Or it will kickstart investment in the area...

This is the last Blue Line station that isn't in an expressway median. The land around it has tremendous potential for density. Too bad the alderman is a socialist.

Strange they don't show an elevator to the platform. I would say now is the time to reverse the position of the stairs / escalators and elevator and extend the mezzanine. Nearly identical to the arrangement of the other blue line stations. Plus the stairs would touch down more toward the center of the platform with the elevator closer to the agent booth

I hear ya, but the damage is already done. That area is boxed in by low density housing, and there are just too many car oriented developments in the area. Meanwhile Zoning still thinks it's 1953 and they are trying to reduce the density of any and all things (families will die! Choked by the factories!). I'm sure a whole lot of nothing will happen here, until locals stop fantasizing about Chicago's glory days of the 1950's and recognize that the world is changing and leaving us behind unless we reboot the shit out of our thinking. Something I don't expect to happen

If the station can be accommodating I might suggest senior housing. Upgrade the mall to something a little more dense. But that's all I can think of. No matter what, it's a tough sell to attract a higher quality residential market.

There is plenty of land to develop along Belmont east and west of the station. There's a small factory for sale at Belmont/Bernard, I'll eat my hat if it doesn't become a TOD. Also quite a few dilapidated frame buildings along Belmont that could be consolidated.

Also the giant strip mall doesn't exactly have top notch tenants. Best Buy and ALDI are good but the others are junky, low rent retailers. If the mall owner is smart, he'll be looking to redevelop... a quick Google search reveals Centrum as the owner, certainly no stranger to large mixed-use developments.

There's a ton of development in both directions along Belmont coming down the pipeline. There's 90 units proposed for the entire 4200 block of Belmont, two big apartment buildings on the NE and SW corners of Ridgeway and Belmont (18 +20 units), the Whistler is building a flashy cocktail bar with patio at the NW corner of Ridgeway and Belmont, another six flat under construction between Monticello and Lawndale, there's a 50 unit building proposed at Elston and Belmont where the Ace is, there's another 9 unit building proposed just east of Sacramento where honey baked ham is, there's another six proposed just north of Belmont on Elston, and several six flats understand construction or just finished up next to Burger King. Belmont is a logical station to improve, I just wish they were adding a South Entrance at Barry.

Quick question.

Is there any reason why there's two Western and two Harlem stations on the Blue Line? Is it because the address coordinates that accompany the names are enough to tell the difference?

There's also a Western Brown Line, a Western Pink Line, and a Western Orange line. What gives? It's almost as if there's a major arterial street that has hosted bus/street car routes for a century running the entire length of what used to be the Western edge of Chicago?

It's not the address coordinates, but the branch name that is to be used to differentiate. There is only one Western stop on the O'Hare branch of the Blue Line. The city could have used colors or tried to use landmark naming more than it does, but other cities sometimes have similar issues. It's just that proportionally Chicago has more dupes because of the orientation around the loop and the grid system.

Certainly not a unique issue:

http://i.imgur.com/H92mCHe.png

But it does make it tough for the designer of Chicago transit maps that we want the Westerns and all the Ciceros to line up. That makes it tricky to displace things to show the Loop bigger, in the usual way of schematic transit maps:

http://i.imgur.com/xYerxMv.png

^ The travails of cartographers are indeed underappreciated. A famous one named McClendon just resigned from Uber to live in the Midwest, though no doubt the clarion call of his craft will keep him continuing reconciling the physical world with our mind's eyes for many years to come.

But the original post was about the same name on the same color. Even if NY had that, it'd probably involve different boroughs, allowing for no-brainer distinction even to tourists.

I've ridden a lot of transit systems around the world and can't remember encountering a duplicate name on the same line. Without fail there is always at least some suffix or subtitle that distinguishes the stations where the duplication would otherwise occur -- often systems go out of their way to avert duplication not just on a single line but often across an entire system. Having two Westerns on Blue is so primitive; if they inaugurated the color schemes 25 years ago to encourage usage and reduce confusion especially with visitors, the same impetus should dictate they rename one or both. This is not like forcing all the suburbs to change from the 312 area code like in the '80s, this is a simple gradual fix largely within the control and budget of the CTA.

^ Another map maker named McClendon, eh? Hmmmm.... ;)

^ I believe it's been said that there's no relation. But what are the odds...

In my role as an active Airbnb host, I deal with a lot of out-of-towners. Most of them realize the distinction between stations even when the names are the same, although because I live nearest to the Chicago Brown Line stop, I emphasize in my arrival directions that it is on the Brown Line, and not the Red or Blue lines (although the Red Line station is only about 4 extra minutes walking compared to the Brown). I have had two guests, out of 500 bookings, accidentally get off at the Chicago Blue Line station and become lost. I've also had people ignore my warning to be sure they get on a Brown Line train at Clark/Lake and end up halfway to Oak Park before they realize their mistake. My directions are almost painfully detailed, so places that give shorter, more general directions probably see more instances of people arriving at the wrong station.

Then again there are people who simply don't understand the concept of shared transportation. Or maps, or numbers, for that matter. One guy was as dumb as a post about taking the bus from Union Station to my place. You can literally exit Union Station at the River and Jackson, hop on the 156 at the stop across the street, take it 15 minutes and it drops you on the corner of my block. It ended up taking him 75 minutes to make the 1.5 mile trip and in the end he ended up hailing a cab. I told him that I work by Union Station and can walk the distance in 25 minutes. He apparently thought that the 151 and the 156 must be the same route (!?!?!) and then from Michigan Avenue couldn't figure out how to walk west on Huron. He realized he had made some navigation mistakes, but when I asked where he was, he couldn't tell me even though I *know* the street signs on Michigan are well-marked. I mostly enjoy meeting my Airbnb guests, but it's outlandish how utterly stupid some of them are. My current guest actually stood in front of my neighbor's building, which has a well-marked number, and couldn't figure out that my building, numerically less than 10 points different, we right next to him, walked back to the corner and called me, claiming, "There is no <my address>," to which I laughed and said, "I guarantee you it exists," and went downstairs to point at the address on the door. So much idiocy.

^ I wonder if there is any common thread to those urban neophytes -- elderly; rural; language barrier; etc.? Also, whether the big confusions happened on really frigid, windy, or rainy days, etc. By the way, five hundred guests -- wow, you can be chair of the board of "platinum" hosts. (Plus, you could buy a round of beers for people on the forum...)

But your observations are a gold mine of data points. City planners, tourism planners, and many others could really learn a lot from that.

Also, whenever I go by Chicago Station on the el I always picture a gaggle of tourists suddenly seeing the sign as soon as the doors open, and looking at each other and say "whoops, we're here!" and bolting onto the platform, only to soon discover they're nowhere near where they want to be. People don't take that concern seriously, but they're failing to consider the mindset of various visitors and the various ways they may be arriving (solo or in a group; capable of English or not; fatigued after a long-haul or not; in a huge rush or not; afraid to consult strangers or not; etc.). So your findings about Chicago Station finally provide evidence. If we're even half-serious about tourism (and lots of City and State dollars are indeed being spent promoting in Asia, for example) then we need to eliminate obvious potential for confusion. Take any friction out of the system if it's low hanging fruit.

Of course, at the same time, there's no cure for sheer stupidity. So hopefully there's an app (hello, maps app) for that.

The Red Line viaduct at Wilson Station is really coming along. Magnificent, uber-long steel girders were on several trucks last night lined up along Broadway.

Plus: Facadectomy type action in process on the white vintage 1-story station structure running along Broadway from the Wilson corner (because the old track right of way has now been dismantled from its roof).

Adam Collins, Rahm's communication's director, is reporting that renovation plans for the 63rd/Cottage Grove station will be announced tomorrow.
Source: @AdamDCollins

http://chicago.curbed.com/2017/4/24/...pment-woodlawn

Upgraded CTA station, affordable TOD headed to Chicago’s Woodlawn
New investment—both public and private—is another positive development for the Woodlawn community

BY JAY KOZIARZ APR 24, 2017, 2:11PM CDT

Someone should tell "Chicago Curbed" that the Cottage Grove station IS NOT the city's oldest. Although the Alley 'L' extension toward Jackson Park built in 1893, its the Garfield Blvd is the oldest station building. Cottage Grove was rebuilt and reopened in 1991. In fact, none of the original stations from the 1892-93 era are left.

The impact of the President Obama Library on the CTA Green line will probably not be felt because the library location is over a mile distant. Please do yourself a favor by not asking that the 63rd St. elevated be built over again. The city, CTA, U of C tore it down in the 1990s.

David Harrison

Why, exactly, is it a bad idea to extend a rapid transit line to a major tourist attraction and a connection with commuter rail?

Hell, do it as a (relatively cheap) cut and cover subway. With 63rd St still so vacant, the impact of this construction would be pretty minimal.