And it's working very well, isn't it?

Mayor Chuy Garcia Transit Coalition
 

Please join the new Mayor Chuy Garcia's Transit Coalition, together all those with Public Transit concerns can communicate, exchange ideas -- and help create a new and more receptive City Government, but we only have six weeks: https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/...Coalition/info

Will Chuy be a better mayor for transit than Rahm?

At least Chuy MIGHT [ just MIGHT ] actually > listen < to his constituents -- Rahm's CTA Board Administration is famous for it's brutal Smackdowns of the #11 Lincoln Ave. bus people (people cried), the poor laughed-at 31st St. bus people (I was there); and looking at
me the many times I have addressed the Board, as if I were a large bug. They TELL YOU what they are going to do, not ASK YOU what
YOU need. (same way he handled the Schools)

AND the ongoing war over the Belmont Flyover -- which delay problems could be easily solved by a single high-speed switch, and some cushioned and spiraled precision rail-crossing diamonds: http://www.railway-technical.com/Jap...ut-160-kmh.jpg and without any major construction.....

Spoken by a man who has no degrees in engineering..... what makes you think that speed limit over the switches are the great factor at Clark Tower on the CTA north side main. Stick to your "grey windmills."

[IMG]http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s...P1000640_1.jpg[/IMG]

Where is the space for your switch?
[IMG]http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s...f/P1000648.jpg[/IMG]

See that white sign....it says, "25 MPH" The curve limits going to the branch.

There is no war over the Belmont Flyover (yet). The opponents' case is exaggerated.

Right now, CTA needs some money to do 30% design so they can find out how their new flyover will layout and construction will be staged. That will let them know how many properties need to be taken. Then they will tear down the minimum number of buildings necessary to build the thing, which could include partial demolition at the back of historic or noteworthy structures.

The images released by opponents of a completely clear-cut Clark Street are vastly overblown - the streetscape will absolutely not be devastated by this project that takes place on the inside of each block. CTA is right, though, that after construction, larger vacant sites will be easier to sell to developers for TOD projects.

David, I will try to answer you soon, but right now I do not have the Photoshop skills to be able to superimpose a high-speed switch over the images; but that is not the issue anyway.

For whatever reason you have some type of personal vendetta again'st me; so nothing I say or do could be considered in anyway correct . If you like David, I will explain "crabs-in-a-barrel" in detail. (it will be quite ugly)

Also David, I never claimed to have any degrees; I am (proudly) a min. wage gas station cashier, but in the past I have driven many 100 car C&NW transfers from Proviso Yard in Northlake, to Wood St. at 16th and Western. I know you've driven "L" trains -- but I've driven many mile-long Class I freight trains from the suburbs into Chicago, so I do sort of understand RR engineering.....

I also driven many switching runs down Carroll St. dropping cars at the Mart, the Tribune, various small industries, and chemicals to the Filtration Plant. I've also operated 100 car transfers from Proviso to the big yard out by 145th & Ashland, and had to learn IHB operating rules. I DO understand railroad engineering!

To go back to the brown line extension for a moment, wouldnt it be a better option to build a separate elevated/underground platform for it so as to not take up any of the blue lines capacity? I think it might be sensible since its only stopping at one blue line station and would remove a potential future bottleneck.

There is NO VENDETTA....I haven't responded to 99.99 percent of your postings on the internet except when you cry "baby tears" about the CTA/city Red Line Extension or you make some stupid judgement about the "L" operations. You claim experience from driving trains...therefore you should have known better to know there is not enough room to place that switch you pictured at Clark Tower. I even posted pictures to show that.....not enough room! Plus, the Brown line entrance is from track three. An additional move has to be made from tracks four to three needing more room because Brown line trains run on that track. And last but not least, you could equip Clark the biggest switch imaginable, the speed would still be limited by the curve beyond the junction which is printed on the white sign in my photo....25 MPH. What ever other arguments you have about the Clark Tower you are right to hold them.....but, it a switch won't cut it.

That depends on if you want Brown Line trains to interline with Blue out to O'Hare. If you do, then it doesn't matter and they can call at the same platform. If they don't interline, then there should be a separate underground platform for Brown Line trains, maybe with a single-track connection to the Blue Line for service moves.

Interlining might be valuable - the Brown Line is more convenient than the Blue Line to the River North/Gold Coast area where many tourists are heading. It's also convenient to the North Side neighborhoods where many of Chicago's frequent fliers live*. On the other hand, it does mean that service disruptions would more easily ripple across the network.


* = Interestingly, a big factor in the continued gentrification of Wicker Park/Bucktown beyond the hipster stage is the one-seat ride to O'Hare - very valuable to professionals and businessmen who travel frequently.

Those are good points you raise, I admit I was thinking more about the logistics of possible a future extension south to Midway using the tracks and RoW east of Cicero

First Jeffrey Jump, now Loop Link. What's next, Ashland Artery?

Looks like we are getting an early jump on the construction season. Surprising considering it's still too cold to pour concrete.

Expect more announcements like this out of Team Emanuel in the next few weeks. Anybody wanna take bets on the opening date for the Bloomingdale Trail?

I should try to find some time to document Madison/Wabash before it comes down. The Inner Loop side is a historic stationhouse.

If I knew how to use Photoshop (I don't), I would do that, but I will find a way soon (later today in fact). What is the limiting speed zig-zagging through the present crossovers, to get to the 25mph branch?

in the meantime, read the comments in the "Getting Around" article ardecila linked to below.

btw David, tell me what you think of all the Red Dots in this Crain's article, those are the poorest Black and Hispanic communities in the entire NE Illinois Region; is it OK to you to leave them in the miserable financial state that they are in now?: http://www.chicagobusiness.com/artic...income-levels#

Because to my knowledge, I am the ONLY person attempting to change that situation! You are Black like I am, do YOU have any suggestions David on how to turn all those Red Dots green, or do you know of any other plans by anybody else, (CTA says service there is OK right now) and the Red Line Extension south of 95th if built obviously would have NO effect whatsoever on Woodlawn, Chatham, South Shore, and Grand Crossing.

You say you drove trains....the "L" trains keep the same 25 MPH through the "zig-zagging" crossovers. What don't you understand??

I told you before I refuse to be drawn into internet arguments with people who have no power. My life has other needs. The Red Line Extension south of 95th is not to have any effect whatsoever on those communities you named and two of them are already on the Red line and a third is on the Green line. The fourth has express buses that evidently they are quite happy with.

As for the red dots on the maps, can I suggest Crayons?

How about you two meet up somewhere, have a few cold ones and talk it out and/or arm wrestle.

NO WAY, he wanted to fight somebody else under the Green Line "L" at 59th St, for some bottom-line meaningless reason; and he's bigger than me...... http://www.buzzfeed.com/alivelez/wat...-at-an-arm-wre

WOW -- Those red dots are Black People in extreme distress, and that's your answer -- Crayons???

And N O they are not "Happy", that's CTA "spin" -- I USED TO LIVE THERE, you can't "spin" my (and others) experiences.

I was finally able to scan and upload a type of image: https://app.box.com/s/alm8rzgfcotdmkaua9bbp6d73rlvkexk

Multiple switches would NOT have to be re-aligned for each run, which takes time; only ONE switch alignment to route Brown Line trains; and Brown Line trains could operate at posted speeds on an uninterupped, resiliently cushioned (for noise attenuation), and high-speed spiraled curve.

Some people will see the logic in it; But Y O U (beyond any shadow of a doubt) will make absolutely sure that you search, investigate, reconnoiter, and try to find something/ANYTHING wrong with it! Have at it David...... Please come and get me!

btw David, you are NOT a bad person -- It's just that you seem to support whatever the present day Skanky-@$$ed City Hall/CTA Administration in whatever they say, or whatever they choose to do; even if that includes (and PLEASE pardon me, and you Skyscraper folks can delete this truly, and deeply honest vulgarity if you want to) F U C K I N G > O U R < Black Community.

WHAT can't you understand? The posted on that curve IS TWENTY FIVE MILES PER HOUR. It is 25 MPH because it is a curve about 300 ft. radius. To go faster would increase the passenger discomfort level. The curve speed limit will never be increased unless you want to lay a new curve.

Several of my friends who also travel all the time and use ORD have bought in proximity to Wicker Park/Bucktown/Logan/California stations for this very reason. I myself relocated from Lakeview to River North in order to have a short walk to the Blue Line now that my work demands lots of travel. Any slight bit of inclement weather and the Kennedy/Belmont goes to shit traffic wise and I was done dealing with it.

Easy transit access to a major air hub is a stronger draw than many people might credit.

CAN YOU READ??, I said on the image I posted that "trains would be operated at the limiting speed, 25mph" -- CAN YOU READ David??: https://app.box.com/files/0/f/0/1/f_26907299355

All I see is some website called "BOX" I am not signing for BOX. Clark Tower has a 25 MPH on the divergent track to the Brown line. I am satisfied with that speed. The CTA is satisfied. The operators are satisfied. You have a good day. I have nothing more to say in that matter.

Can someone call the playground monitor to separate the quarreling schoolchildren? Perhaps the reason the grey line is not progressing is that you fly off the handle publicly like this?

"I fly off the handle because people are D Y I N G every day in those disadvantaged neighborhoods."

And speaking of which -- I just ran across this article again, it personally offends me -- to see him
smiling and shaking hands, while he works behind their backs to make sure that it D O E S N ' T happen:
http://: http://chicago.cbslocal.com...oods/#comments

All those people in that room are just tools for him to use to get re-elected, he doesn't actually care about them;
didn't you ever read "The Prince" by Machiavelli: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prince
Well I did in H.S. and I found it very enlightening in how to understand, and deal with people.

Teacher Betty Howard was murdered through a wall because of just exactly what he is saying -- BUT what he W O N ' T
do anything about (at least not in that neighborhood): http://www.myfoxchicago.com/story/25...rt-in-shooting 4 blocks from one of those red dots.

Sure, but a new transit line to the Loop isn't gonna make the difference. There are plenty of areas out in North Lawndale, Englewood or West Garfield Park that sit right beneath an L stop, and the L service hasn't made those areas any less violent. It hasn't made those areas safer or given them a stronger economy.

Some CTA photos from Jonathan Lee

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7312/...da41e8d8_b.jpg
Not in Service by Lever_Frame, on Flickr

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8665/...1668415c_b.jpg
Winter Race by Lever_Frame, on Flickr

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8641/...f7c33b4e_b.jpg
Cermak-McCormick Place by Lever_Frame, on Flickr

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7423/...4ab5f0b2_b.jpg
Cermak-McCormick Place by Lever_Frame, on Flickr

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7380/...f2ce2569_b.jpg
Levels by Lever_Frame, on Flickr

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7292/...d2171035_b.jpg
Skokie 32s at Sedgwick by Lever_Frame, on Flickr

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8598/...d19b0833_b.jpg
Green Line Whiteout by Lever_Frame, on Flickr

I've personally known several good people who have been murdered, so I am obsessed with anything I can try to do; and I can't think of anything else a min. wage. gas station cashier could do.

And this admittedly might not work, but I must try.

Bridgeport activists call for 31st Street CTA bus route
 

http://www.redeyechicago.com/news/re...302-story.html

Tracy Swartz March 3, 2016, 4:00 pm

A group of Bridgeport activists once again are asking the CTA to restore the long-gone bus service along 31st Street between the lakefront through the Bridgeport community and west to suburban Cicero.

Some South Side residents long have called for this service, but the cash-strapped CTA has maintained there is not enough demand to warrant the additional route.....

Chicago mayoral candidates sound off on transit priorities
 

http://www.redeyechicago.com/news/re...302-story.html

Tracy Swartz March 2, 2015 12:53 pm

ADD ONE more item to the list of topics Mayor Emanuel and his formidable challenger Cook County Commissioner Jesus "Chuy" Garcia disagree on: Emanuel's proposed flyover at the Belmont stop in Lakeview.

Though they've spent lots of time shaking commuter hands at CTA stops, Emanuel and Garcia have been vague on what Chicago transit will look like over the next four years. Garcia hasn't detailed what specific transit projects he would push if he were elected while Emanuel has stuck to promoting plans already announced or in the works.

One Emanuel proposal Garcia is against is the proposed $320 million flyover, which Garcia criticized as "an unnecessary expenditure of taxpayer funds that will generate little return on investment" in an email via his spokeswoman.....

Does anyone on here know when the new Ravenswood Metra Station is set to open?

It never closed.

Haha, smart guy. He means the new station. It sure is the slowest construction project. It was supposed to open in May of last year. Now who knows?

Well Chuy for Mayor then.

$350 million Superloop streetcar system being studied
 

http://www.gazettechicago.com/index/...being-studied/

$350 million Superloop streetcar system being studied

March 5, 2015

By Dan Kolen

An old mode of transportation not seen in Chicago since the 1950s may be coming back if the Chicago Streetcar Renaissance (CSR) group has its way.

The group is conducting an extensive economic analysis for a more than six-mile streetcar system, which would start at Ogilvie Transportation Center and Union Station and extend to Navy Pier, McCormick Place, and the museum campus......

^ I like this quote from the article, and I wish more people would keep this in mind:

If you’re referring to the fiscal aspects, that’s not a very useful comparison because the highway projects are entirely paid for by motorists, whereas transit riders only pay half their operating costs and pretty much none of the capital costs. It’s like saying we shouldn’t balk at more library spending because Americans spend billions every year buying books.

Because Congress and the General Assembly have been scared to raise gas taxes, user fees from motorists now pay only about 60% of the cost of all roads—but remember that includes all subdivision streets and county roads. Busy superhighways generate such an immense amount of gas taxes that they not only pay for themselves but subsidize smaller roads, too.

This is a half truth, at best. If you rear down neighborhoods, dis-invest in transit, give tax-breaks to build houses far from the city center and then build a highway that's the only way to get where you're going, I suppose in a twisted way they could be considered to "pay for themselves".

This reasoning still only works, of course, only works if you ignore the cost of lost neighborhoods, the blight on the landscape, the difficulty in walking, the increased noise and reduces air quality and so on. Ft. Wayne used to look nice. Now it's all parking lots and highways that "pay for themselves".

^That's quite the litany of tangential issues, there.

Done for reasons other than superhighways in nearly all instances. And when done for radial freeways, what was the realistic alternative? Seeing all the industry move to truck-accessible greenfields on the suburban periphery?

Where has this ever occurred? Since 1964, government aid to transit, at all levels, has increased steadily and dramatically—from zero to many billions of dollars. A large proportion of that aid has been paid by motorists.

But this didn't happen. The exact same mortgage interest deduction was available for houses (and co-ops and condos) in the city as outside it.

Particularly in the case of Fort Wayne—or anywhere in the Midwest and West—I think your argument is with the county officials of the 19th century who authorized ubiquitous section-line roads. Fort Wayne has never even had a radial freeway, only a bypass route.

Still, Mr. D, I have a hard time accepting any argument that an investment in transit in downtown Chicago, the largest commercial, residential, & cultural hub between the coasts, doesn't deserve a sub-billion dollar transit investment every....hmmmm....half century or so.

The $350 million dollars really is quite a drop in the bucket if you really think about it.

^Who, exactly, is making that argument?

Only $350m seems like pure fantasy, given that Wilson station alone is costing $200m.

Washington/Wabash
 

From Reilly's site, the Washington/Wabash stop construction begins today

"This will involve the closure of Wabash Ave. to vehicular traffic from Washington St. to Madison St. starting Monday, March 9th, 2015, lasting for approximately 18 months.

...The CTA Madison Street Elevated Station is set to close on March 16th, 2015 in order to begin the demolition of the existing station."

http://www.ward42chicago.com/MajorProjects.html

Nice, i am very excited about this station. I love the design and glad they are combining those 2 stations.

Well that seals the deal for me; Garcia's pandering for votes is now dangerous for the city's future prosperity. This is the key choke point for the 1st and 3rd busiest transit lines in the entire midsection of the country. Capacity cannot be added to these lines without a major rebuild of Clark Jct; except for building out all platforms on the red and brown for 10 car trains or purchasing articulated railcars; both of which will be more expensive than the flyover. Coming out flatly against this important concept which isn't even fully designed and flushed out with details yet is ignorant and reeks of trying to lock up up votes wherever he can find them; regardless of facts.

I was under the impression that the overwhelming majority of Red Line stations were already built for 10 car trains with a few exceptions on the far North side.

But yes, Chuy seems to just be pandering on every derisive topic out there.

^ No, just the State Street Subway. Fullerton and Belmont have the structure in place for a platform extension. Wilson will be built for 10 cars and I think Howard can do it as well. That's pretty much it.

Not even the Dan Ryan Branch? Cermak-Chinatown and Sox-35th for sure are 10 cars long.

That happened anyway though. How many factories are left in Chicago? Maybe industry would have hung on longer without free trade, but high property values drives industry out.

Everybody is entitled to their opinion, IMHO Rahm is USING the communities needs as an excuse to pad some rich Construction Guy's pockets, like Machiavelli's "The Prince" would do -- when vastly cheaper alternatives are available.

All that "Capacity Planning for the Future" official spin is just how Block 37 got built; and while additional capacity at Clark Jct. will surely be needed in the future, the flyover isn't the ONLY WAY ("spin") to do it: http://bit.ly/FlyoverSwitch And trying to make the affected property owners feel guilty and selfish about the situation, is right out of the Chapter that Rahm penned in "The Prince". $320M could do A LOT of other things in a lot of other Chicago places.

With Jesse Jackson Sr's (and Danny Davis's) endorsments, Rahm has already lost the election (the entire Black community HATES him, and will come out in droves -- "It's a Party - Hey Hey") so Chuy is not "pandering" -- He's earned that Faith in him.

South Lakefront Corridor Transit Study — Shame!
 

http://www.transportnotes.com/south-...t-study-shame/

Posted on March 8, 2015 by fbfree

In 2012 the Chicago Department of Transportation commissioned the South Lakefront Corridor Transit Study (“the report”) from 31st to 95th streets in response to very strong community interest in improving transit access, especially along the Metra Electric corridor. The report used dishonest assumptions to pan the idea of rapid transit service on the Metra Electric line, citing high capital and operational costs and low ridership......