Plus, it's a very visually interesting bridge. I can't wait to see the refresh of it once completed. Are there plans for improving the lighting for the lower deck? Possibly the same kind they put in for lower Wacker?

Another consideration is the trains pounding across every few minutes. That puts a lot of stress on the cantilevered leaves, and particularly the sliding lock mechanism in the center. Double-leaf bascule bridges proved so unsuitable for steam railroad bridges at the turn of the 20th century that there are none left (in Chicago at least). So a stiff, heavy design that's overbuilt for the expected loading helps to solve other problems with the operating mechanisms.

That's true. The former Metropolitan 'L' bridge between Jackson/Van Buren was really beefy too, and it had no lower deck.

I was under the impression that most, if not all, of the draw bridges in the loop have been landmarked, so any replacement must replicate the existing...

^Michigan Avenue, Cermak Road, and Cortland Street are the only landmarked road bridges. (Eleven railroad bridges are landmarked).

Totally agree. Meanwhile we have other examples of newer bridges that are already falling apart. They are designed to last 50 years with anticipation of maintenance that will never happen. Anyone check how busted up the North Ave bridge is? And take a look at the deck conditions. yikes.

The benefit of really thick steel materials is they can go on with decades of rusting and still perform within their design parameters.

I think we'll see alot of the other crossings on the Chicago river stick around simply because they are so well built and great design ingenuity.

Well it is really not convincing to suppose, in a field of construction, engineering, or materials science, that a 90 year technology/approach is better than what exists today. Think of how concrete PSI has evolved in just the last two decades - or, as far as steel, welding, riveting goes, watch any documentary about how the Titanic was built versus techniques used to build ocean liners many decades later. Here would be an interesting image search - can one find any example, anywhere, of a very old bridge being replaced with an exact replica?

I think Mr Downtown's explanation makes sense, plus a desire to retain exactly the same look and not tinker with a popular look-and-feel. But I wonder, from a design perspective, was this a lost opportunity to have one incredibly unique, sleek, modern bridge on the River? Or have we all subconsciously decided that all downtown bridges need to maintain a unified husky, big-shoulders look for at least the next half century? I feel the latter probably is the case, and we've just never really talked about it much explicitly here or in the local papers.

When road bridges are replaced, as at Randolph, they are replaced by new designs. When Columbus Drive bridge opened it was one of the longest bascule spans in the world, and used welded box girders instead of riveted built-up plates.

But what kind of double-deck bascule design could be conceived that wouldn't look essentially the same as the existing bridge? Maybe the trusses could have members that are two inches thinner, or be smooth instead of riveted, but any design meeting the functional requirements would still look almost identical.

You could go with a Vierendeel truss to eliminate diagonal bracing, and use welded joints for a really sleek look. But yeah, it'd still have the same overall profile.

There is an opportunity to create an upper-level pedestrian walkway as an overlook for the river canyon. The ADA requirements might get in the way, though.

A Vierendeel truss? On a movable cantilevered leaf that tilts through 80 degrees, has a counterweight on one end, and has heavy trains running along the top chord? Can you imagine how stiff those connections would have to be? I wouldn't want to do the analysis.

Here's a photo showing the replacement work from above. It's pretty large, so I'm posting a link:

http://i.imgur.com/eA4Yg3G.jpg

The challenges don't seem insurmountable with computer analysis. If the new bridge wasn't an engineering challenge, it wouldn't be worth replacing the old design. Not necessarily a Vierendeel, but it would be great to get something bold, somewhere, and continue the groundbreaking traditions of last century's engineers. I'm tired of arch bridges in primary colors.

..

That looks quite awesome actually. I'm guessing the platforms at Madison and Randolph will be gated somehow from the tracks?

Past new stations have sometimes had the old ones linger for some time, but I would guess that in this case, disassembling the old stations to open up the view and light to a revived Wabash Street will happen shortly after the new station opens. But I could be wrong, that's just a guess/hope on my part.

This is yet another interesting example of how the Transit Agencies (CTA and Metra) do NOT work together.

With this new station - the walk from the Millennium Park station entrance on the SW corner of Michigan & Randolph to the closest Wabash Ave. CTA 'L' station entrance will be a Block and a half instead of the present 400ft (GREAT on a -10 below zero Chicago winter day).

If it had been sited between Washington and Randolph, instead of Washington and Madison - At the Randolph end it could have been connected directly to the Pedway for an All-Enclosed connection between the Blue and Red Lines, the Loop 'L' Lines, and the MED and South Shore. (and Gray Line?)

In Springfield right now they are talking about consolidating all the Transit Operating Agencies into one (along with CMAP and the RTA) -- THIS IS EXACTLY WHY: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...,4979648.story http://www.senatedem.ilga.gov/index....ove-efficiency

They talk about "Attracting" Tourists to our City: http://www.chicagoloopalliance.com/b...he_Loop/ar/98/ - BUT OUR Regional Transit System has to be divided into "Warring Fiefdoms" -- Rather than an Intelligent Fare and Service C O O R D I N A T E D Regional Transit System like other "World Class" Cities that we supposedly hope to emulate -- N O T H I N G Transit Plans is how we LOST the 2016 Olympics.

Mayor Emanuel can go ALL OVER THE WORLD trying to "Privatize" Midway Airport, and find "Public/Private Partnerships" for the Red Line Extension and many many other things, -- BUT HE CAN'T lift up the Phone to call Alex Clifford and arrange a new CTA 'L' Line to serve EVERY large Tourist Attraction south of Downtown -- How do YOU spell P O L I T I C S ?

Yep, that'd be awesome. It'd also be the only CTA-Metra connection downtown. They haven't bothered to build a connection at Ogilvie, even though the C&NW had one before. A 2-block pedway would connect Union Station to the Blue Line, but we don't have that either.

The only direct connections are all outlying and they occurred because of historical accidents - Jefferson Park, Davis St, Main St.

Is the "malling" of Wabash in that render (or rather just traffic-calming down to 2 lanes) the designer's exercise of poetic license or has someone involved actually proposed this?

Too cool
 

Where the new piece was welded on.


Innovative use for shipping containers - damn they are strong.


https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-u...2/P1100666.JPG

No I think they will actually build this. Remember that at Morgan, the stationhouses are placed at ground level and extend out into the parking lane. This avoids a mezzanine and keeps clearances high. Chicago on the Brown Line sorta does this too.

Parking spaces may remain mid-block but I don't doubt for a second that parts of the parking lane will be used for station elements like stairs, elevators, and fare control.

^ How important is it to increase clearances - especially since I see no transfer bridge, so there may be a mezzanine anyway enabling passage between inner and outer platforms?

Also I think incursion into parking lanes would be fine anywhere other than the corners of the block. I know that bumpouts like this normally indeed are at the block's corners, but here this will impede traffic turning onto and off of Wabash. A vehicle on Wabash with a green light but desiring to turn has to wait for pedestrians in the crosswalk parallel to Wabash (all the way until the end of the entire green cycle during congestion periods); currently this vehicle can wait in the parking lane at the corner, which therefore enables 2 lanes of straight flow to continue during the entire green cycle. Take away the parking lane at the corner and you've got only 1 lane, or 0 lanes if this is a bus or truck. A different but related phenomenon occurs for vehicles desiring to turn onto Wabash.

Actually because all streets in question are 1-way, the above only applies to 1 parking lane; the opposite side could be built upon without affecting flow.

Note that both Lake-Morgan and Chicago-Franklin el stations involve only 1 artery; this station sits at intersections of 2 high-volume streets.

This rendering is pretty unambiguous. It does actually show a (long) mezzanine suspended mid-block that allows for transfers and fare control, and mid-block parking will remain. Maybe turning movements will be prohibited?

Maybe the Jewelers Row business owners (who helped fund the streetscaping) wouldn't allow the removal of the decorative light posts and planters?

http://www.chicago-l.org/stations/im...endering03.jpg
src

^ I'd never seen this rendering before. Frankly, it scares me a little.

The station looks pretty overwhelming in this view, particularly with the extra supports for the canopy. I'd be worried that it will result in some major shadows/sun blockage that don't exist today. Yes, I know it'll be replacing two current stations (so that's a plus), but those are actually fairly "light" from a pedestrian's perspective, since Wabash is pretty wide (and currently an enjoyable street to walk on, despite the L).

Why does this station need a bridge between platforms anyways? I can't think of a situation where you'd need to transfer here, since there are earlier stations on all sides. Is it just to minimize the number of elevators needed?

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-V...od+Station.jpg

Ravenswood Metra Station Under construction this evening.

What's lost in sun blockage is made up for in visual interest.

Some of these Loop station houses just look horrible right now. Light and airy is a step on the right direction, imo.

two issues I have with this new station in the Loop. White color, how long will that stay clean and fresh looking. A month? Also the glass roof. Again who is going to keep it clean? It's going to be bird droppings and a layer of dirt on the glass unless cleaned a lot on a regular basis.

The white at Washington/Wells looks decent after 20 years, with the exception of a few rust spots. White's not that bad. The glass roof is a bit of a mystery, but I'm sure it's been considered.

Yeah, it appears to take design cues from Washington/Wells, which I think is a little disappointing. It's held up, but it's just boring.

I don't remember where, but I read that the undulating roof was specifically designed to deter pigeons. I'm not a pigeon psychologist, but they do seem to prefer flat surfaces.

Looking like Washington/Wells is what scares me. While it's great as a passenger, I think it's a terrible station from the ground, including the white paint (which is now rusted). Morgan would be a far better example, and even in the Loop, go with Library.

Still - can anyone explain why this needs to have a transfer? It seems like a huge waste of money and major negative impact on the pedestrian experience because of the added width.

It was probably here. Who else would discuss such minutiae?

It's not a transfer so much as it is to keep people from having to cross the street to get to the side they need. Also probably means they only have to install one ground-to-mezzanine elevator instead of two.

Chicago-L.org's page for Washington/Wabash mentions that about the pigeon ... :-)

Seems like it should be possible to install a continuous elevator from street to platform... if it had doors on both sides, you'd travel from the ground to mezzanine, exit, pass through fare control, then loop back and enter the other side of the elevator to ride up to the platform. This would cause longer waits for the elevator but drastically cut down construction costs (each elevator can cost upwards of $1M).

This only gets you to one of the platforms, of course, so you'd still need two elevators. But you wouldn't need three.

Steps to beat fare controls:
1. Get on elevator at ground level.
2. Don't get off until the door opens into the paid area.

This has the disadvantage of waiting for somebody on the paid side to push an elevator call button. So maybe this is best as a scenario where one person pays the fare and lets all his buddies in for free through the elevator.

You would need an elevator with two compartments to make this work, which would be such a custom job that it would probably be cheaper to just install another elevator anyway.

You could situate the dual elevator next to the attendant's booth to deter cheaters. There might be some evasion when the attendant's back is turned but not dramatically more than what happens now.

Also, double-decker elevators are somewhat common, so you could do it that way. That might kill your cost savings though.

Partitioned elevators work. Had one for a project in the Middle East. They work great for security control. Havent even seen one in tge US. But you need a bigger elevator tower.

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s.../2400canal.jpg

A NB Green line train crosses the approaches to the Ogilvie Transportation Center on its journey over W. Lake Street. The cars are from the 2400 series built by Boeing Co. and will be included in the eight car charter train.


http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s...larkReject.jpg


A SB Brown line train rounds the corner, coming off the Ravenswood branch at Clark Junction on the city's north side. The Ravenswood was built originally to connect with vacant property holdings west of Western Ave. that owners of the elevated company also had a financial interest in. The cars, known as the 3200 series, are the final DC propulsion cars built by Morrison Knudsen and will also be a part of the charter consist.


http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s...akeclinton.jpg

Who would have believed these Budd 2200 series 'L' cars would have lasted 40 plus years in service on the CTA, but because they're still running gave impetus to this eight car charter highlighting all of the current DC railcars on the CTA. Here the cars are paused at a photo stop at the Clinton Green line station.




The Annual Snowflake Charter sponsored by the Illinois Railway Museum will be held Sunday, March 24, beginning at 9 am from Midway Terminal on the CTA Orange Line. The all-day excursion will highlight an "airport to airport" 'L' trip detouring around the unfinished "Block 37." Trips through both the State Street and the Dearborn Street subways are also included plus going as far south as an 'L' can go....to the bumping post in the 98th Street yard in the Bishop Ford Freeway. The charter will have eight cars including a pair of cars from each series of DC high performance railcars currently in the CTA roster. The eight car charter costs $47 and tickets are being sold through the museum's website store.

http://www3.irm.org/store/index.php?...oducts_id=1997

Could this charter be run next year...not probably, since the new 5000 series AC cars that will replace the oldest DC cars are arriving now at a rate of one per day and over 220 are already on property. A "once-in-a-lifetime" is truly applicable.


David Harrison

Opps...the 4th DC class of 'L' railcar is the 2600 series Budd/Transit America shown here leading a NB Blue line train across the abandoned railroad elevation inbetween Damen and Western stations along Milwaukee Ave.

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s...tMilwaukee.jpg


David Harrison

I wondered if they always watch the trains that closely, or if it was only done because Obama was in town that day. If they always watch that closely then wow, there's a lot more scrutiny of the trains behind the scenes than I imagined there is.

If this has been posted, I apologize.

http://www.circleinterchange.org/


As part of the planning process, IDOT has been conducting an extensive public outreach and involvement campaign. The agency has scheduled a Public Hearing to provide an overview of the study process and solicit public input on April 3, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Marriot Chicago at Medical District/UIC, 625 South Ashland Ave.

I mentioned it on the highrises compilation thread, but at the PDNA meeting people from CDOT presented and told us that the new Green Line station would be finished 4th Q 2014. Bids are to be out in the late summer with construction starting in the fall. The renderings they showed make it look very similar to the Morgan station in the west loop, which is fantastic AFAIC. There will be only one platform will be centrally located which I think is also a plus. And it will extend down to 23rd, so it will have two access points. Sorry no pictures.

So anyway the timeline for completion is way earlier than I ever expected at least. And therefore, is great news.

Anyways, from other topics of the meeting it seems that the new green line station, and the beautification project involving 6m in TIF for motor row and adjacent areas, has sparked a lot of new interest from businesses wanting to open up in the area.

I am pretty excited to see whats on tap for the motor row and adjacent areas as a result of this station. I have a feeling the area will undergo quite the transformation in the next decade or so.

Is there still a big tube around the L tracks in the station design?

John McCarron wrote an interesting column in the Trib last week about actually turning Motor Row back into, well, Motor Row. Put up a series of exciting showrooms as a promotional tool for automakers and a more urban model for the car dealership. I don't know if we should subsidize car dealerships with TIF but it would be a nice alternative to the big car lots out on Western or Cicero, which aren't great neighbors. I can imagine Motor Row becoming a convenient destination for maintenance, as well, since with the L right there the dealerships wouldn't need to offer loaner cars.

Yep, I like it. They said they did that to keep people out of the elements.
So its not exactly like the Morgan one, but they will use a lot of the same materials and likely similar signage etc.

I dont think we should rule out the history of Motor Row completely, and I dont see why old dealerships and showrooms in the area on adjacent streets couldnt coexist with new businesses actually fronting Michigan Ave. It could be mutually beneficial actually.

PDNA updates their website efficiently.

Looks like they added a full-length canopy and wind screens. Did CDOT staff read my criticism? :haha:

The station is beautiful. The staggered platform design has also returned, so it will operate like Loyola. The completely column-free platform within the tube is great.

http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/6926/cermakl1.jpg

http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/2984/cermakl2.jpg

excellent

CMAP, RTA merger inches forward amid objections
 

http://www.dailyherald.com/article/2...interstitial=1

By Marni Pyke

Legislation to merge the agency that oversees public transit in the metropolitan area with the organization responsible for regional planning jumped one hurdle this week despite opposition.

State Sen. Terry Link's bill to join the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning with the Regional Transportation Authority passed the Senate's executive committee Wednesday.

The measure would replace the 16-member RTA board, whose members each receive a $25,000 annual stipend, and the 15-member CMAP board, which is not compensated, with an unpaid 18-person board.

The new board members would be appointed as follows: five by the Chicago mayor, three by the Illinois governor, five by the Cook County chairman and one each by the chairmen of DuPage, Kane, Lake and McHenry counties and the Will County executive.

The changes "eliminate unnecessary and duplicative functions and provide the most cost-effective means to ensure that transit services are fast, well-planned, well-maintained, efficient, convenient, safe, and attractive," the bill states.

The goal is to double transit use in 25 years, Link said.

DuPage County Chairman Dan Cronin, a former senator, criticized the proposal as failing to address funding inequalities.

"It's called the Transportation Modernization Act, but there's nothing modern about it; it's the same-old, same-old," Cronin said.

One of the problems facing the collar counties is that the Chicago Transit Authority gets the lion's share of discretionary sales tax funding from the RTA, shortchanging suburban transit, he said.

The geographic distribution of the new board would further consolidate power with Chicago and water down suburban clout, Cronin warned.

CMAP operates with 102 staff members and a $15.7 million annual budget while the RTA has a $33 million budget and 119 employees. The RTA oversees Metra, Pace and the Chicago Transit Authority.

The General Assembly is on a two-week recess, but Link said he expects a vote on his proposal this spring.

Meanwhile, some RTA officials voiced doubts the bill would go far in the Senate because of opposition from local mayors. "This bill does nothing for the region but distract from the real problem of financial needs," Chief of Staff Jordan Matyas said.

__________________________________________________________________________________________


In a somewhat related item -- I just purchased a new Laser Printer for the CTA Gray Line Project: http://www1.lexmark.com/en_US/produc...n-brochure.pdf

It has a maximum duty cycle of 35,000 pages per month, and I will be able to distribute many Gray Line fliers at any upcoming Meetings on the Red Line shutdown, and after May 19th at CTA 'L' stations (like Downtown, Garfield, and 95th), Bus Stops, and in-city Metra Electric District stations: http://grayline.20m.com/cgi-bin/i/im...lier_front.jpg http://grayline.20m.com/cgi-bin/i/im...flier_rear.jpg

For the Ravenswood Metra station why are they drilling massive deep caissons for a two story train station?

i havent been over that way, but isnt all that construction for the track bed rebuilding project?

They are also rebuilding the Ravenswood metra station.

All of the bridge abutments for the entire UP-North project will rest on caissons. I believe this reduces vibrations over a more shallow foundation.