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-   -   CHICAGO: Transit Developments (https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showthread.php?t=101657)

Beta_Magellan Dec 11, 2012 6:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by untitledreality (Post 5931646)
I think at one point an Addison transfer station was actually in the works. Then one day the land got sold off to a developer and we got this five floor building: http://goo.gl/maps/YXSf0

I’m not sure if it was actually in the worst, but there was a study a few years ago (somewhere on RTAMS—I can’t remember the title) that looked into potential CTA-Metra transfer sites and Addison was one of the few—maybe even the only—that actually scored well enough to justify construction of a new station. Even then I don’t recall being impressed with the overall projected ridership.

That said, Addison’s not as important a street as Belmont—if we’re to take a long-term view of things (and assume a cultural change at Metra), I’d lean towards reinstalling the third track and building two stations at Belmont and one at Irving Park (which would also offer decent connectivity with the Brown Line), both of which are more important streets than Addison and would do a better job of providing an express alternative of the Brown Line.

emathias Dec 11, 2012 7:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marcu (Post 5933747)
...
The Clybourn stop is alongside the Kennedy so it's completely anti-urban in appearance, but there is decent development just west of there if one can manage to get passed the highway.
...

One of my coworkers commutes our office (Madison and Canal) via that station, and he's not the only one. It's not ideal, and I don't think it'd be popular as anything other than a commuting stop, but if it were converted to something more like a S-bahn with regular semi-frequent service, I could see people willing to live in larger buildings along Cortland and Ashland and Armitage. There's all that industrial property along the river there, but if the city wanted to make that more scenic they certainly could turn it into a really popular area for residential stuff. Small, quirky streets, current access to retail along Cyborn, walkable to Armitage historic district, walkabout to parts of Bucktown, easy access to the highway. Add in S-bahn level access from the Metra station, and residents would have that and a 10-minute walk to the Brown Line. That's certainly not an overnight sort of plan, but it's the kind of thing that could add a lot of value and connect two of the hottest neighborhoods in the city (Lincoln Park and Bucktown) with continuous residential and commercial strips. Properly done, that whole area could the hotter than (insert your expletive of choice) in a couple decades.

Quote:

Originally Posted by J_M_Tungsten (Post 5933773)
Nice update shot Hayward. I'm very confused at how this project is being done. Are the going to completely rebuild the tunnel as well?

They're building a new entrance at Lasalle. Unfortuantely (I'm sure for cost reasons) it will be only on the east side of Lasalle, forcing people to wait for a light to enter the station from the west, but it will let them avoid walking the block between Lasalle and Clark which will be nice in the winter.

Once the Lasalle entrance is ready to open, they will temporarily close the Clark entrance and work on that while everyone uses the new Lasalle entrance.

The photo appears to show excavation for the mezzanine level at Lasalle.

ardecila Dec 11, 2012 8:03 PM

They're not rebuilding the tunnel, but they will bore a shaft down from the mezzanine for escalators down to the platform.

J_M_Tungsten Dec 11, 2012 8:05 PM

Thanks guys! That sounds like some crazy engineering that goes into these subway renovation projects.

Rizzo Dec 12, 2012 12:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by emathias (Post 5933935)
One of my coworkers commutes our office (Madison and Canal) via that station, and he's not the only one. It's not ideal, and I don't think it'd be popular as anything other than a commuting stop, but if it were converted to something more like a S-bahn with regular semi-frequent service, I could see people willing to live in larger buildings along Cortland and Ashland and Armitage. There's all that industrial property along the river there, but if the city wanted to make that more scenic they certainly could turn it into a really popular area for residential stuff. Small, quirky streets, current access to retail along Cyborn, walkable to Armitage historic district, walkabout to parts of Bucktown, easy access to the highway. Add in S-bahn level access from the Metra station, and residents would have that and a 10-minute walk to the Brown Line. That's certainly not an overnight sort of plan, but it's the kind of thing that could add a lot of value and connect two of the hottest neighborhoods in the city (Lincoln Park and Bucktown) with continuous residential and commercial strips. Properly done, that whole area could the hotter than (insert your expletive of choice) in a couple decades.



They're building a new entrance at Lasalle. Unfortuantely (I'm sure for cost reasons) it will be only on the east side of Lasalle, forcing people to wait for a light to enter the station from the west, but it will let them avoid walking the block between Lasalle and Clark which will be nice in the winter.

Once the Lasalle entrance is ready to open, they will temporarily close the Clark entrance and work on that while everyone uses the new Lasalle entrance.

The photo appears to show excavation for the mezzanine level at Lasalle.

It's really disappointing they aren't tunneling walkways under LaSalle. That's a very dangerous intersection. I've witnessed two very bad car accidents since I moved to Chicago over 3 years ago. While they didn't involve pedestrians, they easily could have.

emathias Dec 12, 2012 3:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hayward (Post 5934307)
It's really disappointing they aren't tunneling walkways under LaSalle. That's a very dangerous intersection. I've witnessed two very bad car accidents since I moved to Chicago over 3 years ago. While they didn't involve pedestrians, they easily could have.

Yeah. Supposedly by closing Division for the project they saved tens of millions of dollars. Too bad they couldn't have directed some of that savings into Lasalle ped tunnels.

Kngkyle Dec 12, 2012 9:56 PM

American Airlines will be presenting a new livery for the fleet, along with a complete rebrand of the company to give a fresh appearance post-bankruptcy. Their first flagship 777-300ER was delievered this week and will likely carry the new livery. Oddly, it wasn't painted prior to delivery, as is normal, and remains gray. Obviously they are keeping things under wraps pending the announcement, which should be soon, as I doubt a new $300 million airplane will be left sitting idle for too long.

Felt this was somewhat relevant for this topic since AA is hubbed in Chicago. You'll soon be seeing a fresh looking American livery and branding.

J_M_Tungsten Dec 13, 2012 3:20 AM

Lower Wacker Drive http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6D3W0-4RfbE&sns=em

ardecila Dec 13, 2012 5:25 AM

So what's gonna be the next big CDOT project now that Wacker is done? There are a couple smaller projects - Damen/Fullerton, Division bridges, Chicago bridge, Wells bridge, etc. I guess the BRT proposals might count.

emathias Dec 13, 2012 2:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ardecila (Post 5936136)
So what's gonna be the next big CDOT project now that Wacker is done? There are a couple smaller projects - Damen/Fullerton, Division bridges, Chicago bridge, Wells bridge, etc. I guess the BRT proposals might count.

I hadn't heard anything about the Chicago bridge - any info on that?

Baronvonellis Dec 13, 2012 4:55 PM

how about the western Ave. bridge. The concrete has been crumbling to gravel for years. Its live driving over rocks.

ardecila Dec 13, 2012 9:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by emathias (Post 5936367)
I hadn't heard anything about the Chicago bridge - any info on that?

Only CDOT's filing with the Coast Guard. There are technical drawings at the end of the PDF... new bridge will be a fixed bridge, with haunched steel girders. Much like the Halsted viaduct at Kinzie. No magic whatsoever. It will have space for a buffered bike lane and four traffic lanes.

Based on the drawing, it looks like the tight corners of the riverwalk inside the bridge anchorage will be eliminated (along with any semblance of history).

http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/pdf/bridg...go%20River.pdf

http://img839.imageshack.us/img839/1629/halsted.jpg

Rizzo Dec 14, 2012 5:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by J_M_Tungsten (Post 5936012)

Since I can't let my unused I-Go hours be wasted I'm planning to do a 3 hour drive around the city exploring places I don't normally see often. I'm definitely putting the Lower Wacker trip on my list.

Rode on the Dearborn Cycle track today. It's still in demo phase to be sure motorists can adjust to new signals and turn lanes and pedestrians know what to expect before stepping out into the street. The construction barricades will remain for a bit to keep cyclists from going all tour-de-france on it when people haven't quite figured it out yet. But man, the feeling of safety is way better. I'm no longer scared a car door will fling out in front of me. No more impatient motorists when I encroach the left lane. The new lanes are way better commuting experience.

Rizzo Dec 14, 2012 5:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ardecila (Post 5936983)
Only CDOT's filing with the Coast Guard. There are technical drawings at the end of the PDF... new bridge will be a fixed bridge, with haunched steel girders. Much like the Halsted viaduct at Kinzie. No magic whatsoever. It will have space for a buffered bike lane and four traffic lanes.

Based on the drawing, it looks like the tight corners of the riverwalk inside the bridge anchorage will be eliminated (along with any semblance of history).

http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/pdf/bridg...go%20River.pdf

http://img839.imageshack.us/img839/1629/halsted.jpg

Even though I like the look of that old bridge and of course the bridge house...the Chicago Ave bridge is really awful how they funnel that traffic over it. It's very dangerous for cyclists. And even if I could hop up and ride on the sidewalk over the bridge there's freakin stairs...STAIRS!!! on the East side of it. Guess you're screwed if you're in a wheelchair.

ardecila Dec 14, 2012 5:58 AM

The two warehouses and bridge form a really awesome ensemble. It would suck to lose that. Maybe they should reinstate the Erie Bridge and redistribute some traffic?

Rizzo Dec 14, 2012 7:01 AM

I don't understand why Chicago Ave is so wide. It doesn't even connect to the Kennedy

emathias Dec 14, 2012 4:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hayward (Post 5937560)
I don't understand why Chicago Ave is so wide. It doesn't even connect to the Kennedy

It used to be a major streetcar route, and when that whole area was mostly warehouses, you needed room for all the trucks that went in and out, too. I think the real question is why was the bridge every built so small.

I'd love to see a really wide bridge there with the sidewalk becoming an arcade on both sides (like the east end of Congress) carved out of the buildings so that BRT (or maybe even trams) could easy route over the bridge without too much traffic impact.

I also agree that re-establishing a bridge at Erie would be ideal, although those Kingsbury residents near Ward/Erie Park would scream bloody murder about the traffic now. Yet another piece of evidence of just how piss-poor Chicago is at overall planning.

I will miss the current riverwalk under the bridge - it really adds character to the area down there.

Rizzo Dec 14, 2012 7:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by emathias (Post 5937867)
It used to be a major streetcar route, and when that whole area was mostly warehouses, you needed room for all the trucks that went in and out, too. I think the real question is why was the bridge every built so small.

I'd love to see a really wide bridge there with the sidewalk becoming an arcade on both sides (like the east end of Congress) carved out of the buildings so that BRT (or maybe even trams) could easy route over the bridge without too much traffic impact.

I also agree that re-establishing a bridge at Erie would be ideal, although those Kingsbury residents near Ward/Erie Park would scream bloody murder about the traffic now. Yet another piece of evidence of just how piss-poor Chicago is at overall planning.

I will miss the current riverwalk under the bridge - it really adds character to the area down there.

Ah yes, you are right. I've forgotten about its past. BTW, you can see streetcar tracks poking through Chicago Ave on occasion.

Notyrview Dec 15, 2012 10:32 PM

December 14, 2012
 
A happy story on a sad weekend.

"This afternoon when Mayor Rahm Emanuel opened the new two-way protected bicycle lanes on Dearborn Street, it was the exclamation point to a memorable year of bike improvements."

Grid Chicago, by John Greenfield

More

Via Chicago Dec 17, 2012 8:05 PM

"De-crowding" started today.

Quote:

On the Red Line, there two added trips in the AM rush, and three in the PM.
On the Blue Line, there are three trips in the AM rush, and one extra in the PM.
On the Brown Line, there are two extra trip in the AM, and no changes in the PM.
On the Purple, Orange and Green lines, there is one extra trip on each line for both the AM and PM rush periods.

The CTA also is improving frequency weekdays in off-peak hours:

Red Line from 8 ½ to 7 ½ minutes during mid-day and early evening runs.
Brown Line from 10 to 7 ½ minutes during the mid-day.
Orange Line from 10 to 8 ½ minutes during the mid-day.

Finally, frequency will rise on weekends too:

Red Line from 7-10 to 5-7 ½ minutes on Saturday; plus 8-car trains will run until 11 p.m. Sunday.
Brown Line from 10 to 7 ½ minutes on Saturday.
Blue Line from 7 ½ -12 to 5-7 ½ minutes on Saturday; and from 10-12 to 6-7 ½ minutes on Sunday.


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