ardecila, I suggest looking at this: http://transit.chicago.il.us/

^ About the Central Avenue bypass:

Okay, a couple background facts - from Wikipedia - might help clarify the underpass / overpass issue. Apparently the Belt Railway's Clearing Yard is a "hump classification" yard, which apparently means that all the zillions of parallel tracks merge together into a narrow pinch point at the "hump". A quick look at its satellite photo shows just how pronounced this pattern is. In addition, the "hump" happens to be exactly where Central Avenue's alignment is. This must be an amazing coincidence, and it suggests Central Avenue would need to clear a width of only about 2 or 3 tracks to punch through the railyard.

That makes an underpass no more complicated a feat that burrowing under a Metra line. In addition, there is a control tower that straddles the hump - so sightlines might be quite important in that part of the yard, rendering an overpass highly undesirable. Thus, an underpass. Just my guess though.

As for the Narragansett reference, the reporter must be poor with maps or something.

this city rocks. (as does the internet.)

http://www.beltrailway.com/images/clearingyard.gif

Ah, I see. Regardless, an underpass is still quite expensive compared to a viaduct, and the plan (as far as I know) has always been to build a viaduct. This is how it is referred to in all the IDOT lists and CDOT documents. If an underpass is indeed part of the plan, then the road will probably go over the small tracks to the north and south and then dip underground to cross the main choke point on some crazy curving alignment.

At Narragansett, if something is built there at all, it will doubtless need to be an overpass.

Good discussion for big CTA - regional transit questions
 

http://www.innovatenow.us/wdkm_in/wc...aaron_renn.pdf

A friend of the forum gives his solutions to CTA growth.

Thanks for noticing. Please keep in mind that is a response to a brief and I wanted to win. So the ideas are not 100% my own program, though I do support many of them.

from bvic post in the general

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3418/...371b58e5_o.jpg

all of those have completion schedules of... 2016 (except the clinton subway)

^ I think that puts to rest the looney 'circle line'. And supports the Clinton Subway as the preferred development for the CCAP agency.

That’s really the most detail I’ve seen on the Clinton subway line…and it would be huge for the West Loop. Right now, I don’t even bother doing anything in the West Loop area simply because it’s a pain in the ass to get to from the Lincoln Park/Lakeview area.

As I outlined a few pages back, federal stimulus money is going to (at least) further studies on the circle line (or portions thereof). I don't think that this particular publication says ANYTHING about whether the circle line will be built or the political support of the project in general.

Sorry to disappoint, but this "looney" idea is still in play, so far as I can tell. Personally, I'm not so disappointed. :)

circle line is later in the document when they talk about the chicago as a whole, that's just the center core of the city.

8 Halsted

Oh I'm all too familiar with the #8 bus. The problem is that if you're off the brown line, what do you do? Ride the train to Belmont, huff it 2 blocks to Halsted, and then hop on the #8 for the 50 stops through LP? I'm exhausted just thinking about it.

Well youre ideas on the Western and Cicero BRT and other E/W BRT are sound. All in all an enjoyable read with some well founded concepts. thanks

You ride it to Washington/Wells and catch any bus westbound on Madison. How hard is that?

People, Chicago's is an integrated system. Has been since 1948. You're supposed to use the trains and the bus in combination. That's why they're shown on the same map. The train gets you across town; the bus gets you right to the door.

Yeah, options abound for getting from the North Side to the West Loop. Aside from the zillions of buses, if you're a train snob there's the Clinton Green/Pink stop and the Clinton and Halsted Blue stops. From the Brown Line, transfer to Pink at Washington/Wells or to Blue at LaSalle, from the Red, transfer to Green at State/Lake or to Blue at Jackson. Not a very hard trip.

^ Didn't you get the memo?

Buses SUCK. They are a shitty way to get around any major city, and I"m pretty sure from the horror stories I've heard that Chicago is no exception.

Why not increase rail options in getting around town?

25 minutes, from Addison to Washington/Wells. Then another bus ride...That's at least 45 minutes on average, to go 4 miles. Yeah, I'll stick to River North, Lakeview, and LP.

This is of course all theoretical. We have a car, so if we need to go, we drive. But the point of this is to be an alternate to driving. If you really want to increase ridership, you have to focus on the people that don't need to ride. Your captive market is already on the trains and buses.

That's complete BS TUP. I don't know how much experience you have with it, but I find the bus system in Chicago to be much faster than the train in most cases if you know what you are doing, especially now that you can see when the next bus is coming on Bustracker.

I'm sorry but who in their right mind takes the Red Line downtown when there is a plethora of wonderful express buses down LSD. The only reason I ever take the El is inclimate weather or rush hour, both of which make the certainty of using Buses go down.

In fact, the best way to get to the west loop from Lakeview is simple if you are going between 6am and 9am and coming back between 3:30pm and 6:30pm on a weekday. The 134, 135, and 136 buses go express from Arlington, Belmont, and Irving Park to Columbus and Wacker and end up on Franklin. These buses are extremely conveinent and take less than 15 min in some cases... When traveling during off-peak hours, simply take the 146 from Belmont express to Michigan and transfer to any Westbound bus through the loop, that will get you there in less than 30 min every time...

If you know how to use the bus in this city you can get from anywhere on the northside to anywhere within about 3 miles of the loop in less than 30 min, you just have to be smart...

oops, this is obviously in response to two posts up.

How exactly would one make traveling to the West Loop easier? The Monroe subway, I guess, but the thing is you would still have to transfer downtown no matter what. It sounds like your main complaint is having to transfer downtown to get from one place to another, and that isn't changing anytime soon.

Chicago is really big and there are a whole lot of possible trips. Without a subway system as complete as the bus system, how would you expect a trip between two neighborhoods without a direct train link not to take a long time? Most places in the city have much, much worse transit access than Lakeview and the West Loop.

TUP, taking the bus from the Loop to the West Loop is ridiculously easy, the buses come constantly, and the ride is really short. I don't like buses either, but for connecting two areas that close, complaining about having to take the bus is just whining.