I think you could do a transfer station at 16th/Wabash between Metra and CTA. Same difference, really.

CTA looked at a Green 16th St station (they say, before settling on Cermak); said it would be a nightmare due to adjacent buildings on all sides and complex track interlocking patterns from State St portal tracks and 18th St flyover tracks. If you look at the trackage, it IS a mess. So, simplification + real estate acquisition will kill probably kill this for a long long time to come

You'd pretty much just need electrification along the air line and into the station. Not the hugest of deals. One seat rides to the west loop would probably make the MED/SS territory more attractive for additional development.

A shuttle using existing tracks would greatly complicate operations.

Shuttles in general are inconvenient compared to regular service (this is partly my own opinion based on having used them in places).

A grade-separated one would be very expensive with only one, localized use.

Not sure there is enough room around the elevated there to accomplish that and with jobs continuing their shift to the west loop direct service would probably be more valuable long term.

It's not that bad... cheaper than a new subway station for example.

But that doesn't address what work they will do starting this year on the Addison - Bryn Mawr segment. They'd better get started on the next set of tracks since they only have 5 years remaining in their schedule.

I assume they are also rebuilding the Fullerton and Clybourn viaducts? Those are pretty sizeable and Fullerton especially would be a welcome improvement.

Will there be any work done to the bridge over the North Branch?


Edit: see next post

Partially addressing some of my questions above is this Metra press release, though it may be a couple years old and things may have changed since.

http://metrarail.com/metra/en/home/a...UPNbridge.html

Clark/Division, New Mezzanine

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3705/...b19e8324_b.jpg

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3685/...bc3c79d0_b.jpg

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For the gold line would having it go under Monroe street, like under the 1968 plan, make it more sensible? Especially if the Green/Orange line got connected to it just south of the loop.

A 16th street station is much better than a 18th because:
(1) it puts it exactly halfway between the stations at Roosevelt and Cermak
(2) it can serve both the Orange AND the green lines
(3) it can have a transfer to the St Charles Air Line, which I think we all agree is an important future transit corridor.

I think there would be room to do it if the flyover for the inbound leg of the Orange Line over the Green Line were rebuilt a few hundred feet further south. This would leave enough space between where the Orange and Green line merge and where the ramp to the subway diverges to take out the middle two tracks, and put in an island platform in their place. There should be room for an approx. 25 foot wide island platform there without moving the outer tracks at all. This is certainly up to modern standards, leaving plenty of space for elevators and escalators. The station entrance could be built under the viaduct on either or both sides of 16th.

It moves the point where the green and orange share tracks a little further to the south but I doubt that would affect capacity in any meaningful way. The only property taken would be mostly vacant parcels where the flyover is rebuilt near 18th & Wabash. Most of the flyover could be built without disrupting service; there would just need to be a short period of single-tracking the Orange line while the new flyover is connected and the old one disconnected. The scope of the single tracking would be from the crossovers under the Dan Ryan to the crossovers at 16th street. Orange and Green line trains would all experience some additional delays during construction, but who cares.

Something like this.

More expensive than what they're doing at Cermak? Sure. But worth it, IMO.

From the Sun-Times:

Downtown bus-rapid-transit project pushed back until 2015

Transportation Commissioner Rebekah Scheinfeld said it's taking "longer than expected to complete the design" of the project and consult with building owners and stakeholders.

Clark and LaSalle is open. I really like it. Tried to take some better photos with my phone but was promptly asked to stop. You'll have to see it yourself or wait for some official ones from the CTA.

Haha thanks I was gonna head over there tomorrow... still wanna check it out.

Who asked you to stop taking photos? The CSA? Did you happen to get an employee number? CTA's photography policy:

The general public is permitted to use hand-held cameras to take photographs, capture digital images, and videotape within public areas of CTA stations and transit vehicles for personal, non-commercial use.

I told the attendant it was allowed but he said something along the lines of selfies only and there's fine print somewhere. I know the policy but I wasn't going to argue. The guy was at least polite about it and as an employee and I had to respect his orders for the time being.

http://i.imgur.com/4ovtnUs.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/GTp2Xa7.jpg

^ I like this. It's still got the cheesiness of the "skyline tiles" and the multi-colored granite floors, but the wavy ceiling and the red tile wall are very nice and more simple.

The floorplan of the space is nice, too - that curving wall running back to the elevator is a nice touch and the sight lines are wide open, with an attendant booth dead center. I just wish CTA didn't insist on such massive, bulky turnstiles and security fencing. Most of the more enlightened metro systems have switched to a low-slung faregate, with an attendant right nearby for surveillance.

Bike Lane Backups
 

Voice Of The PEOPLE, Chicago Tribune, Friday, July 4, 2014

While understand the need for bike lanes in the city, what the department of transportation has decided to do to Broadway between Foster and Montrose is out of control. That stretch of road used have two lanes of traffic in both directions just the rest of Broadway going north, but the city has decided to concede one lane to bikes and to create a common turn lane for both directions. What has ensured is constant backups in that stretch of eight blocks. If you are heading northbound, the traffic in the area around Argyle that normally would block the far right lane now blocks the entire street. Heading southbound, the immediate merge at Foster creates a backup that nearly doubles the time it takes to navigate through those eight blocks.

--Michael Birn, Chicago

Cry me a river - if you want to blast past Uptown, get on Lake Shore Drive. The whole point of the streetscaping/bike lanes is to reduce traffic speeds and throughput on Broadway. Drivers are traveling too fast and it really hurts the attractiveness of the area for businesses and for the pedestrians who patronize them.

It's ridiculous that there are so many vacant storefronts, empty lots and drivethrus so close to rapid transit stations.

I do hope Broadway can get some landscaped medians with trees eventually. That will cut the perceptual width of the street in half and make it seem less windswept and barren.