Damen Green Line Station - Lake Street and Damen Avenue
 

July 3, 2023

Metra to Rockford is happening!

https://twitter.com/brendenmoore13/s...05031209709569

Rockford Service
 

A total waste of resources and just another method of promoting sprawl.

Why? This is mostly intercity service, which is a nice alternative to the bus. But inexplicably, it fails to stop at the Illinois Railroad Museum.

This is great news. Rockford has revitalized their downtown so this will help add more density to the urban core. A stop in Belvidere makes it really useful to people in the Rockford area, too.

I completely fail to see how this would "promote sprawl" as someone suggests. Development, to the extent it's happening out towards Rockford, would occur regardless and like someone else said this will obviously provide needed and useful intercity service to a corridor with no option besides car and bus. This is great. There are no negatives here. It should have been done decades ago.

Cool.

What's next?

Metra to restore service to the quad cities and Peoria on the old rock island tracks?

Let's be greedy.

If anything, this kind of thing should reduce sprawl by encouraging investment in already established areas that include potential redevelopment and brownfield sites.

Considering the state pegged a corridor renewal and Amtrak operated Peoria service on the old CRI&P at close to 2 billion I'm not sure I'd hold my breath. That's an "eff off its not happenin" state press release.

Now we just need to restore the UP-N's former route to Milwaukee so Metra would cover all the major cities in our vicinity. That would provide a significant ridership boost, seeing as Metra desperately needs it

Rockford has about 150k people and is a little closer to us than South Bend, IN. Makes sense that we should have a Metra line go there, especially when the travel time is expected to be 95 minutes.

If we are getting greedy, I would love to see Metra increase service along it's routes it already has. During the weekends the UP-NW is every two hours, which is frustrating when I'm trying to go get drunk on my cousin's boat out on the Fox River......

All three stations are going to be in their respective downtowns without massive parking lots. It will be fantastic for those cities.

At least to Lasalle/Peru...

Call me an apostate, but if a private company already runs buses from Rockford to Chicago Union Station 12 times a day—without any subsidy—why is it important for the state to spend all this money to go into competition with them twice a day?

I'm not too worried about this one. Union is too small of a hamlet for the state to fund a station, but the IRM has access to plenty of volunteer labor to build a no-frills platform next to their property.

Or they could extend their excursion track to one of the new stations in Huntley or Marengo. The Huntley station is (for some idiotic reason) planned for the middle of a cornfield at Coyne Station Rd, almost 2 miles from the center of Huntley. But it's only 1 mile from the current end of IRM's excursion track.

What IRM is *not* able to do is pay the very high, annual ongoing cost to operate several daily Metra trains. Now that the state is willing to pay for this, they'll find a way to get Metra riders to IRM.

That would be so ideal. I didnt realize the Huntley stop would be that close. You could purchase your tickets right there and ride into the museum. I hope it happens. A rail museum not reachable by rail is so wrong.

IRM could run a shuttle train that matches the Metra schedule like Princeton's "Dinky Line".

That's a fun way to get into the railroad spirit.

A dream project would be to get Wisconsin to co-build a Madison-Rockford line,

Yep... "Timed transfers"

Well, according to:

https://chicagoyimby.com/2023/07/sta...-rockford.html

It is true that the Van Galder buses do not serve Rockford's downtown. They stop at a bus terminal next to I-90, since many of them continue on to Madison WI. But most riders aren't looking to go to downtown Rockford (which has a pretty bad reputation) in order to get to Chicago. Maybe the train service can help clean it up and spur downtown development eventually, but if we're talking about rider convenience, they already have a good option in the existing bus service.

As for the travel time - doesn't seem like the train has a clear advantage. The scheduled bus travel time from Rockford to Chicago Union Station is 2h10m (130min) for all runs, but that likely includes a lot of cushion for traffic and the bus is probably very early into Union Station on certain runs. By the time the train opens in 2028, the construction work on the Kennedy should also be completed. I also think the train time of 95 minutes is optimistic.

That being said, I don't think the train will kill the bus. Less than 1/3 of the bus runs actually serve the Rockford-Downtown Chicago market. The other runs mostly are focused on connecting travelers to O'Hare, and quite a few of them skip Rockford entirely to give a faster trip to Wisconsin passengers.

I don't say this glibly, but I cannot stress enough how good Pritzker is for Illinois at this moment in time:

Gov. Pritzker announces $40.99B multi-year construction program

Jul 7, 2023

"SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) - Governor JB Pritzker announced the largest multi-year program to fix and repair infrastructure in state history: $40.99 billion over six years.

The new program is the first time in more than ten years that IDOT is releasing a comprehensive approach to invest in all modes of transportation: roads and bridges, aviation, transit, freight and passenger rail, waterways, as well as bicycle and pedestrian accommodations.

“Over the next six years, we’re investing over $40 billion to improve all modes of transportation across our great state. That means better roads and bridges, modernized transit and aviation, and expanded and faster passenger rail service,” said Governor Pritzker. “Rebuild Illinois has increased safety, efficiency, and opportunities for residents all over the state — and over the next few years, we will keep building on that progress, with all 102 counties of Illinois included in the multi-year program.”

The Fiscal Year 2024-29 Proposed Highway and Multimodal Improvement Program will invest $27.03 billion in roads and bridges, with $4.6 billion identified for the current fiscal year.

A total of $13.96 billion is planned for other modes, which includes $9.85 billion for transit, $2.67 billion for freight and passenger rail, $1.25 billion for aviation and $190 million for ports and waterways.

Projects are spread out across state and local transportation systems, across each of the 102 counties in Illinois.

The program aims to improve 3,006 miles of highway roads and just over 9.8 million square feet of bridge deck on the state system, with anticipated funding maintaining 738 miles of roads and 1.1 million square feet of bridge deck for infrastructure overseen by local governments.

The program will increase the investment in Illinois roads and bridges by $2.43 billion over six years...."

https://www.wandtv.com/news/gov-prit...ff0e95437.html

Indeed.

I've taken the Van Galder to Madison several times and... not sure it's ever been early into Union Station?
This is the Rockford station https://www.google.com/maps/@42.2689...6656?entry=ttu

yeah, weird location for Huntley (I guess... cheap land? but not even within the village limits!), but great for IRM. Much better than biking there from Woodstock which is probably the best current option for getting there without a car.

Do we know which projects this money is ticketed for? How does it tie in with the CREATE program? I assume some goes toward Red Line Extension, but I can't find a project-based breakdown.

Important to remember this is a spending plan based on forecasted revenues, but revenues go up and down and priorities change year-to-year. Also note some projects are "in the plan" but allocated at $0 because leaders still want to do them, but there's no money available. So basically take this with a big grain of salt.

PDF
Road/Highway Projects
Multimodal Projects

ArcGIS Map:
Highway
Multimodal

It looks like projects for RTA service boards (CTA, Metra, Pace) are not included here. Some highlights:

O'Hare Work:
$550M for the new T2 Global Terminal and Satellite Concourses
$611M to rebuild I-190 and ramps/interchanges

Midway Work:
$53M for "Terminal Building Envelope" - could be an exterior reno, or just a really big roofing job
$21M for "Multimodal Access" - possibly improvements/rerouting of the pedestrian corridor from the terminal to the Orange Line station

Freight Rail/CREATE
$183M for Ogden Junction project - this will replace all of the crumbling viaducts along the Rockwell Sub, which runs thru East Garfield Park, Tri-Taylor and North Lawndale.
$497M for projects along the 75th St Corridor (Forest Hill Flyover, track work, Metra SWS Flyover, Columbus Ave underpass, Auburn Park bridge raising)
$60M for an underpass at Archer Ave/Kenton
$32M for Pullman Junction upgrade
$48M for Dolton Interlocking upgrade
$97M for noise abatement around Clearing Yard in Bedford Park

Passenger Rail
$222M to complete the Chicago-St Louis project (not sure what work is remaining still)
$274M for Metra to Rockford
$392M for Amtrak to Quad Cities
$99M for upgrades to the Amtrak Illini/Saluki Corridor, mostly downstate but also some will go to Union Station Access

Roads/Highways
$1.1B to rebuild/widen I-80 through Minooka, Joliet, New Lenox including new Des Plaines River bridges
$12M to study the core part of the Kennedy/Dan Ryan between Ohio St and 31st St (hopefully highway caps will be studied, but not explicitly mentioned)
$366M to rebuild or rehab 20 crumbling bridges along the Eisenhower between Maywood and the Loop. Here's hoping for wider sidewalks, bike lanes and better pedestrian connections...
$27M to rebuild Ida B Wells Drive where it tunnels through the Old Post Office.
$82M to rebuild the 95th St/Stony Island intersection including rail viaducts (this is not a CREATE project but CREATE-adjacent)
$91M to elevate the intersection of Harlem/65th above the Belt Railway tracks (this is also a CREATE project)
$142M to build a new road overpass on Rte 60/83 over the EJ&E in Mundelein
$54M to rebuild the Pershing Road overpass at Racine Ave

I'm confused..... Why do they have the runway extensions and additions for the O'Hare modernization program listed in there?

Took the Blue Line to/from O'Hare to the Loop this week and it was an excellent choice! Only $5 to get to the Loop, and $3 to get back to O'Hare... waaay cheaper than an Uber or taxi. Trains had frequent headways and and were reasonably clean and safe. When I went back to O'Hare in the morning I saw the rush hour trains coming in and they were packed like sardines in there! Chicago has a very enviable transit system... definitely one of the best in the US. I liked how the stations have lots of CTA employees around.

The cuts to Amtrak proposed by House republicans would basically kill the Chicago Hub Improvement Program. Here's hoping the Senate's appropriations to maintain funding levels succeed.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/2023/7/...ding-editorial

Blue Line Forest Park Branch Rebuild - Phase I
 

July 25, 2023









https://www.transitchicago.com/asset...d-Brochure.pdf

Damn - They aren't wasting any time on this.

From Twitter if you’re looking for something to do Friday night:

I hope CTA can get the funding for the rest of Forest Park branch.

I assume they're waiting to see if they can do it at the same time they rebuild the highway.

Given how relatively wide that stretch of the blue-line is, I feel like there is a really major missed opportunity to prepare the tracks for future HSR, especially if there was some sort of extension/connection to either the UP/Green line to the north, or the BNSF line to the south. Not really sure how, but those two lines seem like the best extensions of existing lines for HSR heading west from Chicago :shrug:
Pipe dream, I know, but still nice to think about.

A youtube blogger who loves HSR but is realistic about pairing up cities for HSR, only has one good, not great, just good, midwest city pair. Chicago to Indianapolis, with a score around 5. He uses a gravity model for rnaking, or scoring city pairs for HSR. Almost the entire NEC scores over 20, DFW to Houston and LA to LV around 10, and just about all other city pairs in the USA scored below 5.
Going west of Chicago, as I recall, none scored over 2.5. If you wish to learn more, visit City Nerd you tube site and this particular video.
https://youtu.be/pwgZfZxzuQU
And this specific one for Chicago
https://youtu.be/TcCQko9vJBg
The best city from Chicago for a HSR line is Indianaoplis again. Grand Rapids Michigan to the east outdraws any city to the west. He fully explains his gravity model based on population of both cities multiplied together divided by the square of the distance between them, with an additional modification per his ridership, elapse time graph. Why preserve a right of way to the west where there are zero good HSR city pairs?

I don't think it's a particularly useful path for HSR.

The best use I can think of is for an O'Hare Express train, but it's gonna be cheaper to just run that train via the existing Metra NCS line with upgrades to let it bypass freight and other Metra trains. Fortunately there are no plans to use this space for anything else, including highway lanes, so it'll be there for decades to come if a new need arises.

This based on Alon Levy's ridership model which has known shortcomings. The closest international comparison to the Midwest is France, with Chicago as Paris and then lines radiating out to other cities. Alon readily admits his model does not accurately predict the actual HSR ridership in France. Not to mention, the "outlying cities" in the Midwest are much larger than those in France.

It's true that American cities tend to be more auto-oriented than Europe or Asia, but it's also true that people will put up with a lot of inconvenience to save some money. Make the train the same cost as driving or cheaper, and people will flock to the trains despite the lack of local transit/last mile connections.

As the article notes, this has little chance of passing in its current form.

And if Amtrak/FRA/Biden administration is concerned about losing CHIP, then maybe they should just award the damn grant already.

If Pritzker wants credit on repairing infrastructure, how about not spending two years replacing a culvert for a little ditch under Rt. 83? Most days there is no one working at all.
Finish the projects started before planning new work.

Gia Biagi Resigning as CDOT Commissioner

https://chicago.suntimes.com/city-ha...outdoor-dining

I honestly feel bad for Biagi - she got scapegoated for all of Lightfoot's incoherent transportation policies over the last four years. Public servants, even department commissioners, simply don't have the latitude to act on their own no matter how much experience they have or how well-intentioned they are. I'm very happy that pedestrian/cyclist/transit advocacy has become a stronger political force in the city, but I don't think it was helpful or productive to vilify her.

Biagi was great at Studio Gang and managing the buildout of Maggie Daley Park. I'm sure she will find another place to land...

Not sure if this was posted here yet, but I saw it on the Chicago YIMBY forums and thought it was a good overview of the CrossRail proposal and its impact on midwest cities, specifically Chicago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIPmGooGtuY&t=234s

Damen Green Line Station - Lake Street and Damen Avenue
 

August 15, 2023

https://www.chicagotribune.com/busin...tum-story.html

I'll believe it when I see it. At least there is a conversation moving forward, and I feel like now is the right time to have it (with the state government being in a good place).

Wasn't a developer planning a building that would cut off an HSR corridor? Any idea what happened with that and would it affect this kind of proposal?

Who is leading this project? Amtrak?

Blue Line Forest Park Branch Rebuild - Phase I
 

August 29, 2023

https://youtu.be/SeRwh2Wpww8?si=_LN7Jg82Chjj-_FQ They mention in this video that these projects are being looked at or are in planning by various railroad owners and agencies. The High Speed Rail Alliance (which is very Chicago-centric btw) is advocating for these projects to be seen as one effort and be coordinated to improve Amtrak and Metra service.

Good lord. So. Much. Space.

It's kinda ridiculous isn't it?