Alley L crossing center median. Can't possibly be Morgan.

I dont see any stationhouse in that picture. That might be an important part to see too. Are people supposed to jump down off the platform to get to the street?

Wilson Station Renderings...


More on Cappleman's website as well as Uptown Update

Pretty cool!

:haha:

You can remain excited. The rendering shows the White Castle on the corner of Wabash & Cermak, looking towards the SW.

Is it just me or is the CTA kicking ass recently with these great station designs? Of course Morgan St. Station immediately comes to mind, but the 95th St. Bus Terminal, Cermak Green and now Wilson Station look effin' fantastic.

Does any one know when this part of 90 connected to Ohio? This is such a cool interchange to me. Are there any pics of what it looked like prior to this? Also, this new map app is awesome! I've been flying all around Chicago and other cities! Definitely cool for us skyscraper folks.
http://i592.photobucket.com/albums/t...f5dfec3d62.jpg

It's been there since the very beginning, I think. (1960) At least as of 1962, according to NETR's historicaerials.com.

Yeah, it's look so awesome! I like it lots.

I didn't realize there was a White Castle there. Hilarious that someone took the effort to include that while omitting the other couple buildings that would show up in this view, and to go to the effort of replicating the parapet detail just to drive home the point. :haha:

Wilson looks great, along with Cermak; seems someone has really taken notice of station design in other parts of the world.
Which map app? Not the one people in Cupertino are apologizing for?

The cool thing about the Ontario feeder / Ohio exit is its elevation changes; coming from the northwest it flies over the expressway, descends beneath the street grid for Milwaukee and Halsted, and then climbs rapidly (but not until clearing the Union Pacific viaduct) to span the river, before descending back down to the street grid.

Coming into RN on that interchange is jawdropping for visitors who have never been to Chicago. You dip below all those overpasses on the Kennedy, suddenly in the tight bends of the interchange with neighborhood buildings around you, then suddenly elevated up over the river surrounded by skyscrapers, then dumped onto city streets. Pretty awesome drive into the city.

It's interesting the history is brought up because I was thinking about that the other day as I passed by. When was it built? What was the area like before the highrises?

looks like Belmont and Fullerton, basically. not bad!

They're restoring the terra cotta on Gerber's old Wilson station, too. It had gotten pretty grotty.

I just hope they install more benches. The CTA has these massive multi-million dollar platforms, and 2 places to sit for the entire length. Someone explain this to me.

They're afraid of the homeless, sadly.

At a bare minimum, they could do something like they implemented at Rockwell and have single seats. Either way, it seems inexcusable for a supposedly "world class" system to skimp on the details like the CTA seems to often do. At least this plan has a full canopy...for now.

And while Im in rant mode, is there any indication when the LCDs that were installed at great expense on many Brown Line stops, and then abruptly removed for seemingly no reason (despite the fact they were simply glorified clocks), are coming back? I figured they were somehow re-programing them to be Train Tracker compatible, but it seems like the entire rollout of that program has been scattershot.

And one final unrelated thought (which has probably been discussed), but why make Wilson a purple line stop? I though the entire purpose of the Purple was as an express route. Seems like adding more frequent stops defeats the entire purpose.

That platform looks massive. You could pop a tent on there and not bother anyone. Any idea on how they are going to change the tracks here.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MaL46yTAAx...5e515cfc_b.jpg

I went and looked at the rest of the renderings and they seemed to answer my question. Looks like track 4 and 1 won't move and giant new deck will be built. Tracks 1 and 2 will be moved to the middle and new giant platforms constructed. I like the entrance being on the South side of Wilson.

Now thats a Transit Center...

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8319/8...0cd9a933_b.jpg
Wilson Station Reconstruction Rendering - Looking northwest at Wilson and Broadway by cta web, on Flickr

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8037/8...8a1a7e61_b.jpg
Wilson Station Reconstruction Rendering - Looking north along Broadway by cta web, on Flickr

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8173/8...2b1f47b0_b.jpg
Wilson Station Reconstruction Rendering - Exterior view of main entrance, looking south by cta web, on Flickr

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8313/8...ffdddb75_b.jpg
Wilson Station Reconstruction Rendering - Looking west on Wilson Ave from Broadway by cta web, on Flickr

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8456/8...665324c3_b.jpg
Wilson Station Reconstruction Rendering - Platform view by cta web, on Flickr

Damn, now for this $203 million investment we should be encouraging more density. Upzone!

Awesome. I like how the structure becomes a concrete slab over the Gerber Building so the there's no steelwork above to distract from the ornament. I am curious how they're going to build that crossing, though. Should be interesting.

Also, I'm curious what the travel time will be on Purple to the Loop. Purple's not really an express service when it stops at every station south of Addison. If the Purple travel time from Wilson is substantially less than Red, CTA may get a lot of cross-platform transfers here, especially if the Purple Line moves to the center tracks south of Addison to bypass Wellington, Diversey, and Armitage and then moves back out to the outer tracks to Sedgwick. Seems like a good way to redistribute capacity, maintaining a quick trip from Evanston on Purple while uncrowding the Red Line at the same time. With another transfer at Loyola, it'll be perfect.

Now the Gerber Building looks pretty short for a major intersection with the station set back from it. It would awesome if they could put like 6-12 floors of apartments on top of it like they did in old town on Wells at the former Cadillac dealership.

Right on. With so many nearby sites available (dollar store, city sports, two surface lots on wilson, McDs and the entire triangle parcel between Broadway/Wilson/Kenmore) they should really press for a dramatic upzoning, preferably one akin to 1601 Ashland.

Waaait, so this $203m includes stuff beyond the station -- reconstruction of the Broadway viaduct? That's a substantially longer work area than just the station; it could be like 1/3 of a mile, if they go from Leland to around Sunnyside. The crossing at Broadway is at a sort of scissor angle compared to a right angle arterial crossing, which presumably makes it doubly expensive for the longer span. I actually get a kick out of the el-support obstacle course driving down Broadway, but this construction project is welcome as a comprehensive rebuild of the area infrastructure.

The Broadway crossing is generally regarded as unsafe and unattractive (sexy grit aside). It would be rebuilt under the Red Modernization program anyway, but I think it needs to be rebuilt now to allow for a new pattern of approach tracks to the Wilson platforms.

There will be a southern entrance that lines up with Sunnyside; potentially they could build a passage to Montrose, so the 78 could stay on Montrose instead of diverting to Wilson. Such a passage could have safety concerns, I suppose, unless it was inside the fare-paid zone with good sight lines.

I've already seen guys pop a tent on the platform there ...

*snicker*

tickets should be given out for over-attractiveness in chicago.

Garbage cans next to go. By eliminating garbage cans people hold into it and shockingly don't throw it on the tracks

$203 million dollars for Wilson station remodeling.

The entire Roosevelt University Tower was only $118 million.

Demolition (elevated structure and neighboring buildings), Full transfer station, Multiple entrances, New viaduct from North of Broadway to South of the station, New track/ballast, New power supply, New signaling, Restoration and build out of the Gerber building... all while keeping both lines running through the area with minimal delay.

...and its a mass transit project in the United States... funded by a government with a flawed bidding system.

Sounds about right.

^ Yeah, Mr Downtown, that was why I pointed out that the reporting was sloppy in referring to it as a $203m station re-do. The reporting should cite it as a station rebuild plus what is essentially a 1/3-mile reconstruction of the line; this helps justify the public outlay of such a huge amount of funds. Though at that point we are still permitted to have our eyes pop out at comparing it to the multiuse Roosevelt University tower.

Argyle Station
 

I hope someone post some photos of the new station..


Argyle Station press release

The Argyle station was temporarily closed for six weeks to allow crews to perform repairs to the station house, adjacent retail spaces and surrounding infrastructure. Specific enhancements to the station include:


expanded footprint of stationhouse for improved layout/circulation
additional exit-only turnstile and luggage gate entry/exit
refurbishment of the station’s signature Chinese pagoda platform canopy
new concrete platform and platform foundations
new interior finishes (i.e. high-gloss brick walls, flooring, ceiling), lighting and signage
exterior masonry repairs, tuck pointing and sidewalk repairs
new windows, doors, exterior lighting and bike racks
repairs to concrete; painting and sealing/coating
upgraded lighting below viaduct (on street level)
new waterproofing and drainage system
new trackbed, ties and rails at station area


Work requiring the temporary closure of the remaining three stations – Berwyn, Lawrence and Jarvis – is expected to be complete by the end of 2012, with all remaining station and track work to be completed by early-2013.

Also, in an effort to reduce future expenses and avoid additional impacts to rail service, the Chicago Transit Board recently approved an amendment – with a maximum value of $15 million – to extend the scope of work to address additional slow zones, viaduct repairs and other station structure repairs. As a result of this amendment, customers will experience fewer service disruptions and a reduction of 2-3 minutes in travel times following the removal of approximately 7,000 feet of slow zones.

They're pretty easy to find but i'll try to grab some later. Either way, they did a great job in such a short time...the platform was predictably nice but i was really surprised how nice the ground level turnstyles and retail spaces turned out...once the viaduct work is complete is will be pretty impressive.

The potential with the Wilson makeover is massive.

I'm interested to see the nature of the work at Lawrence. Will they build an enclosed structure? Will they sandblast and paint the trestle? So many questions.

There are some up on CTA's flickr stream.

Anyway, I like the updates! This station renewal project has been a boon for these stations. It's unfortunate that they'll probably get eff'd up in fairly short order by some schmucks that love to tag everything under the sun, but hey, that's just the pessimist in me talking. :rolleyes:

Wow, the new Wilson station looks great! I, too, hope that the city upzones that area. That corner of Uptown is a real dump.

New chairman selected by Metra; as usual, it's a suburbanite who probably opposes service to city neighborhoods.

Pace picks up CTA’s slack while increasing service in Chicago and suburbs

Read More: http://gridchicago.com/2012/pace-pic...rid+Chicago%29

http://farm9.static.flickr.com/8467/...abe21c209c.jpg




Deal reached in transit fund fight

Read More: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...,2592629.story

http://www.trbimg.com/img-507630a2/t...g-20121010/600

The plans for Wilson do indeed look great. The designs are sleek and ambitious. By reconfiguring the entire track structure and taking advantage of available space between the historic terracotta buildings on Broadway and the modernist Truman College to the west, the station redesign represents a bold move to recreate a vibrant core for the Uptown neighborhood.

Find the full review, along with links to the CTA presentation boards, at CTA Station Watch.

http://ctastationwatch.com/uploads/c...1.ImageHandler
The auxiliary entrance at Sunnyside, looking north.

A review of the Argyle and Thorndale stations is on CTA Station Watch and CTA Tattler. I gave the jobs a B+. The stationhouses and platforms are up to the gold standard set at Morse, but there seemed to be some cost-cutting in the finish of stairwell walls and support columns.

Read the review and find a bunch of photos here.

http://ctastationwatch.com/uploads/c...3.ImageHandler

CTA released the Phase II developments on the Western & Ashland BRT projects. The preliminary study shows that the best design is a pair of dedicated median bus lanes, created by removing one traffic lane in each direction. This is essentially the gold standard of BRT design, as seen in Curitiba or Bogota, or domestically in Cleveland. I'm pretty sure the end result will not be a single design, though (in some sections, the parking lanes may be removed to preserve 4 lanes of traffic, while in others they may remove traffic lanes).

At any rate, this project will be quite extensive. After improvements, the travel times will be only 20-50% more than the Red Line to go a comparable distance, so long crosstown trips will finally be reasonable without traveling through the Loop. Cost for each is estimated around ~$150M.

Now... I am awaiting the massive revolt of drivers and businesses.

http://www.transitchicago.com/assets...wab-center.jpg
source

http://www.transitchicago.com/assets...inecompare.png
source

If the comments on the Chicago Tribune are any indication I'm sure the naysayers will be out in force. I'd think (hope?) that businesses would be smart enough to realize how huge this would be for these areas. Unless you are a drive-thru you've got to love this as a business owner in these stretches.

Personally I can't believe how little discussion there has been about this project so far on SSP. Chicago needs dozens of lines like this. I find this project more exciting than any glitzy high rise downtown. I'm basically salivating over these renderings.

Also, maybe I'm missing something but why aren't the stops closer to el stations. I would've thought Ashland & Lake or Western, Armitage & Milwaukee would be a natural. Any explanations?

Edit: nevermind. It appears that that graphic is intended only to compare to equivalent red line stations. It does indeed link up to rail lines like one would expect if you follow the link through and look at some further graphics.

^ Uhhh, no. The commentators in the Chicago Tribune are the lowest form of sub-humans in existence. They are essentially suburban Republican xenophobes who hate the city and regularly threaten to bail for Arizona, yet for some reason keep sticking around and bitching, to the dismay of those of us who yearn for intelligent discourse.

It should have concrete barriers to those lanes.

Looking at the display boards from CTA open houses held in June of this year regarding Western/Ashland BRT, the agency has already categorically eliminated the possibility of concrete barriers.

Congestion pricing!
 

I don't think I've seen any discussion on CMAP's congestion pricing initiative. I think this is a GREAT idea.

http://www.cmap.illinois.gov/congestion-pricing/about

CMAP is proposing to add congestion pricing/car pool lanes to the Eisenhower, Stevenson, Addams. It isn't clear that CMAP is suggesting this, but I am also 100% in favor of converting the express lanes on the Dan Ryan and Kennedy to congestion pricing/carpool lanes.

Think of all the advantages!

(1) Vastly reduced travel times for public bus services from the suburbs to the Loop as well as for carpoolers.
(2) Easy executive travel from affluent suburbs to downtown (that would provide another big incentive for companies to move from the suburbs to downtown).
(3) Ability to get in and out of the city quickly for everyone that is in an emergency, at least as long as they are willing to pay $$$.

Those are all great advantages. And everyone who doesn't want to pay, of course doesn't have to pay.

Congestion pricing is a no-brainer.

So, what would I do with the tolls? Improve Metra. The number 1 thing Metra lacks is connectivity of the downtown train stations so people can easily use Metra not only to get to nearby Loop jobs, but to travel from the suburbs to anywhere in the city. Specifically, I say use the toll revenue to build light rail connecting Union/Ogilvie to the El system and to destinations throughout downtown. As just one example -- it blows my mind, given the hundreds if not thousands of users of private shuttles from Union/Ogilvie to office buildings along the river and Michigan Avenue that we can't build light rail along the Carroll Avenue transitway. The demand is already there! And, given the cost of parking on the weekends along Michigan Avenue, wouldn't suburban visitors utilize a straightforward, comfortable rail connection between Union/Ogilvie and Michigan Avenue? Plus, why aren't Union/Ogilvie connected to McCormick Place? Finally, if there is any toll revenue left over, build express trains from Union/Ogilvie to the airports.

That plan would completely change transportation in Chicago. It would make the Loop by far the most easily and cheaply accessible global business center in the country and perhaps the world. It would be a tremendous competitive advantage. And, with tolls from congestion pricing, it might even be financially achievable.

I think you're misreading the situation with the private shuttles. Those are being run not because the transit from the train stations is so bad (it isn't) but in a desperate attempt to make River North and East Loop office space as attractive as the buildings within walking distance of the stations. CTA is about to drop/consolidate some of its Streeterville and Illinois Center shuttles because of modest ridership.

As a rider of one of those private shuttles, I don't agree. The transit from the train stations is "bad." I live in the West Loop. I take a private shuttle to work in River North because it is easily the most convenient form of transportation from the West Loop to my office. The shuttles pick people up at scheduled intervals and drop them off directly at the office. CTA's existing bus service can't compete with that, and that is the reason no one rides CTA's buses. In any event, even if we disagree about the reasons CTA's existing bus service is apparently not popular, I am not sure CTA's lack of popularity has anything to do with my argument that light rail service would have high ridership. The difference between under-street light rail service (that is modern, comfortable, allows for efficient boarding in climate controlled environments, isn't stopped by traffic lights, and isn't stuck in traffic jams) versus the existing bus service, or even the private shuttles, is pretty clear. Light rail would be a huge improvement.

Of course, downtown light rail may not be worth the cost, which would be significant. I think that is a debatable question. But I disagree strongly that the ridership isn't there (it is) or that ridership would not increase significantly versus the slow, inefficient, and weather-exposed bus service that currently exists (it would). Further, as I mentioned, light rail service from Union/Ogilvie wouldn't just serve office workers. It could/would also connect Union/Ogilvie more effectively to the El lines, to Michigan Avenue, and to other destinations, like McCormick.

I think it shocking and dumb that Chicago's largest public transportation stations offer no rail connections to any of Chicago's core transportation infrastructure. Metra should be designed to serve more than just West Loop office workers.

Of course, there is no money for such improvements. But congestion pricing could be a pretty lucrative source of revenue, and, especially with improvements that make Metra more usable for more kinds of trips to and from Chicago, congestion pricing would leave everyone better off.

^ The problem is, and I think either VivaLFuego or Ardecila brought this up a few years ago, congestion pricing could also cannibalize mass transit ridership.

If I were a fairly well paid, but not super rich, professional from the suburbs or outlying neighborhoods who worked downtown, all of a sudden congestion pricing makes driving downtown a more attractive option for me.

Now, instead of paying for a Metra ticket, I can pay daily for the "congestion lane" and get downtown just as fast, if not faster. All of a sudden you are raising revenue for Metra while, at the same time, decimating its ridership.

To me, congestion pricing isn't a bad idea but I think the cost should be high enough such that it doesn't become too attractive an alternative to the train. It should be more of a "damn it I really need to get downtown fast today, I'll bite the bullet and pay the high price just this once!" kind of thing. Here's who should use congestion lanes:

1. Individual cars for a steep price that varies throughout the day--no matter how many people are in the car, the price is the same. This will encourage carpooling because people can take turns using their own car and thus split up the cost over time
2. All buses use these lanes free of charge
3. Emergency vehicles (of course)
4. Taxicabs? Not sure about this one. I'm inclined to say they should be able to use the lanes but should still pay the congestion charge, or perhaps have a special transponder that charges them only half the congestion charge

Unfortunately this is correct.

I agree. I think $5+, at a minimum. Maybe $10-$15 per trip during rush hour. The trip should priced high enough so that only top level executives, individuals with emergencies, and carpools will be occupying the lane. Also, doesn't it cost $25 to park downtown per day? I think with a $10 per trip charge, only top level executives could afford it on a regular basis. But, the price should be set at whatever the market will bear. The basic idea is to keep just one lane flowing freely, and there isn't that much capacity in just one lane, so it is physically impossible that there would be that much of a shift from Metra to the congestion pricing lanes no matter what price is set.

(I think it will be a bit tricky applying this concept to the Kennedy. Maybe the reversible express lanes should be divided into two express, congestion pricing lanes going in each direction, though that would reduce the overall capacity of the freeway in the direction of heaviest travel, except to the extent car pool and bus use increases.)

I don't think that taxis should get any discount. I am not sure what purpose that would serve.

$10 per trip x 10,000 users x 2 times a day x 300 business days = $60,000,000 annual revenue. That could help finance the debt service on the cost of the congestion pricing lanes as well as a very significant investment in improving Metra.

I don't even own a car and rely on public transit for everything, but you can see in the picture how that design will totally cripple traffic on Ashland and Western, which are basically the "urban highways" that are more high capacity wide roads to carry surface traffic through areas as opposed to say Damen or Racine, etc. that tend to just be more local roads.

I would assume with huge traffic pile-ups that will happen on that street, they'd better have HUGE fines to people who drive in the bus lane. When you're sitting in traffic for 5 minutes looking at a totally open lane and no buses in sight - you're really going to want to just zoom up that lane. I'm on Western and Ashland a lot with friend who always take those cause they move so fast with the second lane option to pass people/turning cars, etc.

It's not like all that traffic will just go away and take the bus or anything. The people driving up those streets normally aren't going from one point on western to one point on western - they're trying to move in zig zags from one random place to another.

If they could at least ditch the parking on that route they could stick with it as an obvious route for cars to move quickly across the city as well as have the bus lanes.