^ Still confused how this is costing $180 million dollars. That's almost the same price as the new 15th St Red Line subway station, which has to deal with more infrastructure complications.

In other great news, Metra is piloting all-day hourly frequencies on ME, RID, & BNSF! 30 min frequencies for UP-N between downtown and Evanston! Some of these routes will have 15 min or better frequencies during rush hours!
https://metrarail.com/about-metra/ne...turns-pandemic

For that kind of money we shouldn't have to exit the paid area to transfer. SMH.

They should park a couple of these bad boys out front:

https://chuckmanchicagonostalgia.fil...-sign-1958.jpg
_

Ugh that's infuriating.

Imagine something absurd and ridiculous as one continuous escalator from the platform, traveling down the center of state street median directly into the depths of the red line platform. Like a 60' travel depth. There's your instagram shot right there. Chicago's most important and visible escalator, right out front of the marquee.

I'm very glad they added an outbound frequency that works perfectly for people who want to get to UChicago at 9 am. Now if they just filled in that inbound gap at 57th street between 6:01 pm and 6:43 pm I'd have nothing to ever complain about :).

60' is about right. That's basically what Boston is planning for their Red-Blue Connector. It's not that crazy of an idea.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...?1623422416372

Do a pair of escalators (and elevator) from the Inner Loop (south elevated) platform down to the Red Line. Then put in a transfer bridge right next to it for people coming from the Outer Loop.

Our very own archguy has an article on ChicagoYimby with lots of great pictures of the new State and Lake Station, and a great breakdown of funding sources:

https://chicagoyimby.com/wp-content/...M--777x782.jpg

https://chicagoyimby.com/wp-content/...ng-by-SOM-.jpg

https://chicagoyimby.com/wp-content/...ng-by-SOM-.jpg

https://chicagoyimby.com/wp-content/...ng-by-SOM-.jpg

https://chicagoyimby.com/wp-content/...ng-by-SOM-.jpg
(All images from SOM via ChicagoYimby)

https://chicagoyimby.com/2021/06/ren...-the-loop.html

I think it looks fantastic.

Looks awesome! Can't wait to get some photos through the canopy of the skyline and birdshit!

Okay I have to honestly say their plan to re-use that section of the historic canopy inside the new glass canopy like that looks killer.

I'm guessing SHPO is requiring something like that. Usually when you see a historic nod like that it has been required by some preservationist bureaucrat.

It's a creative idea to add some visual interest to the fare controls. But the whole point of this design is the openness, the preserved canopy compromises that. It makes the overall design weaker, not stronger. I honestly think it would be nicer to delete it and just have unobstructed sight lines through the platform area and up/down State St.

I can see your argument, but I think it will be fine.

Any reason why posts were deleted here?

I merely said if Chicago insists on keeping its Metro elevated in the cities central buisness district then all stations and the tracks themselves should look as sleek and nice as what is rendered there. As opposed to what it looks like now

I’ve long wanted the downtown portions of the L to be painted similarly to how Wabash was painted several years back.

That is the plan... not all of downtown, but the Loop itself and up to/including the river bridges which are already the "bordeaux" color. The Wabash section was funded as a beautification project, meaning CTA did not pay for it. I'm guessing they will get around to the other sides of the Loop whenever the current paint job starts to fail.

It looks like the State/Lake project will include repainting of the structure along Lake St, at least from Wabash to Dearborn.

CTA has been repainting the section of Brown Line thru River North. It was a light gray-green but they have been painting with a new coat of tan paint so they are not committed to doing bordeaux outside of the Loop:
https://goo.gl/maps/VggCCnvm2H6AZ6YQA

Regarding the tan color and to a lesser extent the Bordeaux red color being used on the L structure, I've never understood why the resistance to going really dark much in the same way that so many exposed joist/rafter ceilings in commercial/retail spaces or even residential basements are painted dark to "make all the mess go away" by obscuring the assortment of conduit, plumbing and additional bracing structure just sort of disappear into shadow, especially in a low light/down lit environment.

As someone who has actually set down and read the entire NYCT elevated structure repainting RFP guidelines .pdf for potential contractors, I know there is actually a lot of science behind the choice of paint for structures, not just a color coatings fade resistance but a slew of very specific prep and application requirements to assure, ultimately the taxpayer, that the applied point will last as long as possible. The MTA in NY had a high profile fail several years ago when the red paint job on the Hell Gate Bridge started to fade terribly within a couple years I believe and it still looks like crap. I'm sure they learned a few things about that choice and are doing everything they can to prevent it, though I understand there was some claim by the company that supplied the paint that it was the contractors fault of something, I dunno.

Anyways, this gets me back to just a general desire to see some elevated structure in Chicago painted out in a really snazzy sophisticated dark shade of something. A really dark evergreen green, a charcoal or this years "color of the year" "Urbane Bronze"... the kind of shades that would go a long way in obscuring the quite unattractive utility underbelly of the structure. And after saying all that, I'd give it all up to see the L structure painted Swamp Holly Orange:

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/47/5b...027867c983.jpg
_

What if the CTA painted their lines the actual color of the rail line?

So the Red line is red, Green line is painted green, etc. And lines that run multiple colors are painted a mix of colors by section (Red for 100 feet, then Brown for 100 feet, etc). Too tacky?

Probably about as much community resistance as painting it Swamp Holly Orange:haha:


Strong yes.

I'm sure you already know, most of the stations are already done this way. Interestingly, this has led to the now-Pink Line stops being accented in blue.

^ Not just the stops, I mean the actual structures that carry the tracks