So more than the red line extension?

5-7 minute headways on the Blue Line (or anywhere else on the CTA) haven't been a thing for years.

More like 20-30 minutes, at best.

When I commute using the red line it’s usually 5-7 minute headways and 7-10 minutes for the brown line. I don’t have regular trips with the other lines recently.

The Metra stop at O'hare is convenient for suburbanites who would like to take transit to the airport but the blue line doesn't go past O'hare. the Metra NCS line is a very busy line that goes all the way to Antioch, some of those commuters would be happy to ride to O'hare if they could conveniently change to the ATS close to the transfer station.

Sure, that was the reason they built the station in the first place in 1996 - it was focused more on suburban air travelers. Originally it was a pain to use - drive to a NCS station, ride Metra to O'Hare Transfer, get on a bus to the people mover, ride the people mover to your terminal. That's (4) modes of transportation before you even get to your plane.

But since then, support has also grown to provide a faster express alternative to the Blue Line. Various studies have shown that adding express tracks to the Blue Line is too difficult and costly, and Elon Musk's underground Loop tunnel was a pipe dream. So that leaves Metra as the best option for an express train. Upgrading the tracks is not a small project but seems feasible, they have room to expand from 3 to 4 tracks and add a flyover bridge or two to decongest the rail junctions.

To me a real golden opportunity is building a connecting track from the NCS to the UPNW. You could run trains from the NW suburbs directly to Ohare and then into downtown.

Is Damen Green Line open yet? All I can find is years old articles. If not, when?

"Late July."

It will open before the DNC event.

Redefine the Drive

I know that this is transit adjacent- but thought that since it impacts bus route along the lake I would post about it.

https://blockclubchicago.org/2024/07...advocates-say/

I hope IDOT gets sued out of their mind for refine the drive. It's insane to me that the year is 2024, and we are actually discussing a highway expansion on the lakefront. Downright terrible plan with tons of misleading graphics and misinformation presented by IDOT. I've read over their technical memorandum, and this option will increase the amount of asphalt in our parks- in some areas more substantially than others. To not include any provisions for transit in the plans as well is ridiculous. IDOT claimed it would take riders away from the redline- they offered no evidence for this claim other than their feelings.

State DOTs need a good look in the mirror and need to move on from the 1950s. The fact that Wisconsin and Indiana have state DOTs more willing to embrace new transportation techniques is embarrassing. IDOT is an embarrassment.

Even if they are correct and it would take people away from the Redline, why is that inherently bad? It would only happen if this route was faster than the Redline, which would be a good thing for those people.

Why don't they use this logic on expanding the roads? Wouldn't more lanes on DLSD take drivers away from Clark St.?

Could it become a 24/7 service?

I don't really see what you're seeing in the proposal. I see no additional lanes of roadway, bus priority at interchange on and off ramps, much better pedestrian and bike trails and more overall green space. While I tend to agree a full bus only lane would be nice, the biggest problem for busses right now is sitting in auto traffic. Changing a lane from auto to bus would help, but then auto traffic gets much worse. Adding a new bus only lane takes away too much green space by working the road even more. Actually getting rid of the Chicago Ave light helps immensely, given most of the gridlock, especially southbound, is from that signal and most express busses exit at Michigan Ave anyhow.

The proposal shows far more access points to cross than currently exist, with much improved pedestrian and bike infrastructure.

Light rail or a new heavy rail line wouldn't be feasible due to cost.

Not sure what else could be reasonably expected here? Other than full tunneling along the lakefront costing tens of billions of dollars, what world make this much better?

August 5th: https://blockclubchicago.org/2024/07...al-convention/

IDOT is bringing the drive up to full federal highway standards- which means much wider lanes- much bigger on/off ramps etc. It'll be better from a driving perspective- but from everything else not really. It'll be even more obtrusive on the lakefront than it is currently. You're also not taking into account induced demand. The year is 2024- we should be encouraging bus ridership on the lakefront not car traffic. The kennedy and the ryan are federal highways for a reason- lake shore drive was never built for that. IDOT is attempting to cram a federal grade highway on the lakefront. I recommend reading through the link here-->

https://northdusablelsd.org/document...cal-documents/

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw...-gm?authuser=0

More to come later (hard to post from my phone and haven't taken pics off my camera yet).

Bravo

I'm not sure when I'll first have the opportunity to use the new Damen green line stop, but the nerd in me loved seeing it show up on Google maps today!

It wasn't really all that long ago that the nearly 3 mile stretch of the green line from Clinton all the freaking way out to California only had the one intermediate stop at Ashland.

But now with the Morgan infill stop from last decade, and this new Damen infill stop, it looks a million times more like a proper intra-city rapid transit line, ya know, kinda like what it was built as 130 years ago, LOL!

Also worth noting there's already 37 photos posted to Google Maps of the stop!

It looks really cool. I love the design, and it's almost alien to see a CTA stop that nice looking. I would love to see so many stations revamped to this level of style, but realize we can only do so much with the limited money we have.

Finally!
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/mark...ef0018d8&ei=30