a key factor cited as cheering state senators approved the bills by wide margins, predicting the House would soon sign off on the first statewide construction program for transportation and schools in a decade.

...

The capital bill includes $3 billion for new road projects. Chicago-area mass transit would receive $1.8 billion out of the $2 billion set aside for local bus and train service statewide. The breakdown: $900 million for the Chicago Transit Authority, $810 million for Metra commuter rail and $90 million for Pace suburban bus.

...

^ Wow, the CTA provides what, triple the rides of Metra? But it gets hardly more money.

^ Metra has some big committements to CREATE that the CTA doesnt. We will have to see if METRA follows up and designates CREATE projects with some of this budgeted money. Good news is that the new ILL state transit budget does include $600 million directly to CREATE.

^ Nice catch. That's good to know

Does anyone know if that CREATE money includes funding for Grand Crossing? That's the most important project from a passenger's perspective.

Only 2 billion out of the 29 is for transit? Thats pretty weak.

I am very happy that the state is finally legalizing video gambling machines. There are many bars that have these things in full operation and pay out under the table. This is a great idea, we need more ideas like this to raise revenue outside of hiking fees and taxes as usual.

It's a statewide construction program that also includes school construction, university funding, and quite a bit of highway resurfacing work, bridge replacement, and additional lanes - but not the infamous "roads to nowhere". Also, Huffington Post puts the amount at $26 billion, not 29.

That huge amount, by the way, is only the total amount that will be spent, including all Federal money. In fact, IL is only contributing $12 billion out of the 26, to satisfy their requirement for matching funds in order to receive the other $14 billion in Federal dollars that are waiting.

Although I'm sure the figures vary from article to article, Huffington Post also reports that Illinois' contribution for roads is $2.8 billion and their contribution for transit is $2 billion. Looking at these figures, I'd say this is actually a budget heavily in favor of transit, considering the proportion of auto trips to transit trips in the state. These monetary amounts will probably double when Federal funding is factored in. And, since this bill creates dedicated sources of funding for capital construction, this ensures a relatively steady supply of money for construction in the near future.

-------------

As far as transit expansions go, I think CTA's line extensions are farthest along. Orange and Yellow, and soon Red, will begin their Environmental Impact Surveys and, once those are completed, Federal funding is imminent. I have not yet heard a cost estimate for Red, but Orange and Yellow combined is roughly $550 million. Given a state-Federal funding match of 40-60, IL will be responsible for 40% of this cost, or $220 million. This amount does not seem exorbitant, and I'm sure it can be worked into the budget.

Metra will also probably try to get their UP-W and UP-NW expansion plans funded. Despite the rhetoric about the STAR line, I'm pretty sure Metra realizes that this money is best spent on upgrading their 3rd- and 6th-busiest lines, which are running at full capacity right now. These two projects are also quite far along, also in their EIS phase and nearly ready for Federal funding.

EDIT - underreported the orange line cost, added $100 mil to the figures

$450 million for the Orange and Yellow extensions doesn't seem that bad at all, especially considering the Orange extension would be one piece of the Mid-City Transitway if that is ever built. The Red Line extension is obviously the most pressing by far, though.

Speaking of Metra, I missed this post at Hyde Park Progress from February on what could happen to the CN lakefront line if the railroad switches entirely to the EJ&E line. Basically, this would free up two tracks adjacent to those used by the Metra Electric and South Shore lines. The post doesn't really have any information about what could be on the table for this right of way and only does a little bit of speculation. Any ideas about what is realistic or likely here?

Is/was the Mid-City Transitway envisioned to ever go beyond Ford City (like heading east to Englewood or something) ?

It would be nice if some of that funding could find it's way into rebuilding State/Lake.