Radio Ads
 

Here is a link to the Ad audio, it will start Monday Dec. 9th -- And run for three Months: http://picosong.com/qWjz/

Mike Payne

Ridgeland on the Green line
 

Kooky. Props to the designer, though... he really committed to using those circles.

Random question guys but other than large financial costs, what are the reasons there aren't more subway lines and ramps in River North/Streeterville? I've always wondered this

^ To make it easier for me, I rearranged a few words in your post and requoted it to answer your question:

1. In the early 20th century era when most of the RRs were built (RRs were cheap to build then), these weren't high-density residential areas:
http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/collec...1933-U5-e.html
As late as 1990, population density south of Chicago Ave. was far lower than in the Gold Coast tracts to the north:
http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/collec...s/chidense.gif

Instead, they were medium-density industrial areas, and were well into the 1980s-1990s. Many of these industrial buildings still stand, from the River East Arts Center (Pugh Terminal) to 600 W Chicago (Montgomery Ward Catalog House).

2. How did people get to these industrial areas? Most rail transit in Chicago historically was streetcar, not "L." The "L" primarily served the highest-density routes, i.e., those serving Loop offices. Note the surface lines' particularly high route density through what's now River North:
http://chicagoinmaps.com/cimimages/CSL1938mapMR.jpg

3. Lots of plans were made for transit expansion through the Near North Side in the postwar years, notably subways through Streeterville, but not much was ever accomplished due to cost.
http://www.chicago-l.org/plans/

Cost has never been the main factor. Rail transit is expensive but Federal funding has been available since the 1960s - Boston took incredible advantage of this to modernize their system and replace els with subways.

The big reason is political will. For most of the 20th-century, population shifted to the suburbs while the city declined, and investments in highways were prioritized over transit systems. Note that Boston rejected a lot of highway plans and so they had more money to spend on transit, while Chicago built a full highway network. In fact, the only major transit expansions in Chicago post-WW2 were built because they could be bundled with expressway construction - both ends of the Blue Line and the Dan Ryan branch of Red (with the exception of Orange). The grand plans for downtown investment in rail, like the 1968 plan or Daley's Central Area Circulator, always fizzled because they seemed extravagant in the face of downtown decline. Later, they seemed extravagant because the existing lines out in the neighborhoods were crumbling.

The resurgence of downtown in the last 15-20 years as a major population center and employment center is great, and really bolsters the case for big investment downtown. Adding to that, most of the L network is now in decent shape. Since Rahm seems to understand the value of transit and the need to invest downtown, I am waiting to see what his grand transit dream will be.

Has CDOT completely forgotten they resurfaced Grand Ave several months ago around LaSalle-Orleans? The street striping still has not been done (just temporary dots and dashes here and there, resulting in a lot of confusion because of an apparent re-think on lane allocations), resulting in near crashes -- and there is also still a giant rollaway electronic billboard flashing messages to the effect of "Wells Bridge under construction - bikes use Clark". Anyone here from (or know anyone from) CDOT?

I wonder if Rahm has any plans for improving Transit on the South Lakefront/SE Side? (Michael Reese, Hyde Park, UoC, South Shore, Lakeside, South Chicago, etc.)

There is no CTA Rail Transit to these areas, unlike most other parts of the City; and so they do not recieve the same Economic Benefits, and generally experience much longer Travel times.

Re: Radio Ad
 

Here is a link to the Ad audio, it will start on Monday Dec. 9th -- And run for three Months: http://picosong.com/qWjz

^ Don't you think he would have unveiled one by now?

Anyone notice that the CTA website is not releasing ridership reports on a timely basis anymore? They just released August. Also, when do you think we will start seeing statistics for Divvy? I am interested in seeing how quickly membership grows.

No, I don't. As I pointed out, the money isn't there right now. These large projects have very long lead times, and right now both the RPM project and the Red Line extension are first in line for funding when it becomes available. Right now, it looks like RPM will move forward (in line with Rahm's focus on the wealthy north side) and Red Line extension will be canceled (replaced by the 95th St terminal replacement).

I think eventually Rahm will release a vision for downtown that includes Union Station upgrades and CTA investment. So far, he's just done small-ball stuff. I don't claim to know what the big plan will look like, or whether it's even been decided on. Previous planning work like the Central Area Plan is probably a good guide, though. There's also the Chicago Infrastructure Trust, which could potentially fund transit projects that promise a good ROI.

Of course, the biggest benefits to the city and region would come from major improvements to Metra like the Gray Line or CrossRail Chicago, but I sadly don't see that happening anytime soon because of the institutional conflicts between Metra, CTA, RTA, etc. and resistance from freight railroads. Pressure would have to come from several levels of government - city, suburban, county, state.

That is why I am running the streaming Radio Ads, over three Months they will garner some attention from the Public -- and hopefully the Media also.

Even though I like the design of the 95th street terminal and the station definitely needs a facelift I feel like the cost is a little over the top considering that this station is only used by a single rail line. I understand it is also a major bus terminal but it is hard to justify the cost. There are no future plans to have rail connections to this station (to my knowledge) and even if the extension were to ever happen there isn't the possibility of having express trains from this terminal. If either of were possible then I could justify the cost of future proofing the station.

Which brings me to the question, was there ever the possibility or was there ever a proposal of adding a third rail line in the median of the Dan Ryan. The planning would have had to of been there when the Dan Ryan was completely reconstructed in 2006, currently the median doesn't seem wide enough to accommodate another line even if they wanted to during the Red line reconstruction.


(Had to go back a few pages for this photo, definitely no room for a third line)

New Cline Avenue Bridge
privately funded, tolls estimated at $3-4
constructions begins Spring 2014

This is a unique design for Chicagoland... thus far, the concrete box girder design has been rare in this area. A few were built in the 1980s, but that's about it. A handful of examples have been built in other Midwestern states in recent years, so I hope it catches on in Chicago. They are very common in the Sunbelt, and I've always been fond of them as pure sculptural expressions of speed and dynamism.

I'm not sure I like the green paint or the fussy inset panels on the piers, but hey, I'll take it.

http://imageshack.us/a/img811/7190/2bgd.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img31/9374/5nkw.jpg

I'm very curious to see the drop in ridership on the L but morso on the buses because of Ventra. I know there was at least one case of people just being herded into teh stations because the system went down, and the buses are an entirely different situation.

I was in a large group of people last weekend talking about Ventra and 4-5 people take the bus every day to work. One of them said he gets on at a very busy stop along the lakefront and maybe 1 day out of the week does he actually use his pass to enter, the rest of the time ventra is so slow and the readers so awkward that the driver just waves everyone on and doesn't do any sort of count. The other 4 people in the group all immediately said they only have to use their ventra about 50%-60% of the time and the rest of the time the driver shoos them on the bus to keep things moving. I bet official bus ridership goes down a great deal.

I experienced similar Ventra issues a month ago. The system was down at a redline station and a CTA employee allowed everyone to walk through. I ride an express bus downtown in my morning commute. It appears the system is working properly now, so hopefully the problems are behind us.

I wonder who will sponsor the Divvy bicycle sharing system. It will likely be a local bank (Chase, BMO) similar to NYC. The station outside my high rise still gets plenty of use, despite the cold weather.

I wonder about that in the winter for the Divvy bikes... Will they be removed? I worry the snow plows will destroy them in the first big snow fall. I have to assume they have something planned for winter to protect the bikes, right?

I wholeheartedly agree. There's a real elegance there.