I know the concept is still obviously in its' infancy, but is the goal to just connect to Blue @ Jeff Park or to run some of the Brown trains all the way to ORD? Obviously a passenger ped transfer connection to the Blue at Jeff Park is much different than building a rail connection to the Kennedy ROW.

I'd be ecstatic with a kimball to Jefferson Park extension of the brown line. Of course it will never happen.

The New Lake/Damen Green Line Stop Could Transform the Near West Side
Streetsblog Chicago
By John Greenfield | Apr 25, 2018

So they've "broken ground" on the new Damen infill station, but have we seen any renderings of what the station will look like?

I like the Montrose option because it allows the brown line to continue south as the mid-city transitway, connecting to Six Corners, and allows for a connection with two Metra lines instead of one.

No. I'm guessing they don't exist yet, or they would have been unveiled yesterday.

It sounds like this project is on a pretty accelerated timeline - expected completion in 2020. Design of the station probably is still highly conceptual, not at the rendering stage. Perkins & Will is architect.
Based on verbal descriptions, it sounds like the station will be similar to the Cicero/Lake station, with a stationhouse on the SW corner of the intersection leading up to an elevated mezzanine and then access down to both platforms.

The work being started now is just a reconstruction of the Lake Street pavement, that will lower the road surface by a few inches to better accommodate trucks. They will also relocate a few support columns at the Damen/Lake intersection like they did previously at Ogden/Lake. The station itself will not start construction until next winter.

I think it would need to be a transfer. The Blue Line is pretty maxed out at peak, I don't think there's enough room in the schedule to squeeze all Brown Line trains onto the Blue Line north of Jefferson Park. Ideally the Brown Line platforms would be an underground cavern two levels down, with one set of access leading directly to the Blue Line platform and another leading up to the bus plaza.

Good to hear they are building it, but gosh $60 million for an infill station sounds really high. Yet a stretch of road only costs $12 million to rebuild and sink it down, Wow! Trainsit is so expensive!

Then I saw the latest presentation on the red line modernization. It's going to take 7 years to rebuild just 4 stations and the tracks between them!!! Not even the whole North red line. At this rate I don't think well see anything like the brown line extension in the next 25 years, although I'd love to have that personally. I really like the idea of it going to montrose and then south along that cross town rail corridor to connect the brown line to other parts of the city as well. I think a transfer at the blue line would be fine. I don't have a problem with transfer as long as you can connect the dots. What's so great about the European train systems is you can connect the dots between almost anywhere to anywhere in the system including easy transfers to suburban trains. We need more of that here!
I think we need some kind of outer loop train that goes north and south connecting all the metra lines as well. Whether its along Western, Ashland or some other NS street I'm not really sure.

Navy Pier Flyover Delayed Until 2020

im going to be an old man before this thing is finished

even a cheaper streetcar situation that did parts of the connector would be a huge benefit

The Navy Pier Flyover may be turning into a debacle, but the south side pedestrian bridges seem to be proceeding on schedule. 35th St bridge was finished pretty much on schedule (after years of seeking funding) and now 41st St is well on its way. 43rd St pedestrian bridge will be put out for bid later this year.

Road bridges at 31st and 39th will also start reconstruction this year. In 2 years' time, pretty much every bridge to the South Lakefront will be new.

Here's a full chunk of the 41st St bridge getting shipped from Missouri, courtesy of IDOT's Twitter:
http://i65.tinypic.com/1zfklyq.jpg

^
thats great to hear.

City eyes light rail route from North Side to downtown
By Ryan OriContact Reporter
Chicago Tribune
May 2, 2018, 3:40 PM

http://graphics.chicagotribune.com/n...it-desktop.png
img source

If only there was a convenient way to connect this potential rail route and the red/brown/purple lines.

That’s all I needed to read. Let me remove everyone’s excitement.

There will be no rail, light or heavy, built here. Ever.

It will be a bus.

Now moving on....

I don't see anything wrong with bus rapid transit. Those side streets have few people parking on them, and zero residents to worry about. If these streets can be closed to traffic and reserved for buses and deliveries only with limited bus stops, that's just as fast as a rail line.

Also, buses can leave the transitway at the north and south ends, and fan out to link with CTA and Metra stations in mixed traffic. Rail doesn't have that flexibility, it couldn't link with other transportation unless the city extended the tracks and the power lines through residential neighborhoods at great cost, and frustrated everyone during the process. You think the Lincoln Park NIMBYs would put up with streetcar tracks down the middle of Southport?

Arlington, VA
http://i66.tinypic.com/2w5suw5.jpg

Seattle
http://i66.tinypic.com/2dr9bus.jpg

^ Good Point

I'm just glad the city is smart enough to reserve the ROW now while nothing has yet been built and there's no developments or residents to get in the way of it. BRT is fine by me, at least initially. Once ridership numbers go through the roof as the area is developed, then the city can consider upgrading to light rail.

Like OhioGuy said, I wish there was a way to connect to the Red/Brown lines, and I'd throw in the Blue and UP Metra lines as well.

I'm assuming this will run down by the metra stations and also with that alignment there can be another offshoot on the same "system" that runs down carroll? I would love it if they did this, so i assume they wont.

Glenview wants to spend about half a million bucks to prevent upgrades on the Hiawatha. :rolleyes:


http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburb...510-story.html

People in Glenview need to be kicked in the nuts

I'd be so pissed if they wasted my tax dollars over fighting a measly 3 additional round trips. Its impact is minimal, as compared to freight trains.

The snobbery in America has reached epic levels. People need an ass whippin'