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http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2...ulus-cash.html
Midwest rail network likely to get stimulus cash April 24, 2009 1:26 PM | No Comments U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said today that a proposed Midwest passenger high-speed rail network is among six corridors likely to share an $8 billion federal stimulus pot to modernize tracks and replace aging trains with new fleets. LaHood said the Midwestern states should appoint a "rail czar'' to coordinate the program and work with governors and legislatures to complete the required studies and begin construction. "This corridor needs to get their act together,'' LaHood told the Tribune's editorial board, pointing out that an additional $1 billion a year over five years will be awarded to the best high-speed rail programs. "Here's how I explained it to Gov. (Pat) Quinn: You need to find somebody, maybe a retired rail person, who gets up everyday and the only thing that person thinks about is developing the high-speed rail corridor in the Midwest,'' LaHood said. "That's the way it is going to happen.'' The state transportation departments in Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin are leading an effort to operate trains traveling at 110 miles per hour through nine Midwestern states. Chicago would be the hub of the 3,000-mile network, which would extend to cities including St. Louis, Detroit, Minneapolis, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Kansas City and Louisville. Faster trains passing through Chicago could be operating as soon as 2012 to 2014 to Milwaukee and Madison, officials have said. LaHood said he doesn't foresee trains ever exceeding speeds of 200 m.p.h. in the Midwest, due to the relatively short distance between cities and the cost of building dedicated high-speed tracks that do not cross over roads. "If you get a train up to 150 or 160 miles an hour, that's faster than any train we've ever had in the history of trains,'' he said. "We ought to define it by the idea that people can get on a train that's efficient, comfortable and cost-effective, get people out of their cars and really connect America,'' LaHood said. |
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This is despite the fact that the airport fence, trees and existing billboards already place restrictions on maintaining a 1000 foot vertical safety clearance that are already above the height of the proposed hotel. The FAA had also already approved of the design. As for the "out of context" concern, that is BS. the context of the neighborhood is the airport. As a taxpayer, I was appalled. That would have been a four star major flag hotel generating taxes inside the city as opposed to the burbs, as is the case with nearly every hotel near Midway. I don't know if the developers went forward to seek approval from zoning and City Council, as Plan Commission is only advisory. |
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I used to dread taking any route that used those things. The new articulated buses are a world of difference. |
Looks like earmarks are still important to members of Congress. I found this tidbit of Rep. Quigley's earmark requests:
Chicago Transit Hub (Circle Line - Ogden Streetcar) Recipient: CTA located at 567 W. Lake, Chicago, IL 60661 Request: $12,150,000 through the Federal Transit Authority's New Starts account. Request: $3,000,000 through the Federal Transit Authority's Alternatives Analysis account. Description: The construction of the Chicago Transit Hub (Circle Line - Ogden Streetcar) will help to manage the growing need for more public transit options. It will also help to prevent overcrowding, provide more efficient transit options to destinations throughout the city, and quicken commute times. Additionally, this project will connect CTA Red and Brown Lines near North/Clybourn with the existing CTA track and structure near Lake/Paulina. The project will also connect the existing CTA Orange Line near Ashland with the existing Pink Line Cermak Branch near 18th Street. Finally, the project will add new CTA and Metra transfer stations along new and existing CTA tracks to the northwest, west, southwest, and south of Chicago's Central area. Paratransit Vehicles Recipient: Pace, located at 550 W. Algonquin, Arlington Heights, IL 60005 Request: $960,000 through the Federal Transit Authority's Bus and Bus Facilities account. Description: Pace provides federally mandated ADA paratransit service to the disabled in Chicago. This funding will help Chicago acquire enough vehicles to serve the area. With a complete fleet, the total operating cost of the Chicago paratransit service would decrease significantly. Union Pacific Northwest Line (UP-NW) Enhancement Project Recipient: Metra, located at 547 W. Jackson Blvd., Chicago, IL 60661 Request: $5,000,000 through the Federal Transit Authority's Small Starts account. Description: Funding for improvements to the UP-NW line will provide more and faster service on the branch, as well as attract new riders in a growing area and reduce station access times for existing area riders. The project also includes upgrading signals on the main line of UP-NW to allow more express trains to downtown and improved suburb-to-suburb and reverse-commute services. In addition, the two new rail yards will allow for more train capacity and more efficient maintenance. |
So did I read that article correctly by understanding that they would no longer be using the articulated busses? I saw one on Lakeshore Drive yesterday. . .
. . . |
^^^ No, not all of the articulated buses, only the old NABI ones. I haven't seen anything but the new hybrid ones since this issue of joint cracks first came to light and I live on Sheridan with a view of LSD. The NABI ones are completely retired as far as I've seen. If you did see one of the crappy NABI ones, they were probably testing it or something...
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Create
Good Article on CREATE........
http://www.createprogram.org/PDF/200...20Knot.JOC.pdf And a TV story from McNeal Leher report http://www.pbs.org/newshour/video/sh...ews01s251dq8b9 |
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Both great finds. That vid was real nice 10 min plus national story. Quote:
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I'll veto the first piece of PORK that crosses my desk and make it famous! |
Has there been any mention that any portion of the infrastructure stimulus funds might go to rebuilding Red Line viaducts? I am thinking particularly of Edgewater, Rogers Park, and north and south of there, though there might be crumbling viaducts elsewhere too. It would seem to me that redoing viaducts would be one of the most shovel-ready (or otherwise fast-track) projects there could be (more so than high-speed rail). Some of those bastards are in seriously dangerous-looking shape - and some are kind of impeding major arterials (Hollywood; Loyola; etc.).
For that matter, Metra definitely has some antiquated viaducts too; have those ever come up as priority issues (whether this year or in years past)? |
It's my understanding that one of Metra's highest priority issues is rebuilding the UP-N viaduct through the North Side, along with the major capacity upgrade on the UP-NW line. The SouthEast Service and STAR Line, although they have gotten a lot of press, are far in the future. CMAP is smart enough to realize that those two projects have little potential, and CMAP is able to rank regional transportation projects by order of urgency, which IIRC impacts their ability to receive funding from the Feds.
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CTA viaducts is a tough call - routine maintenance to keep them safe is done regardless, but complete reconstruction would require a significant amount of design work and planning that would have to be coordinated in some sort of strategic/holistic fashion through the entire corridor, because many viaduct reconstructions would entail de facto station reconstructions.
Despite their ugly appearance, I'm not aware that any/many of the North Main viaducts are in actual unsafe structural condition. |
^^^Jarvis CTA stop appears to be in horrible shape. Structurally it may be sound, but it looks like a bomb hit it. I am sure they did not bring the Olympic committee there to see that station
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^^^ A lot of the viaducts along the embankment look like that. Berwin, Sheridan/Devon, Hollywood, Jarvis, Foster, and others all come to mind. I remember reading somewhere that, despite their appearance, they were way over-built engineered when they were first built in anticipation of heavier trains or something so they can deteriorate a lot before the weight and vibrations of the El would cause them to become structurally unsound.
I don't know why they don't just keep them all freshly painted like they do at Bryn Mawr. Bryn Mawr viaduct is just as bad as Sheridan/Devon, Jarvis, and others, its just much more difficult to see because they keep it freshly painted. All the other ones appear to have been completely painted in the past, but the paint has been allowed to crack and flake off. Anyone know why they stopped paining them? |
I hear occasional rumblings about reconstruction of the fill section north of Wilson. A lot of the concrete retaining walls are spalling or collapsing in places. The overpass span beams may be fine, but the seats and abutments have problems and the clearances are obviously from another era. One interesting problem is that no one knows what was used for fill, so there may be remediation problems. I wonder if they could just wrap it all up inside new retaining walls to avoid that.
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Even if they are structurally sound, many of them look like total decrepit embarrassing crap. The extra bracing that was often added between columns really inspires confidence. And who knows when a chunk of stone might fall off?
They one-off did Main Street and Church Street on the Purple Line in the last couple years (without needing to do station work); I would think at least a couple more viaducts could be done without much further ado. That's the medicine that has been called for, I believe: stimulus jobs + transit improvements, soon. |
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WTF?
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...,4506178.story Quote:
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If you read the rest of the story, there's more to this than we yet know.
Katie Ridgway, a spokeswoman for Quinn, responded Wednesday by saying that "there is nothing on hold, and it's the governor's intention that transit projects will get started this construction season." She would not comment further on the issue. My best guess would be that Gov. Quinn thought there was something fishy about the bond counsel or placement, not the projects themselves. |
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He is just seeing what he can get away with.......a trial ballon. If we don't slap him down now....he will let his Bagofpoop real self be seen. |
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ALSO the transit agencies are moving ahead....see....a second source is now saying that there is an issue, but they are telling their people to continue forward..... "He said the three transit agencies were ordered to not commit any money and to stop all planning for the projects." Well if it is just something fishy about the bond counsel or placement...not the projects themselves...why stop making plans???? Why would Sandavol be lying? (maybe there is a reason?). |
Reading all of the above makes me whoozy on how much money we are borrowing and spending lately as a government. I mean it it truly unprecedented. You know things have gotten out of control when I see the word "billion" and don't even think twice about it. I can't wait to see some new projects but one day the bill is going to come in the mail. The problem is we are not spending real money, we are taking on NEW debt. I was just watching on the news that at the end of this year every 30 year old in America will have spent and will owe $132,000 in debt via the local and federal government spending, an increase of over 4X from last year. That's real money that we now owe countries like China. If you look back in history it is a new record not only in nominal dollars but also in percentage increase. :haha: Gosh these infrastructure projects better be good!
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Think about in a different way, though. Even if tha $132,000 figure is correct, it's not a one-time payment. Think about how much you pay to the federal government over a lifetime of taxes. The median salary in Chicago is roughly $60,000... at that wage, one pays about $11,000 in income taxes every year. $132,000 is a figure that can be paid in about 12 years.
Also, it's misleading to look at what the "average" person will owe... it's a misleading figure that doesn't take into account the disproportionate amount of taxes paid by the top 10%. |
...not even getting into the fact that, either directly or through funds, many Americans are themselves the holders of public debt.
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Government Spending As Percent Of GDP Year $ % 1920 88.4 12.83 1921 73.6 14.32 1922 73.4 12.67 1923 85.4 11.27 1924 86.9 11.49 1925 90.6 11.44 1926 96.9 11.12 1927 95.5 11.75 1928 97.4 11.76 1929 103.6 11.29 1930 91.2 13.22 1931 76.5 15.93 1932 58.7 21.19 1933 56.4 22.38 1934 66 19.40 1935 73.3 20.17 1936 83.8 20.00 1937 91.9 18.74 1938 86.1 20.53 1939 92.2 20.66 1940 101.4 20.14 1941 126.7 19.22 1942 161.9 28.15 1943 198.6 46.68 1944 219.8 50.02 1945 223.1 52.97 1946 222.3 35.86 1947 244.2 23.64 1948 269.2 20.46 1949 267.3 23.46 1950 293.8 23.94 2000-2010 2000 9817 33.01 2001 10128 33.91 2002 10469.6 35.32 2003 10960.8 35.86 2004 11685.9 35.32 2005 12421.9 35.44 2006 13178.4 35.69 2007 13807.5 35.53 2008 14280.7 37.07 2009 14291 44.72 2010 14902 41.29 http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/...state=US&col=c |
People living in Chicago chose not to live on a sheep farm and survive only by the grace of Mother Nature and what we can plant, harvest, and hunt. We are civilized and chose to live in a civil society and we HAVE ALWAYS spent or given away PUBLIC money and property to make our living standard rise. We do NOT want to live in a feudal system that so many libertarians want us all to live in.
This CTA money has been bought, paid for and is used by the people of Chicago. |
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For those Chicagoans out there who criticize the new Central Area Action Plan's focus on expensive transportation investments downtown, I think it wouldn't hurt to get a sense of perspective.
Chicago continues to slip further behind NYC in transit investments. I would advise many of you to direct critics (as well as yourselves) to spend a few minutes browsing through these. This, my friends, is what I call ambition for the future--the projects at that website are what procuring vitality for the 21st century is all about. Kudos to the people behind Chicago's Central Area Action Plan, which is no less ambitious, IMO. My fear isn't in the planning, but in the execution--will Chicago's leadership maintain the will to move forward boldly, as is clearly happening in NYC, or will more opportunities for advancement be lost? |
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^100% agree.
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UNPRECENDENTED: having no precedent http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unprecedented PRECENDENT: prior in time, order, arrangement, or significance http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/precedent |
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https://www.cia.gov/library/publicat...k/geos/us.html which appear to indicate that in 2008 spending was a little more than 21% of GDP not 37%....maybe I am misunderstanding the numbers you are presenting Nor do they gel with numbers on the CBO website which from what I gather projects outlays to be about 28% of GDP this years...decreasing moving forward Both CIA factbook and CBO at least are ostensibly non-partisan. The site you presented is essentially a right wing screed against Obama case in point a quote: Quote:
Obama, BIg Deficits..........Baaaaaaad If you are going to present numbers to back up some concern of your at the very least use a credible source, instead of some Grover Norquist infused drivel This guy: http://www.christopherchantrill.com/ is the publisher of the website you referenced. Here are a few gems on quick perusal: Quote:
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Kooky |
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East Side Access also relieves overcrowding at Penn Station, and makes commuting more attractive for suburbanites by taking them closer to their place of employment. The Second Avenue Subway relieves the Lexington Ave Line, which has the most ridiculous congestion of any rail line in the US. Although I would love to see the Central Area Action Plan come to fruition, I'm just not seeing the same level of desperate need that NYC has for transit improvements. None of the transit facilities in Chicago approach the kind of overcrowding that New York faces. The projects that we've proposed are all just icing on the cake. The only project that might have a shot at the "desperately needed" label is the Red Line extension, which IIRC relieves some kind of ridiculous congestion that exists at 95th St, and of course the rehabilitation projects on existing lines. (I think the North Main is the only line that still needs rebuilding). In New York, of course, the 7 extension is icing just as much as our Clinton St subway would be. |
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Anyways, like I said, I'm excited for projects, but they better be HELLA good and their better be a LOT of them for all this money. |
I am going to agree with Ardecila, Chicago does not display the critical need for the types of major infrastructure improvements that NYC is now receiving. Keep in mind that NYC's residential population plus day time workforce population is about equal to the population of Cook, Lake, Kane, DuPage, Will and Kendall Counties COMBINED, located in a land area of just over 300 square miles.
I am not saying we don't need the improvements that we have been discussing, but we really do not have the same caliber of demand that NYC does for us to be at the same comparable level for infrastructure projects. This of course is why I am always harping on here for us to increase density near transit wherever possible. Doing so not only creates more demand for better service, but it also increase farebox revenue and decreases the amount of reliance on a operational subsidy. Quote:
Peace Time spending? You are aware of the two front war going on right now in Iraq and Afghanistan, right? That alone is sucking up a few billion each month. |
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^ haha, true. I've never seen those numbers
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At this point it looks like disorganization on the RTA's part (and poor communication among Quinn's staff). |
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...,7667825.story
Rail funding: Chicago and other 'old rail cities' get a shrinking slice of federal commuter rail funding Cities need $50 billion to upgrade aging transit lines, report says By Jon Hilkevitch Tribune reporter May 1, 2009 Chicago and other cities with long-established rail systems are getting a shrinking share of federal funding for commuter trains, resulting in a $50 billion shortfall to modernize deteriorating transit lines, according to a report to Congress released Thursday. The Federal Transit Administration study found that more than one-third of the commuter rail stations, trains and other facilities are in marginal or poor condition on the seven largest rail transit systems -- Chicago, Boston, New York, New Jersey, San Francisco, Philadelphia and Washington. It means the systems often rely on equipment being used beyond its recommended life cycle and may be defective and dangerous. Parts of the Chicago Transit Authority's 224-mile rail system are more than 100 years old. Excluding those seven aging transit systems, less than 20 percent of the transit infrastructure in other urban areas is rated marginal or poor, the study said. U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said he will offer legislation aimed at helping bring older transit systems to a state of good repair. It would require a $50 billion investment followed by $5.9 billion a year for maintenance, according to the federal transit study, which was requested by 11 senators. The FTA called for forming a temporary funding program to quickly reduce the backlog of rail projects. It also said the formula used to disburse rail-modernization grants should be changed to better meet the capital investment needs of established transit systems, which have lost funds to newer projects. |
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On a national scale, there are far more voters in cities without any rail transit or with growing rail systems than in cities with established rail systems. |
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1) I agree that NYC has a much more immediate demand for such expansions than Chicago does 2) The whole point of my post was one of issues with public perception. If you look at that link that I posted, every single project described serves the purpose of getting people into or around Manhattan. Plenty people in the NY Metropolitan area work outside of Manhattan, yet you don't see people fighting to build lines equivalent to Metra's Star Line that would connect to suburban office parks in Long Island, Connecticut, and New Jersey. Yet in Chicago, plans like the CAAP draws fire from people, even those who visit this forum, for being too downtown-centric. This is a dangerous precedent, ie how is it not common sense for the Chicago region to focus resources on improving downtown access and circulation, at least in regards to transit investments? Why is anybody even questioning this, and since they are I'll venture to say that Chicago's central area has a PR problem on its hands that needs to be fixed. Some of you will argue that Chicago has a lot more jobs in its suburbs than NYC does. Fine, but building a transit system to serve the sprawling mess that this suburban market consists of is basically unfeasible, and financially a joke. Mass transit only works to serve centralized job nodes, and Chicago's downtown is the only place where such an investment should occur. The city and region need to do a better job of selling this point. |
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I don't know if anybody went to the Yellow Line Extension Open House, but it occurred on April 30th. Since I'm down here in New Orleans, I couldn't exactly go myself, but CTA has been quite diligent about posting the presentation on their website quickly.
The analysis process narrowed it down to heavy rail, using the UPRR Alignment on an elevated structure with a fork to the east at 94, terminating in a station at the interchange of 94/Old Orchard Road. This station is not integrated with the mall, but it's not inconceivable that the mall could expand with a "Yellow Line concourse" lined with shops that links the station into the mall. The project will also include a reconstructed Dempster Station, elevated over Dempster. Oddly, the expansion will be single-track. This lowers construction costs and fits better into a limited right-of-way, and CTA is, I assume, not expecting train frequencies to require two tracks. http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/2...owlineplan.jpg http://img396.imageshack.us/img396/8...inesection.jpg http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/7...erendering.jpg Rendering of potential Old Orchard Station - this is not the actual design, just a placeholder |
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