SkyscraperPage Forum

SkyscraperPage Forum (https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/index.php)
-   Transportation (https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=25)
-   -   CHICAGO: Transit Developments (https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showthread.php?t=101657)

J_M_Tungsten Oct 11, 2013 7:20 PM

I take back my complaining about the delay on the Wells St. bridge. It's looking pretty good.
Today
http://i592.photobucket.com/albums/t...8ed1c9a682.jpg

http://i592.photobucket.com/albums/t...c8ee5ea160.jpg

http://i592.photobucket.com/albums/t...4faeaa0ba0.jpg
(I want to say this is a Hydro composition that I remembered from a while back)

http://i592.photobucket.com/albums/t...57225a7a68.jpg

ardecila Oct 14, 2013 3:42 AM

Quote:

South Lake Shore Drive extension soon open to drivers, development
John Hilkevitch, Tribune reporter
October 14, 2013


The South Lake Shore Drive extension, Chicago's newest roadway, is less than two weeks away from opening along a part of the city that for more than 100 years most people have seen only from a distance.

The road's opening will also provide the key piece of infrastructure that for years has been missing from far-reaching plans to develop an area that has been approved to include up to about 18,000 residents, beaches and marinas and 25 million square feet of retail, commercial and research facilities. The South Lake Shore Drive extension is scheduled to open Oct. 27, according to the Illinois and Chicago departments of transportation, which worked on the $64 million project that began in April 2012.

The 30 mph speed limit on the new roadway is less than the 40 mph limit on the rest of Lake Shore Drive. The south extension is designed to function as an arterial street, project managers said, with the added aesthetics of a landscaped-median boulevard and stunning views of Lake Michigan. Almost 600 trees have been planted, officials said.

The extension runs two lanes in each direction and includes a bicycle lane in each direction between 79th and 87th streets and shared vehicle-bike lanes south of 87th, officials said. In addition, locations have been set aside for future parking when the largest undeveloped parcel in Chicago is built out.

The opening has been delayed. The decision was made to accommodate installation of natural gas mains, electric lines and telecommunications cables for future expansion, said Dan Burke, CDOT deputy commissioner and the department's chief engineer.

The extension marks the city's first large-scale implementation of LED lighting, which uses about half the energy of high-pressure sodium lights, Burke said. In addition, the parking lanes along the extension are made of permeable asphalt that helps with drainage by funneling rain into the subgrade material instead of directing the water into the storm system, he said.
Excuse the huge image, but this is pretty awesome. It's like a rendering or SimCity, but it's real if you look closely enough. Unfortunately there wasn't time to revise plans and substitute protected or raised bike lanes - the design for this project totally preceded Gabe Klein's tenure at CDOT. Hopefully this can be fixed retroactively while there are no NIMBYs to complain.

http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/7396/go56.jpg

Rizzo Oct 14, 2013 6:44 AM

Bicycle accommodation could be done on the sidewalk vs the roadway. It's a blank slate through what will be eventually surrounded by master planned development. In this particular situation anywhere, plans would typically call for a separate path off-road for bicycles on an arterial....not bike lanes or cycle tracks.

Bike lanes can only be placed on arterials if circumstances of crowded urban development require it to be there and not a separate path off the street. But this is not the case. So I don't know why it was designed this way, but it could easily be reconfigured in the future.

Chi-Sky21 Oct 14, 2013 1:55 PM

It does include some bike lanes,

"The extension runs two lanes in each direction and includes a bicycle lane in each direction between 79th and 87th streets and shared vehicle-bike lanes south of 87th"

sentinel Oct 14, 2013 4:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ardecila (Post 6301810)
Excuse the huge image, but this is pretty awesome. It's like a rendering or SimCity, but it's real if you look closely enough. Unfortunately there wasn't time to revise plans and substitute protected or raised bike lanes - the design for this project totally preceded Gabe Klein's tenure at CDOT. Hopefully this can be fixed retroactively while there are no NIMBYs to complain.

http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/7396/go56.jpg

Remember this photo well, folks. I'm an eternal optimist, but if the cards are played well, this will look so incredibly different in the not-too-distant-future.

Busy Bee Oct 14, 2013 4:36 PM

I'm also an optimist and am hoping for the best. If South Works were a few miles closer to downtown I'd be right there with you. I'm just concerned that its location and the socioeconomic conditions of the adjacent neighborhood will stifle development for many years. My gut wants to see that awesome modern project rise in 10 years, but my brain tells me in reality it will probably be another generation before this sight reaches its potential.

CTA Gray Line Oct 14, 2013 5:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Busy Bee (Post 6302130)
I'm also an optimist and am hoping for the best. If South Works were a few miles closer to downtown I'd be right there with you. I'm just concerned that its location and the socioeconomic conditions of the adjacent neighborhood will stifle development for many years. My gut wants to see that awesome modern project rise in 10 years, but my brain tells me in reality it will probably be another generation before this sight reaches its potential.


It would make the Project much more viable if it had Rapid-transit access to Downtown -- BUT present-day Politics make that all but impossible, even though the facilities are already there!

Via Chicago Oct 14, 2013 5:45 PM

Is there an official date when the Wells bridge is supposed to open to traffic? Hard to find info anywhere.

Rizzo Oct 14, 2013 6:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chi-Sky21 (Post 6301996)
It does include some bike lanes,

"The extension runs two lanes in each direction and includes a bicycle lane in each direction between 79th and 87th streets and shared vehicle-bike lanes south of 87th"

We are aware. The issue is conventional bike lanes can be dangerous on arterial streets. That's why CDot has done a great job in recent years to place buffered lanes and cycle track in to ensure cyclists have proper distance from motor vehicles and do not get hit by car doors.

However, as ardecila pointed out, much of this planning came before all the new improvements, so this route has conventional bike lanes which are bit concerning from a safety standpoint.

You'll notice a nice buffered lane on that corner, but that may have just been because of available space from the calculated turning radius.



Regardless, I love that photo. It shows so much promise and potential for that site. It really does look like something out of SimCity.

ardecila Oct 14, 2013 7:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Busy Bee (Post 6302130)
I'm also an optimist and am hoping for the best. If South Works were a few miles closer to downtown I'd be right there with you. I'm just concerned that its location and the socioeconomic conditions of the adjacent neighborhood will stifle development for many years. My gut wants to see that awesome modern project rise in 10 years, but my brain tells me in reality it will probably be another generation before this sight reaches its potential.

Yeah, it might take that long. Chicago Velo Campus is building a strong institution down there. I'm mindful of how the Billie Jean King Center spurred development in Queens. You need institutions like that where a certain crowd of people is willing to take a chance and be pioneers in exchange for being close to the facility. The Obama Library would definitely have the same effect. Hopefully as these institutions grow they remain compact to allow a full-fledged neighborhood around them.

Honestly, I think it will take more public investment though. A city subsidy for increased Metra Electric service, investment in parkland, and certainly TIF subsidies for McCaffery, at least in the 1st phase.

ChiMIchael Oct 14, 2013 11:24 PM

^ I would likes for the city to court some manufacturers in that area. I think having jobs in that area will help it reach it's highest potential. The city is really selling itself short mainly wanting real estate for the rich and professionals.

Mr Downtown Oct 15, 2013 2:00 AM

^You're aware of the whole Solo Cup fiasco?

ChiMIchael Oct 15, 2013 2:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown (Post 6302602)
^You're aware of the whole Solo Cup fiasco?

Explain please.

LouisVanDerWright Oct 16, 2013 2:45 PM

Red Line South Branch to Reopen Sunday
 
Cheers to how quick and painless this massive project was! Hopefully increased comfort and speeds to the south provides some momentum for economic redevelopment on the South Side. Man, baring that runaway train a while back, the CTA has really had their shit together lately.


http://chicagoist.com/2013/10/15/red...re-open_su.php

ardecila Oct 16, 2013 4:46 PM

Yeah, I took the Chinatown shuttle bus a few days ago... the temporary shuttle system was really nice. There were several buses standing at Roosevelt right by the subway exit, plenty of seats available, and a quick nonstop trip.

Mr Downtown Oct 17, 2013 3:24 AM

The original planners for South Works heard loud and clear from surrounding neighborhoods that they wanted manufacturing jobs. So 280 acres were sold to Solo Cup for a new factory there, and I'm pretty sure the city was kicking in a truckful of money to help. Meanwhile, Solo bought another manufacturer and didn't need the South Works plant after all.

Chicago has spent the last 40 years trying to "court some manufacturers to the area." It's not clear what they can do outside of the sheer bribery they're now resorting to. If you have a manufacturing operation looking for cheap land and easy transportation, you'll probably choose NW Indiana. If you're doing skilled manufacturing, you'll probably choose the northwest suburbs where there's easy access to O'Hare and where the workforce knows what a millimeter is. That makes Chicago—the land in-between—a hard sell.

waltlantz Oct 17, 2013 5:55 AM

Hey guys, quick question.

I heard that Metra was looking to work on some sort of suburb to suburb rail service, I forget what I was called though. Does that ring a bell to anyone here?

CTA Gray Line Oct 17, 2013 6:14 AM

4 Chicago-area transit boards should be condensed to one, similar to NYC: study
 
http://www.suntimes.com/23190348-761...nyc-study.html

BY ROSALIND ROSSI Transportation Reporter October 16, 2013 7:08PM

A consultant Wednesday recommended that the Chicago area move to a New York City-like transit structure that would replace the RTA, CTA, Metra and Pace boards with one board driven by a “regional” focus rather than parochial concerns.

The result of a $380,000 study by Delcan, a Virginia-based independent international transportation consulting firm, was delivered to both the RTA, which commissioned the study in the first place, and a gubernatorial taskforce that released its own hard-hitting initial findings Wednesday, but no specific interim recommendations.

And, it followed the Regional Transportation Authority board’s approval of next fiscal year’s long-awaited funding allocations to the Chicago Transit Authority, Metra and Pace. For two months, insiders say, the allocations have been held up by the kind of Chicago vs. suburbs squabbling Delcan’s recommendation was designed to avoid. A similar holdup in last year’s funding allocation prompted the RTA to hire Delcan to study how other transit agencies divvy up their money and structure their boards.
Initial findings of the Northeastern Illinois Public Transit Task Force released Wednesday provided ammunition for a New York City-like solution recommended by Delcan. The taskforce found that “the present system was created to represent political and geographic constituencies rather than to provide excellent transit service for the whole region.’’

It lamented that “authority, responsibility and accountability for the transit system are highly dispersed.’’ It noted that 16 elected officials appoint 47 members of four different boards.

Delcan, whose largest practice area is mass transit, instead recommended that the four transit boards be replaced with one board that would include gubernatorial appointees. The structure would reduce the number of board members selected by county or other local officials who may feel obligated to put parochial concerns above regional goals, a Delcan official said.

CTA, Pace and Metra could operate as “operating arms or subsidiaries,’’ with their own presidents or executive directors, but no boards, Delcan Vice President Richard Mudge told transit task force members. A similar model is used in New York City and Philadelphia, he said.


The next best alternative, the Delcan report said, would be to keep the current board structure but to give the RTA the authority it needs to carry out its current legislative responsibilities.

“We like an integrated governance, with a single board of directors,’’ Mudge said. “[It] is the easiest way to meet regional goals.’’

Gov. Pat Quinn formed the taskforce amid the tumult that followed the Metra board’s decision to award ex-CEO Alex Clifford an up to 26-month, $871,000 severance deal with only eight months left on his contract. Quinn had said he hoped the taskforce would issue interim recommendations by Oct. 18, in time to influence the upcoming veto session.

However, marquee taskforce member Patrick Fitzgerald, the former U.S. Attorney who prosecuted two Illinois governors, said the taskforce was tackling issues that had been “developing over years’’ and needed more time to get their recommendations right. Therefore, the task force only issued findings, not recommendations Wednesday.

“If we thought there were simple fixes, of course we’d be doing that,’’ Fitzgerald said.

Meanwhile, RTA board members Wednesday finally broke through a partisan logjam that caused them, for a second year, to blow a Sept. 15 deadline for doling out funding to the three transit agencies they oversee.

The dispute was resolved by agreeing, among other things, to allow the RTA to cover the annual debt payments on a $56 million loan it provided to the CTA in 2009. The decision cancelled a resolution passed last month with the help of non-Chicago RTA board members that ordered the CTA to repay the money.

In addition, bickering over the RTA’s discretionary pot of operating funds was resolved by giving 98 percent of next fiscal year’s roughly $190 million to the CTA and 2 percent to Pace.

However, the 2015 and 2016 discretionary splits were left up for grabs. with only an agreement that whatever split is used each year would also be the basis of any surplus funding allocation in those years, RTA officials said.

“Trust me, no one got what they wanted. Everyone is slightly unhappy,’’ one RTA source said. “Nobody went home and popped champagne.’’

Email: rrossi@...

Twitter: @rosalindrossi

CTA Gray Line Oct 17, 2013 6:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by waltlantz (Post 6305413)
Hey guys, quick question.

I heard that Metra was looking to work on some sort of suburb to suburb rail service, I forget what I was called though. Does that ring a bell to anyone here?


It was called the Star Line (this link is from CMAP's website): http://metraconnects.metrarail.com/star.php

Interestingly, this is the only thing left in a search on Metra's website about it: http://metrarail.com/metra/en/home/u...sanalysis.html

ardecila Oct 17, 2013 6:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by waltlantz (Post 6305413)
Hey guys, quick question.

I heard that Metra was looking to work on some sort of suburb to suburb rail service, I forget what I was called though. Does that ring a bell to anyone here?

STAR Line

If the aughties-style web design doesn't give it away, it's very dormant.

CTA Gray Line Oct 17, 2013 8:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CTA Gray Line (Post 6305434)
http://www.suntimes.com/23190348-761...nyc-study.html

BY ROSALIND ROSSI Transportation Reporter October 16, 2013 7:08PM

A consultant Wednesday recommended that the Chicago area move to a New York City-like transit structure that would replace the RTA, CTA, Metra and Pace boards with one board driven by a “regional” focus rather than parochial concerns.

The result of a $380,000 study by Delcan, a Virginia-based independent international transportation consulting firm, was delivered to both the RTA, which commissioned the study in the first place, and a gubernatorial taskforce that released its own hard-hitting initial findings Wednesday, but no specific interim recommendations.

And, it followed the Regional Transportation Authority board’s approval of next fiscal year’s long-awaited funding allocations to the Chicago Transit Authority, Metra and Pace. For two months, insiders say, the allocations have been held up by the kind of Chicago vs. suburbs squabbling Delcan’s recommendation was designed to avoid. A similar holdup in last year’s funding allocation prompted the RTA to hire Delcan to study how other transit agencies divvy up their money and structure their boards.
Initial findings of the Northeastern Illinois Public Transit Task Force released Wednesday provided ammunition for a New York City-like solution recommended by Delcan. The taskforce found that “the present system was created to represent political and geographic constituencies rather than to provide excellent transit service for the whole region.’’

It lamented that “authority, responsibility and accountability for the transit system are highly dispersed.’’ It noted that 16 elected officials appoint 47 members of four different boards.

Delcan, whose largest practice area is mass transit, instead recommended that the four transit boards be replaced with one board that would include gubernatorial appointees. The structure would reduce the number of board members selected by county or other local officials who may feel obligated to put parochial concerns above regional goals, a Delcan official said.

CTA, Pace and Metra could operate as “operating arms or subsidiaries,’’ with their own presidents or executive directors, but no boards, Delcan Vice President Richard Mudge told transit task force members. A similar model is used in New York City and Philadelphia, he said.


The next best alternative, the Delcan report said, would be to keep the current board structure but to give the RTA the authority it needs to carry out its current legislative responsibilities.

“We like an integrated governance, with a single board of directors,’’ Mudge said. “[It] is the easiest way to meet regional goals.’’

Gov. Pat Quinn formed the taskforce amid the tumult that followed the Metra board’s decision to award ex-CEO Alex Clifford an up to 26-month, $871,000 severance deal with only eight months left on his contract. Quinn had said he hoped the taskforce would issue interim recommendations by Oct. 18, in time to influence the upcoming veto session.

However, marquee taskforce member Patrick Fitzgerald, the former U.S. Attorney who prosecuted two Illinois governors, said the taskforce was tackling issues that had been “developing over years’’ and needed more time to get their recommendations right. Therefore, the task force only issued findings, not recommendations Wednesday.

“If we thought there were simple fixes, of course we’d be doing that,’’ Fitzgerald said.

Meanwhile, RTA board members Wednesday finally broke through a partisan logjam that caused them, for a second year, to blow a Sept. 15 deadline for doling out funding to the three transit agencies they oversee.

The dispute was resolved by agreeing, among other things, to allow the RTA to cover the annual debt payments on a $56 million loan it provided to the CTA in 2009. The decision cancelled a resolution passed last month with the help of non-Chicago RTA board members that ordered the CTA to repay the money.

In addition, bickering over the RTA’s discretionary pot of operating funds was resolved by giving 98 percent of next fiscal year’s roughly $190 million to the CTA and 2 percent to Pace.

However, the 2015 and 2016 discretionary splits were left up for grabs. with only an agreement that whatever split is used each year would also be the basis of any surplus funding allocation in those years, RTA officials said.

“Trust me, no one got what they wanted. Everyone is slightly unhappy,’’ one RTA source said. “Nobody went home and popped champagne.’’

Email: rrossi@...

Twitter: @rosalindrossi



March 1st, 2016

Northeast Illinois Public Transit Commission -- NIPTC

The new Public Transit Agency formed to provide service to Chicago, and it's Suburbs.

+ Providing Fixed Route bus service in Chicago -- Fixed Route, Rush Hour Feeder, and Dial-a-Ride bus service in the Suburbs.

+ Providing Paratransit (ADA) service in Chicago and the Suburbs.

+ Providing Commuter Rail service in the Suburbs.

+ Providing Rail Rapid Transit in Chicago on the 'L' system - and the South Side's Electric District


NO Fiefdoms, NO idiotic Competition and Duplication in Operations, NO Competing for Capital and Operating Funding, NO Duplication of Planning, Accounting, Administration, and Executive Boards.

Tell me again W H Y our present "4-Headed-Hydra - Chicago Politics Style" system is working better then a NIPTC would??

VivaLFuego Oct 17, 2013 9:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CTA Gray Line (Post 6305434)
http://www.suntimes.com/23190348-761...nyc-study.html

BY ROSALIND ROSSI Transportation Reporter October 16, 2013 7:08PM

A consultant Wednesday recommended that the Chicago area move to a New York City-like transit structure that would replace the RTA, CTA, Metra and Pace boards with one board driven by a “regional” focus rather than parochial concerns.

Unless they're recommending that ISTHA (the Tollway) --- and control of its revenue stream and rates --- would also be rolled in, the proposal is certainly not like the New York MTA.

CTA Gray Line Oct 22, 2013 12:50 PM

CTA chief calls proposal to put transit agencies under one umbrella ‘crazy’
 
http://www.suntimes.com/news/2328136...lla-crazy.html

BY ROSALIND ROSSI Transportation Reporter October 21, 2013 8:06PM

CTA Chairman Terry Peterson (left) and President Forrest Claypool spoke with the Sun-Times editorial board Monday afternoon. | Rich Hein/Sun-Times

Updated: October 22, 2013 2:14AM

“Forget about it.’’

That was CTA President Forrest Claypool’s assessment Monday of what to do with a consultant’s recommendation that one regionally-focused transit board oversee CTA, Metra and Pace.


“I would never work for such a crazy governance structure,’’ Claypool said of one of the key recommendations of a $380,000 study by Delcan, a transit consulting group.

“Power flows from the ballot box,” Claypool told the Chicago Sun-Times Editorial Board Monday. Voters’ ability to hold Mayor Rahm Emanuel accountable at the ballot box if they don’t like CTA decisions is the “model’’ governance structure, Claypool said.

“Any other structure [and] you’re working for a committee, which — forget about it. Just forget about it,’’ Claypool said.

An executive with Delcan, an international transit consulting group, told a gubernatorial transit task force last week that northeastern Illinois needs one regional board to oversee CTA, Metra and Pace to ensure that planning is regionally-focused and not dominated by parochial concerns.


He suggested a model similar to that used in New York City, where the governor appoints several members of a transit board that oversees subways, rail systems, buses, bridges and tunnels that service southeastern New York and parts of Connecticut.

The CTA, Metra and Pace could function as “subsidiaries’’ of the one regional agency, but would not have their own boards, as they do now, consultant Richard Mudge said.

However, the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning currently does regional planning, so “The problem [of lack of regional planning] has been overblown,’’ Claypool said.

“What we have works pretty well if we manage it properly, fund it properly and have leadership that’s working together,’’ he said.

Claypool also said the CTA supports a plan to bring dedicated bus lanes to Ashland Avenue but is still seeking input on the best way to do it.

“We are behind it, but the devil is in the details,’’ Claypool said. “We are not saying, ‘This is the plan, darn it.’”

The CTA is still sounding out businesses and homeowners about its initial proposal to put a dedicated bus lane down the center of Ashland for 16 miles, from Irving Park to 95th Street, and only allow left turns immediately onto expressway ramps.

Businesses have complained that the limit on left turns would lead to decreasing customers and require vans and trucks to make three right turns through residential areas to reach some businesses on Ashland.

Claypool visited the Sun-Times Editorial Board to discuss the CTA’s 2014 fiscal year budget, which packs no service cuts and no fare increases.

Claypool said the spending plan represented a significant break with “doomsday” budgets of the past.

CTA Gray Line Oct 23, 2013 11:02 PM

CTA's proposed budget continues capital investment push
 
http://www.rtands.com/index.php/pass...ment-push.html

Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) President Forrest Claypool proposed a balanced $1.38 billion budget that maintains transit service and holds the line on customer fares, while continuing investment in projects and programs to improve service and modernize regional transit......

.........Total ridership on the CTA is expected to grow in 2014 from this year to 534.6 million (a jump of nearly one percent), returning to slightly above 2011 levels.

Via Chicago Oct 25, 2013 7:06 PM

Quote:

CTA chief calls proposal to put transit agencies under one umbrella ‘crazy’
this is that...unique...kind of logic that could only fly in chicago

CTA Gray Line Oct 26, 2013 8:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Via Chicago (Post 6315795)
this is that...unique...kind of logic that could only fly in chicago

W E [ repeat -- W E ] E L E C T the People who A P P O I N T these People.....

So who's fault is That?

ardecila Oct 26, 2013 3:42 PM

When was the last time transit was an issue in a political campaign? Chicagoans see transit as a boring service like garbage collection or drinking water. There's no excitement, no vision, and no desire for change. Board members are appointed to maintain the status quo at all costs.

I don't know how to change this, but some well-planned expansions will help. It will also help to stop using such ho-hum design for stations, vehicles, structures, etc. CTA's on the right track, building several dramatic new stations, using transit to lure employers like Google, etc.

CTA Gray Line Oct 26, 2013 6:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ardecila (Post 6316502)
When was the last time transit was an issue in a political campaign? Chicagoans see transit as a boring service like garbage collection or drinking water. There's no excitement, no vision, and no desire for change. Board members are appointed to maintain the status quo at all costs.

I don't know how to change this, but some well-planned expansions will help. It will also help to stop using such ho-hum design for stations, vehicles, structures, etc. CTA's on the right track, building several dramatic new stations, using transit to lure employers like Google, etc.


I got to set up an appointment soon with Rep. Mike Quigley at the Active Transportation Alliance Summit this AM -- He seemed very interested in letting me lobby for the Gray Line before the Transportation Appropriations Sub-committee in Washington sometime soon ( "Grassroots Activism" ).

I'll pay my own Fare and Lodging......., I am a Mad Dog (Foaming-at-the-Mouth-Excited)

denizen467 Oct 26, 2013 7:53 PM

^ Congratulations!

untitledreality Oct 26, 2013 8:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CTA Gray Line (Post 6316664)
I am a Mad Dog (Foaming-at-the-Mouth-Excited)

Might yield better results to tone it down a notch or two. I respect your enthusiasm and commitment for your proposal, but sometimes it comes off a bit too strong.

Also, have you recently reached out to various stakeholders along the alignment? I could see McCaffery Interests and US Steel getting behind a plan that brings rapid transit to their South Works site. University of Chicago for providing frequent local service to Hyde Park without having students take the Green Line. The Chicago Park District for providing better service to Soldier Field, and the new marina at 35th. McPier for improved access to McCormick Place (especially if a proposal to connect the Gray/Gold line with other lines in the system develops) Central Station Development Corp for running mass transit directly through their Gateway site. The Field Museum? The Shedd? The Adler? The operators of the Charter One Pavilion?


Either way, congrats and good luck.

CTA Gray Line Oct 26, 2013 9:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by untitledreality (Post 6316795)
Might yield better results to tone it down a notch or two. I respect your enthusiasm and commitment for your proposal, but sometimes it comes off a bit too strong.

Also, have you recently reached out to various stakeholders along the alignment? I could see McCaffery Interests and US Steel getting behind a plan that brings rapid transit to their South Works site. University of Chicago for providing frequent local service to Hyde Park without having students take the Green Line. The Chicago Park District for providing better service to Soldier Field, and the new marina at 35th. McPier for improved access to McCormick Place (especially if a proposal to connect the Gray/Gold line with other lines in the system develops) Central Station Development Corp for running mass transit directly through their Gateway site. The Field Museum? The Shedd? The Adler? The operators of the Charter One Pavilion?

Either way, congrats and good luck.

A L L that stuff is imprisoned, entangled, and enmeshed in S L E A Z Y CHICAGO-STYLE POLITICS ( "Having just one Transit Board is Crazy" ) and NO POINT AT ALL in even trying.

Rep. Quigley wants to be the head the TASC, and write Bills -- My testimony in Washington W I L L accomplish something (How to save the Whole Country Billions of Grickles -- instead of stuffing it into Chicago area "Campaign Contributor's" G R E E D Y Bottomless Pockets).

And after 16 yrs of being laughed at, a little bit of overaggressiveness feels really good.

CTA Gray Line Oct 27, 2013 1:13 AM

[QUOTE=CTA Gray Line;6316825]A L L that stuff is imprisoned, entangled, and enmeshed in S L E A Z Y CHICAGO-STYLE POLITICS ( "Having just one Transit Board is Crazy" ) and NO POINT AT ALL in even trying./QUOTE]

http://www.suntimes.com/23199639-761...aign-work.html

"When a Metra employee named Patrick Ward complained to Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan last year that he wasn’t being paid enough, his gripe got him a higher-paying job. And it ultimately led Alex Clifford to leave the transit agency’s top post with a hefty severance deal and a host of explosive complaints about patronage demands that are now under review by a governor’s task force......."

ardecila Oct 27, 2013 2:41 AM

I don't know if y'all are following this, but the Midwest HSR Association is unveiling a "CrossRail Chicago" plan this Wednesday. If it's anything like its London namesake, it will allow commuter trains to pass from one side of the city to the other, and provide a needed conduit for high speed intercity trains as well. I'm pretty confident that the plan will utilize the Metra Electric line significantly and link to O'Hare somehow.

Rick Harnish at MHSRA has been doing the hard work of securing financial and political support from Chicago's business community, and he's received favorable press from Greg Hinz and others at Crain's. His pressure led Gov. Quinn to allocate several million dollars of state money to study a 220mph line from Chicago-St Louis. If anybody can break through political infighting to push sensible rail improvements, it's him. I'm really excited to see the CrossRail Chicago plan.

CTA Gray Line Oct 28, 2013 5:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ardecila (Post 6317035)
I don't know if y'all are following this, but the Midwest HSR Association is unveiling a "CrossRail Chicago" plan this Wednesday. If it's anything like its London namesake, it will allow commuter trains to pass from one side of the city to the other, and provide a needed conduit for high speed intercity trains as well. I'm pretty confident that the plan will utilize the Metra Electric line significantly and link to O'Hare somehow.

Rick Harnish at MHSRA has been doing the hard work of securing financial and political support from Chicago's business community, and he's received favorable press from Greg Hinz and others at Crain's. His pressure led Gov. Quinn to allocate several million dollars of state money to study a 220mph line from Chicago-St Louis. If anybody can break through political infighting to push sensible rail improvements, it's him. I'm really excited to see the CrossRail Chicago plan.


I can't go -- but I really want to see what they recommend......

Mister Uptempo Oct 28, 2013 7:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ardecila (Post 6317035)
I don't know if y'all are following this, but the Midwest HSR Association is unveiling a "CrossRail Chicago" plan this Wednesday. If it's anything like its London namesake, it will allow commuter trains to pass from one side of the city to the other, and provide a needed conduit for high speed intercity trains as well. I'm pretty confident that the plan will utilize the Metra Electric line significantly and link to O'Hare somehow.



That's exactly what it is...Allow me to direct you to a copy of Senate Resolution 639, currently circulating through the Illinois General Assembly.

It calls for the creation for an electrified track from the South suburbs and the South Side, through downtown Chicago, to O'Hare and the Northwest suburbs. The vision is to eventually extend it, so that it runs from Rockford, all the way to Cham-bana. It would one day serve as the backbone for a 220-MPH passenger line that would connect the region to other Midwest cities.

ardecila Oct 28, 2013 7:31 PM

Thanks for the advance info! Sounds like this is a fusion of Metra Electric, the I-90 branch of the STAR Line, and an undetermined route between McCormick Place/O'Hare.

I'm a little leery of the I-90 alignment but it may help to build political support in the NW suburbs and buy-in from Metra. It also avoids some thorny electrification problems on UP-NW or MD-W. I love how it's justified on the jobs-population imbalance, which could help to build support from the Southland. I wish this was the bone Quinn threw at the Southland instead of Illiana.

CTA Gray Line Oct 28, 2013 9:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mister Uptempo (Post 6318484)
That's exactly what it is...Allow me to direct you to a copy of Senate Resolution 639, currently circulating through the Illinois General Assembly.

It calls for a creation for an electrified track from the South suburbs and the South Side, through downtown Chicago, to O'Hare and the Northwest suburbs. The vision is to eventually extend it, so that it runs from Rockford, all the way to Cham-bana. It would one day serve as the backbone for a 220-MPH passenger line that would connect the region to other Midwest cities.


The St. Charles Airline would serve that purpose almost perfectly (with the addition of a new curve structure in the NE Quardrant from the Chicago River Bridge North to CUS), then use the present crossovers to access the riverside tracks which go through to the North Concourse to the MWD; then onto the NCS to the new O'Hare Transit Center.

It could also utilize the presently un-electrified two eastern tracks in the MED ROW South of McCormick Place to the South Suburbs.

CTA Gray Line Oct 29, 2013 6:57 AM

RTA makes bid to control all transit bonds
 
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...,2650085.story

By Jon Hilkevitch, Chicago Tribune reporter
8:54 p.m. CDT, October 28, 2013

The CTA and Metra quickly shot down a proposal Monday to consolidate all borrowing authority for Chicago-area mass transit projects and equipment under their parent agency, the latest salvo in a fight over control of billions of regional transportation dollars.......


...........A state task force is holding hearings aimed at improving mass transit, in part by ending turf wars between the agencies and appointing more qualified people to their boards of directors.

jhilkevitch@tribune.com

denizen467 Oct 30, 2013 3:01 AM

Viva, Mr Downtown, does anybody know whether there was a specific reason for never assigning a number (like uncertainty as to what would eventually connect to what), or whether there simply was never any reason to assign any numbering back in the '90s (especially given that named, non-numbered highways are quite common in other parts of the country) ?


http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...,7409078.story

Number's up for Elgin-O'Hare
By Richard Wronski
October 29, 2013

... Gov. Pat Quinn on Tuesday bestowed a numerical designation, Illinois Highway 390, on the 20-year-old route.

Quinn addressed hundreds of state and local officials, union members and others at a groundbreaking in Itasca that marked the ceremonial transformation of the expressway into part of the Illinois Tollway system.

...

It's unclear why the Elgin-O'Hare never had a numerical designation like most major thoroughfares. Spokesmen for the Tollway and the Illinois Department of Transportation could provide no explanation Tuesday.

ardecila Oct 30, 2013 3:16 AM

390 would have implied that the highway was a spur of 90, and when the original segment was built, the 90 connection was years into the future.

I know the Elgin-O'Hare isn't an interstate so it's not bound by the same numbering conventions, but obviously IDOT's intent is to integrate limited-access highways with the interstate system (see IL 394). I was actually expecting IDOT to shift the alignment of US-20 onto the higher-grade roadway, but that might pose a legal issue since the Elgin-OHare will be tolled.

What's interesting to me is how IDOT will number the south leg of the O'Hare Bypass. Obviously the north leg will receive the 390 designation to meet up with 90 in Des Plaines, but the south leg (if also numbered 390) would form a weird three-legged highway.

denizen467 Oct 30, 2013 3:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ardecila (Post 6320305)
would form a weird three-legged highway.

Right, which can't really exist, unless they decide to sow confusion in many ways (like having non-continuous mile markers, etc.).
Quote:

Originally Posted by ardecila (Post 6320305)
how IDOT will number the south leg of the O'Hare Bypass

I think 594 would make the most sense? It's a spur off of 294 - although I'm not sure the spur-odd, bypass-even rule applies when the reference roadway itself is already a three-digit interstate; in that case, 494 might be allowed.

Actually I kind of figured the west bypass would have a single number from terminus to terminus. But then I never really understood the purpose of the west bypass in the first place (other than access to western ORD terminals - but nobody talks about those anymore), since it kind of duplicates 290 and I don't think will be generating new employment or residential centers, given the distribution warehouse nature of Elk Grove Village and environs.

CTA Gray Line Oct 30, 2013 8:33 AM

CrossRail Chicago
 
http://www.midwesthsr.org/crossrail-chicago

http://www.midwesthsr.org/sites/defa...il_Chicago.pdf

sentinel Oct 30, 2013 10:28 PM

^^^YES!! Thanks for posting the link.

ardecila Oct 30, 2013 11:22 PM

Pretty much exactly what I suspected, although MHSRA calls for building the I-90 segment in a later phase.

With the exception of a short stretch (4mi) of tracks in Franklin Park, this would run entirely on publicly-owned trackage. That should make electrification, high-level platforms, and FRA crashworthiness waivers a lot easier to obtain.

TopZ Oct 31, 2013 6:25 PM

Phase I looks like a decent plan with a long-range plan in the later phases. The intercity phases look way too expensive, but who knows.

The problem I see are that there are inadequate stations and connections to other transit. It is mostly O'Hare -> Union Station -> McCormick Place. They should consider having locals & express and connecting to other transit as much as possible.

One other question is operating costs. It's not clear whether electricity + catenary maintenance will be less expensive than diesel. You would hope so, but it will definitely depend on volume and desired speed.

ardecila Oct 31, 2013 9:49 PM

Admittedly this is a problem but there are no good intermodal points along the chosen alignment. That's the hazard of having a city where the rapid transit lines run in the interstices between railroad lines and never the two shall cross.

denizen467 Nov 1, 2013 4:03 AM

I believe the "ballpark" $1.5B estimate for "Loop-O'Hare Transfer" involves only the existing Metra station location, and not the construction of the proposed tunnel to the terminals. So, is the idea of a tunnel extension from the Rosemont/Balmoral area to T5, and then to the former T4 area, an utter, fanciful, pipe dream of Midwest HSR, or has anyone actually conceived of a workable plan for this? I guess the idea of TBM'ing a mile or two is not particularly crazy, maybe not even under airfield tarmac, but it would probably have to be at some depth (including due to TSA concerns?), so you are talking about 2 very expensive stations.

When you add up all that expenditure ... maybe it would be more cost-effective to stick with the existing Metra station location and instead radically upgrade the existing ATS, so that it runs much faster, maybe with express runs to the far (T1) end, and so that the escalators/elevators and other aspects of the 4 terminals' stations are up to 21st century standards.

Plus, one day there will be a T6 (perhaps likely on the eastern side of the airfield, not on the once-proposed western side), and it will be easier to run the ATS to it than to deal further with HSR alignment or new stations at that time.

ardecila Nov 1, 2013 6:22 AM

The western terminal is far from dead. Pretty much everybody wants it, both in suburban and city power structures. The only hurdle is convincing the airlines to pay for it - Greg Hinz just speculated that Rahm's vocal support for the American-USAir merger is a bargaining chip for continued airline support of O'Hare expansion.

As for the tunnel, it's not that far-fledged. Minneapolis built a sizable tunnel for the Hiawatha Line beneath two active runways at $71M/mi. 3 miles of larger HSR tunnels at O'Hare would be about $600M in today's dollars (back of the envelope).

denizen467 Nov 1, 2013 11:07 AM

^ So can it be done for $1B including the stations? They've got to excavate under the main parking structure, and engineer connections (circulation, emergency exits from and emergency access to the subterranean level, etc.) that do not conflict with the CTA station. At T5, presumably there would be a subterranean connection horizontally (plenty of moving sidewalk capacity) until the passenger is under the arrivals level, and then significant elevator/escalator capacity up to arrivals and departures.

As for T6, while there may be support for creating a western terminal complex, there seems to be adequate space at the eastern airfield (and there will be plenty more once all the car rental lots are vacated), not to mention ready proximity to ATS, roadways, and rail. In contrast, using the western airfield seems like it would basically be little different from constructing a greenfield airport, sans runways -- and then you've got to tie west with east with airside passenger circulation. (If Da Mare can convince the airlines to pay for a starter airport there, then great, more power to us.)

Also, maybe my timeline is off, but didn't the rise of the western terminal complex idea come entirely prior to the eventual O'Hare Modernization Plan that is now being carried out? In other words, OMP and the rental car facility seem to supersede the necessity for a western complex (accommodating it, but for a future generation of projects).

denizen467 Nov 1, 2013 11:13 AM

^ Idea: Build a modern, replacement Hilton on the opposite side of the parking structure, where surface lots now sit half idle. Then tear down the original Hilton, and presto -- plenty of staging and construction space for an HSR station! (I like the architecture of the original ORD's hotel, control tower, and parking structure, but progress demands change, and all those things are aging.)


All times are GMT. The time now is 10:09 PM.

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.