What if the masses all decide to do the whole congestion pricing thing, and those lanes get just as backed up as the rest? I could see this turning into just as much of a clusterf#*k as the rest of normal traffic during peak times.

I agree fully. Chicago should look at Singapore and London two of the leaders on congenstion pricing. The Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) in Singapore follows your 4-point plan with variable pricing based on timing during the work week. It is also turned on during the weekends give expected traffic loads in the central city. The ERP fee is included in the taxi fare, buses and emergency vehicles are free and indvidual cars pay high feed each time the pass under the gantrys.

Transit dedicated lanes are better for suburban arterials, especially since an extra lane could be added to the street. There's also the left turn lane consideration at intersections that would have to be sacrificed with narrower streets.

Keep increasing pricing until it thins out to an acceptable level. Add dynamic pricing so the most expensive times are during rush periods and other heavy congestion times.

Ah ok, that makes sense. Thanks

As Lawrence CTA station closes, the Red North beat goes on
 

(By Patrick Barry, Reprint from CTA Station Watch, Oct. 19, 2012)

Stand by for a big weekend – and a slow one – as construction continues on at least seven stations and track along CTA’s North Red Line.

The Lawrence station closes at 11:59 p.m. Friday for six weeks, joining the already closed Berwyn station. To allow work at those stations and elsewhere, southbound trains will bypass Granville through Lawrence from 10 p.m. Friday to 4 a.m. Monday.

There will be partial or full street closings, too, as viaduct repairs continue. Full street closings between Broadway and Winthrop will block auto traffic from Granville, Bryn Mawr, Winona and Berwyn, according to an alert from Ald. Harry Osterman. Watch also for partial or full closures at Argyle, Lawrence and Sheridan Road at Loyola.

It’s all part of the CTA’s $100-million-plus blitz to rebuild stations and infrastructure along the North Red Line. Here’s a glimpse at what’s going on right now:

• Lawrence demolition – Crews were working Thursday and Friday to prepare for removal of this station’s worn and uneven wooden platform and the chain-link enclosure that serves as a stationhouse. This is station number six to get the treatment, which is typically fast and furious. By the end of the weekend, after much noise and dust, the platform will be gone.

• Argyle viaduct – One of the most eroded viaducts when this project began, the structure at Argyle is being rebuilt column by column, giving riders at the newly opened station a play-by-play view.


http://ctastationwatch.com/uploads/c...3.ImageHandlerThe Berwyn stationhouse has been gutted and a new subfloor has been poured. Extensive concrete work is underway. (Photo by Patrick Barry)

• Berwyn rebuild – Half of the new pre-cast concrete platform was in place this week and the rest may go in over the weekend. Crews have gutted the old stationhouse and are rebuilding the formerly closed storefronts across the street. And with massive shoring on either side, they are replacing an entire support structure on the north side of the street.

• Bryn Mawr deep cleaning – Left out of the station-reconstruction party because it will be completely rebuilt in two or three years, Bryn Mawr is getting a CTA deep-cleaning in the meantime. New tile is partially installed on the once-horrid stairwell walls.

• Thorndale viaduct – The station has reopened and much of the viaduct work is complete, but the “bike hub” on the south side of the street isn’t built yet.

http://ctastationwatch.com/uploads/c...9.ImageHandler
The new entrance at Loyola will be wide and deep, extending outward into the future plaza space. (Photo by Patrick Barry)

• Loyola stationhouse – The foundation has been poured for a wide new station entrance north and west of the current doorway. It juts about six feet outward into the space that will become a new station plaza next spring. Upstairs, crews are rebuilding the north end of the split platform. Across the street, extensive repairs on the viaduct are blocking one lane of northbound Sheridan Road.

• Lunt viaduct – Shoring and screw jacks support the rail structure as crews rebuild columns and beams at the Lunt exit to the Morse station. One of the former storefronts was demolished because of structural problems and will become a bicycle parking area.

The station-bypass this weekend will free up two tracks so that crews from Kiewit Infrastructure and its subcontractors can fix slow zones and replace ties and ballast where needed. Kiewit's two staging yards – one at Broadway and Winona, the other just west of the Loyola station – are stacked with new rail ties and other equipment, so there’s plenty more work to come.

If you take photos or observe the work anywhere along the construction zone, please share with others at CTA Station Watch. If you tweet photos with the station hashtag (#LawrenceCTA, #BerwynCTA, etc.), they will appear on the site. You can also provide updates on our Facebook page, or send reports and photos to ctastationwatch@gmail.com.

Oh, the old, "It's not popular anymore, it's too crowded" canard? :koko:

It would be possible for them to do that because now more people would be taking Metra. Even if Metra lost 9 "well to do" riders for every 10 less-well-off "congestion-priced-out" riders it gained, it would still be netting riders.

If fewer people drive, then the only way Metra loses is if people stop coming into the city.

The congestion-priced lane will have a floating fee that is high enough to match demand to capacity. It will be impossible to budget for commuting expenses unlesss you're so wealthy it doesn't matter - a real 1%er - and the 1%, by definition, won't make a dent in Metra ridership.

Actually, without highway expansion, setting up a congestion-priced lane will reduce capacity on the highways, since a free-flowing lane is carrying fewer cars per hour than a congested lane. Seems like a backdoor win for transit, especially if the new revenue can be spent to enhance transit. I'd like to see the Stevenson revenue used to make capital improvements to set up a bonafide commuter service on the Heritage Corridor, for example (new stations, sidings for freight, flyovers).

Not that I dont agree (considering they are already a mess most of the time), but I could imagine the center running BRT with a travel lane removed actually being somewhat beneficial to traffic. With no left turns you remove the left turn lingers, with the signal prioritization it could be possible for traffic to flow smoother for longer, and having dedicated right turn lanes could prevent bunch ups as traffic slows/waits for pedestrians. so maybe it wouldnt be THAT bad? :shrug:

Either way, as a city dweller who prefers vastly taking mass transit over driving my own car, I want the absolute best, no compromises option

Even ignoring the parking meter deal this would be a bad idea—parked cars serve as an important buffer for pedestrians on streets like Ashland and Western and removing them would only make the sidewalk experience worse, not better. Although neither’s idea, there are definitely nice, interesting stretches of both with street-level, curb parking-served retail. Getting rid of parking there would hurt them.

I’d suspect putting bus rapid transit in would function more like a road diet than anything else. FWIW, I get the impression that the separate lanes will be phased in, rather than doing 15-18 mile-long stretches of dedicated lanes in one fell swoop, or possibly even restricting the lanes to high-congestion areas. Although this might ameliorate motorists’ concerns, depending on where the lanes are (or rather aren’t) it might cut into one of the big benefits of giving buses a dedicated ROW—better schedule adherence. I’ve also heard that they’re going to concentrate on the worst stretches first, though, so this might not be a huge issue (full disclosure—I was once very late for a dinner appointment thanks to the Western Avenue bus, so maybe it’s a bit personal).

Don't get too dogmatic about the benefits of curbside parking to pedestrians. This applies to massive auto sewers in many American cities where traffic goes at 55mph, but many boulevards in Paris (with slower traffic speeds) do not have curbside parking - those parking spaces only exist where space is not needed for traffic or transit service.

It's kind of a moot point in Chicago since the meter deal ties our hands, but don't take it as some holy truth of urban design.

Strategies in the Pedestrian Plan: Remove all channelized right turns in 3 years

Read More: http://gridchicago.com/2012/strategi...rid+Chicago%29




A right-turn channelization from southbound Kedzie Avenue to northbound Milwaukee Avenue. From 2005-2011 there were 7 pedestrian crashes (including a fatal hit-and-run crash in 2009) and 4 bicycle crashes. The crash data do not allow me to relate any of them to a specific hazard at this location.

http://farm9.static.flickr.com/8045/...871c058cfa.jpg




While right-turn channelizations are mainly a pedestrian safety issue, they have adverse consequences for bicyclists as well. Where Elston meets Ashland, there is a paint-only right-turn channelization that allows drivers to turn right across a through-bicyclist’s path (which is illegal in addition to being dangerous, municipal code 9-16-020).

http://farm9.static.flickr.com/8187/...a4592074b8.jpg




The six-way intersection before improvements, page 70, in the Chicago Pedestrian Plan. The text mentions removing right-turn lane channelizations, but the graphic doesn’t show it.

http://farm9.static.flickr.com/8470/...fa84a36cba.jpg




http://farm9.static.flickr.com/8333/...d4b3f73aa4.jpg

I got out of work early today so I grabbed some pics of the new temporary platform at Ravenswood Metra station and some pics of Ravenswood hospital. I rushed home though as it started raining. The support beams are in all the way up to Montrose and they appear to be starting work again on the north side of the Montrose bridge. Winnemac is ready for concrete and they have begun preliminary work at Foster. So they are moving at a good clip. Likewise, there are rather large I-beams sitting at Leland that I imagine are for the new station which should begin demolition/construction after the 1st.

The gray sky makes it hard to see but the new temporary platform is concrete, unlike the southbound temporary platform which is wood.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8335/8...d73c4500_z.jpg

The new northbound temporary platform is short. Super short, like half the size of the southbound side. You would be hard pressed to get more than four cars on the platform. It will be interesting to see how this functions. The new platform will be used starting Oct. 31.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8185/8...d20fbe01_z.jpg

While I was walking the President flew by on his way to vote.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8043/8...2e7fbd6d_z.jpg

Metra Budget Hearing + Strategic Plan Open House Chgo Wednesday Nov. 7th
 

http://metrarail.com/metra/en/home/a...egic_plan.html

Metra is continuing its efforts to develop a new strategic plan, a critically important document that will guide our agency for years to come. During our successful first round of public outreach in July, we received a significant amount of feedback from our key stakeholders – our board, our employees, our riders, and the public. More than 200 people attended our public open house meetings and more than 3,300 people submitted feedback online.

We have already incorporated some of that feedback into our strategic plan.

For instance, we have revised our mission statement based on your input and we have used it to develop our goals and objectives and have started to determine our capital funding priorities.

To provide an update on our process and give more details about the plan, we are hosting a second round of public open house meetings this November.

These meetings will be held in coordination with Metra’s annual budget hearings to provide “one-stop shopping” for the public to give us their thoughts on near-term budget plans and longer-term agency strategic direction. The materials for the open house meetings, including a link to provide feedback, will be posted on this webpage by 10/30/12, and feedback will be accepted through 11/12/12. We invite and welcome your input and participation in this process.

Materials:

Presentations to the Metra Board:

April 2012 (includes State of System Report)
June 2012
September 2012

Preliminary 2013 budget and 2014-2015 financial plan

Presentation Boards from July 2012 Strategic Plan Open Houses

Presentation Boards from November 2012 Strategic Plan Open Houses [to be posted 10/30/12]

November 2012 Strategic Plan Feedback [available through 11/12/12]

All times and locations will include both a public hearing on the FY2013 Metra Proposed Program & Budget and an open house concerning Metra’s Strategic Plan unless otherwise noted.

Thursday, Nov. 1, 2012 4 p.m.–7 p.m.

Kane County

Kane County Government Center
Building A, 1st Floor Auditorium
719 South Batavia Avenue
Geneva, Illinois

McHenry County

City of Crystal Lake City Hall

City Council Chambers &
Executive Conference Room
100 West Woodstock Street
Crystal Lake, Illinois

South Suburban Cook County

Flossmoor Village Hall
Village Board Room & Lobby
2800 Flossmoor Road
Flossmoor, Illinois

Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2012 4 p.m.–7 p.m.

City of Chicago
(Budget Hearing)

Metra

13th Floor Board Room
547 West Jackson Boulevard
Chicago, Illinois

(Strategic Plan Open House)

Chicago Union Station
Great Hall
210 South Canal Street
Chicago, Illinois

DuPage County

Wheaton City Hall
City Council Chambers, 2nd Floor &

Gamon Room, 2nd Floor
303 West Wesley Street
Wheaton, Illinois

North Suburban Cook County

Arlington Heights Village Hall
Board Room & Community Room
33 South Arlington Heights Road
Arlington Heights, Illinois

Thursday, Nov. 8, 2012 4 p.m.–7 p.m.

Lake County

Grayslake Village Hall
Board Room & Community Room
10 South Seymour Avenue
Grayslake, Illinois

Will County

New Lenox Village Hall
Council Chambers & Lobby
1 Veterans Parkway
New Lenox, Illinois

Monday, Nov. 12, 2012 4 p.m.–7 p.m.

South Chicago
(Strategic Plan Open House)
Chicago State University
Library Auditorium
9501 South King Drive
Chicago, Illinois

All times and locations will include both a public hearing on the FY2013 Metra Proposed Program & Budget and an open house concerning Metra’s Strategic Plan unless otherwise noted.

Re: Metra Budget Hearing + Strategic Plan Open House Chgo Wednesday Nov. 7th
 

Does anyone on this Forum know how to use Photoshop (I don't).

I would like to create a couple of maps reflecting how Rail Transit will look on the South Side after the
Red Line shutdown (with or without the "Shuttle Buses"), for all of the upcoming Transit Meetings.

One would show the Red Line on the SSM to Englewood, and no CTA Rail service South of 63rd St.;
along with the Metra suburban lines in their present configuration - the other would show the Red Line
on the SSM, with the MED being utilized in the Gray Line configuration to 111th St. (and possibly all the
way to Blue Island).

I am willing to provide modest compensation for this work, but it must be done soon as these meetings
are now coming up very soon, and I have to get all my materials coordinated. Please call me soon if you
have these skills at: (773) 787-8078.

Thanks,

Mike Payne

grayline15@yahoo.com

Metra Stations in Chicago
 

Healy Renovation (design to be duplicated at Mayfair & Grayland)

http://reparroyo.com/wp-content/uplo...Untitled-1.jpg
source

Cicero Renovation

http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/7599/cicero.jpg

Auburn Park/59th and Peterson/Ridge to be designed under the same package.

Man, Metra could not care less about what gets designed, huh?

Not really. The suburban stations are often designed and funded by the municipal governments, not Metra. They aren't great architecture, but they are usually pretty nice with heated waiting rooms, bathrooms, coffee shop, etc. Metra itself funds, designs, and builds the inner-city stations, which is why they usually suck both from a design AND planning perspective.

Metra does occasionally build nice stations as part of a big capital project - IMO Ogilvie has great architecture, and Franklin Park on the NCS is pretty modern and cool. 35th is nice too. Definitely the exception to the rule though.

When are the Metra Electric stations getting upgraded?

When Mike Payne finally talks Metra and the CTA into running it as the Gray Line. :)

Those stations don't strike me as horrendous. They strike me as boring, utilitarian and durable.

Japan has ridiculous transit ridership, and aside from the gleaming recent terminal reconstructions, most stations even now are built to be just that - boring, utilitarian, and durable.

A number of stations have been completely rebuilt in recent years. What exactly do you mean by "upgraded?"

The stations are being renovated one or two at a time as funding allows. Usually this just means the platforms, steps, and shelters get rebuilt - no ticket agents or station expansion.

Metra Electric is the forgotten stepchild of the system because it serves the poor side of the metro area, including numerous city neighborhoods on the Far South Side.

I would argue they're not very utilitarian; they have tiny canopies and short platforms in a city with freezing cold weather and winds. I don't expect world-class architecture but stations should have decent shelter, especially in dense urban neighborhoods. They should have full canopies and windbreaks, built as cheaply as possible, with a few heatlamps thrown in.

What part of Ogilvie's design did Metra have a hand in?

Or alternatively - When Hell freezes over.

Metra completely gutted and rebuilt the train shed in 1992-1996.

At least in terms of shelter, these stations are an improvement over the existing ones. Currently both Mayfair and Grayland have tiny shelters in both directions. Healy only has a larger shelter for the inbound side, but this only serves to cover the stairs and handicap ramp.

It will also be an improvement if they lengthen the platforms so all the train doors can open at these stations. They tell you once you're approaching those stations that only the doors on the center three cars will open. The train cars are not labeled to let you know which ones are the center three. Like everything with Metra, if you don't know what you're doing to start with, you're out of luck.

Thats really sad , are there any Catenary Replacements in the works , I know there replacing the South Shore line wooden poles with Tension poles but what about Metra Electric....?

In spite of things I might say about them, you have to give Metra a break (somebody please correct me if I'm wrong) - Metra gets NO type of compensation, subsidy, or aid from ANY source ( City, State, or Fed. ) for any in-city services it provides.

Many in-city Electric District stations have less than 100 riders per day, including some of those on the South Chicago Branch - with all-new stations.

Many off-hour Electric District trains run almost empty - but still fully staffed.

Why would or should Metra be expected to make in-city Physical Plant improvements, that would gain NO [ repeat NO ] ridership, because the cause of the lack of ridership is NOT good or bad stations or trains - the Electric District ridership problem (other than during Rush Hours) is no Fare and/or Service integration with the other local Transit Operators.


Too bad nobody can come up with a way to improve the situation.

Supposedly Metra has replaced 95% of its catenary, although they kept the old gantries in most places so it's hard to tell.

Metra's funding comes from suburban areas but IMO this should not dictate where the money is spent. Metra Electric is an odd bird but Metra's scheduling practices on other lines are terrible. All trains should be stopping at Jefferson Park, with boatloads of intermodal connections, but instead they all stop at Clybourn. Same goes for Halsted on the BNSF, 35th on the Rock Island, or Western on the Milwaukee District lines.

I'd love to see city planners start to work with aldermen and Metra to zone for residential around Metra stations. Even low-density townhouse development could contribute a stream of riders to these stations, many of which are in desolate industrial areas. It already happened at Ravenswood. If the city insists on industrial zoning, Metra should relocate its stops to locations where TOD is feasible.

There was nothing wrong having trains run through and stop in industrial areas. Most Americans commute from home to jobs, and industrial areas used to have many jobs. It would be nice to see new industries locating there.
I agree that many desolate industrial areas should be rezoned, but I could live with commercial, residential, or a combination of both. It doesn't have to be the new flavor of the decade TOD.

Given the land costs and truck access problems, what kind of industry is interested in in-city sites these days?

According to RTAMS, in 2011 Metra received ~$15m in RTA sales tax receipts from inside the City of Chicago. Not a large amount, but not a pittance, either.

Just a note worth mentioning. The new pavement on Michigan Avenue fully opened to traffic almost a year ago today and still remains in perfect condition. The type of material was particularly innovative and I was curious how widespread its usage is with all the other street resurfacing going on.

http://www.asphaltpavement.org/index...s4&Itemid=1308

Yeah, many of these industrial districts are struggling. The successful businesses are those that benefit from being in the city - suppliers for the building trades, restaurants, or offices; printing operations; self-storage, etc.

The city is no longer a destination for serious manufacturing or warehousing without subsidies or some other form of public investment. The city admits as much when it zones for PMDs; industrial is no longer the highest and best use for the land, so preserving it requires a special form of zoning protection.

As I said, the majority of industrial businesses aren't interested in city locations. They have terrible highway access, tricky parking situations, crime/vandalism problems, etc. Modern manufacturing is now heavily automated, which means industrial zones don't have the employment density to justify frequent rail transit service. A modern factory doesn't have 2000 workers on three shifts per day. Granted, these zones do have some value; they preserve space for startups in a very Jane Jacobs-ish fashion (new ideas require old buildings, and all that). However, I'm okay with denying rail transit to these areas; it's not a cost-effective use of scarce resources.

Excuse my ignorance, but why then is METRA still operating the South Shore portion of the ME? If they are receiving no aid for a running a line that is woefully underused wouldn't the costs of operation pour it into the red so fast that they would seek to dump the line?

You are E X A C T L Y right, but the involved Communities would SCREAM BLOODY DISENFRANCHISEMENT MURDER if Metra tried to reduce services to the primarily Minority Communities along the line, even though the present Service Operating, and Fare Structure formats do N O T H I N G for the Communities it passes through - and L O S E
money for Metra (it's called "Metra's caught between a rock and a hard place").


Could there be a solution for this?

Manufacturing today also requires large swaths of land for expansion or reconfiguration. Having a lot of open land is a big plus.

If large scale industry were to repurpose any buildings, it would be big box stores.

I'm not going to disagree with you about large scale industry wanting and needing large swaths of land. But, small scale industry should be targeted instead. As long as industry and jobs move away further away from city centers, we'll continue to have suburban sprawl.

^But small-scale industry needs truck access. What's the point of putting them near train tracks—especially those with low underpasses?

Does every tall truck need to use those underpasses? Are there some overpasses they can take? Are there some at grade crossings they can take? At some time in the past, those low underpasses were not obstacles for industries to grow and survive, why are they so now?

No, actually. Chicago elevated virtually all mainline railroads in the city onto earthen embankments about 100 years ago. Overpasses and grade crossings only exist in the far reaches of the city, in areas that were not within city limits at the time of the grade-separation ordinances. The Bungalow Belt, essentially.

Since the railroads were forced to bear the full costs of grade separation, they obviously did it as cheaply as possible, with very low clearances at underpasses.

Why were all the roads elevated?

Why were all the railroads elevated? Because Chicago had nearly 300 deaths every year from grade crossing accidents. Thousands of short trains moved through the city every day.

In many cases the factories preceded the underpasses. Trucks have also gotten taller. And railroads have lost their interest in "loose-car" railroading and LCL freight.

A hundred years ago, raw materials might be handled a half-dozen times, by longshoremen at both ends of a voyage, by handlers loading the stuff into boxcars, breaking it down for delivery in small trucks, then wrestling it into a freight elevator and out onto the factory floor. Today it goes into a container in the Pearl River Delta and comes back out, already on pallets, in a one-story factory in Oklahoma.

Nothing big but over the past couple of weeks Ventra machines have been installed in numerous stations.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/A5_SE3xCMAA97Yg.jpg
CTA pic
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8345/8...0aa38b72_z.jpg
Pic taken by a handsome young man rushing to make the train at Damen brown line, you can see his reflection in the machine.

I saw a Jeffery Jump at the bus stop outside my office on Monroe today. Blurry pic to follow ...

EDIT, added:

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...91461572_n.jpg
pic by me

Looks like they are going to go ahead with the road diet on Lawrence between Western and Ashland. They are replacing the water mains from 1893 and installing new water mains along Lawrence now till December. Then do the streetscaping and road diet thing in the spring.

^ How close to Western I wonder, since that is a pretty giant intersection. Also, will this allow vehicles turning, or dropping off passengers, at Metra to clog up everybody behind them? Or do they do some diet-cheating, just around the viaduct?

Fantastic news. Having used that stretch of Lawrence as both a driver and a pedestrian it really needs the diet to help sort traffic and provide a better environment for the businesses that front it.

They are changing the Lawrence part of the Western intersection to 2 lanes. West of Western Lawrence is already 2 lanes. The left and right turn lanes would be the same as now, but there would only be 1 through lane instead of 2.

Same with Ravenswood the turning lanes would stay the same but there would only be 1 through lane. I'm not sure how many people drop off people at the Metra in the morning. You would have to park at the bus stop area to drop off people. Or turn onto Ravenswoods and park. Otherwise you would block traffic at the Metra stop if you stop in the middle of Lawrence.

You can see the latest street diagram for it here.

http://chicago47.org/wp-content/uplo...AFT_011612.pdf

Yea, overall I think this will make the pedestrian and biking experience along there alot better. Hopefully, more businesses will come in and open sidewalk cafes. I just hope it's not going to be a constant traffic jam along there. That's my only concern about it.