http://www.dcvelocity.com/articles/2...t_competition/

Transportation September 8, 2009

O'Hare to get competition?

A site just 40 miles from O'Hare International might not sound like the best place to build a cargo airport. But that's not stopping officials in Will County, Ill.

By Mitch Mac Donald and Mark B. Solomon


"Build it and they will come" has long been the mantra of developers and politicians looking to transform unused (or underused) space into showplaces of trade and commerce—not to mention hotbeds for jobs. But the optimistic burghers of Will County, Ill., 40 miles southwest of Chicago, don't seem to think they'll have much of a wait. To hear them tell it, the people and the commerce don't have to come. They're already there.

The state and county plan to develop a cargo airport as part of an ambitious multimodal transport complex that will include up to four intermodal rail yards, access to three interstate highways, and up to 135 million square feet of industrial warehousing and distribution space, 20 percent of which currently sits vacant due to the economic downturn.

There is one major obstacle, however: One of the world's most established cargo airports, O'Hare International, sits only 40 miles away.

State and county officials seem unfazed. As they see it, the "South Suburban Airport" will offer a compelling alternative to O'Hare, with its lower airline landing fees, less-congested airside and landside operations, and convenient connections to Interstates 55, 57, and 65 as well as to intermodal rail services. "Our point of distribution is more friendly than O'Hare's," says John Grueling, president and CEO of the Will County Center for Economic Development.

The new airport's backers believe the two airports can thrive despite their close proximity to each other. "We are not going after the folks at O'Hare," says Dr. Susan Shea, director of the Illinois Department of Transportation's aeronautics division.

Olympic dreams

Not everyone shares their optimism. Dan Muscatello, managing director, cargo and logistics for Cincinnati-based airport planner and developer Landrum & Brown, says a new airport so close to O'Hare would have a tough time attracting new business or diverting traffic from the older facility. O'Hare has a well-established base of airlines, truckers, and freight forwarders that would be loath to pull up stakes and move down the road, Muscatello says. Nor would international airlines with all-cargo operations, like Korean Air, be inclined to split their passenger and cargo flights between two airports, he says. And any advantage South Suburban may have in terms of landing costs and ease of access would be more than offset by the significant volume-based discounts that shippers and forwarders get by tendering large quantities of freight at a "gateway" airport like O'Hare, he adds.

What's more, O'Hare is about to shed its reputation for being short on cargo space. It is currently adding 750,000 square feet of airside cargo space, including 18 additional parking spaces for freighter aircraft. When the project is completed, O'Hare will have 45 freighter parking spaces, the same as at Los Angeles International Airport, according to Muscatello.

Gary Schultheis, senior vice president airfreight, North America for Deutsche Post DHL, the world's largest air forwarder, was succinct in his opinion on the necessity of a second cargo airport in the region. Asked if one is needed, Schultheis replied in an e-mail: "Not really."

State and county officials are banking on continuing growth in commerce and population—Will County is Illinois' fastest-growing county—as well as the multimodal nature of the project to carry the day. They also point to the success of Rockford, Ill., about 70 miles from Chicago, where UPS operates a thriving regional air-cargo facility. Rockford demonstrates that the greater Chicago market is big enough for more than one cargo airport, officials say.

The South Suburban project is still in the early stages. According to Shea of IDOT, the state has purchased roughly half the land needed to construct the first runway and terminal. It has also begun condemnation proceedings to acquire raw land for further expansion. The state has started filing the necessary paperwork with the Federal Aviation Administration and has solicited the support of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, a former Illinois congressman.

Shea declined to specify a target date for completion but said the state would like to have the airport up and running no later than the 2016 Summer Olympics. Chicago is bidding for the 2016 Games.

^Where exactly is this proposed? i can't seem to place the exact location as the article stays pretty vague.

^^^ The firm I work for was involved in the sale of a several hundred acre farm to IDOT Southeast of Peotone for this airport. The Airport will be located there.

I can see Peotone as a good site for a cargo airport, actually. It makes little sense as a major passenger airport, but getting cargo carriers to move to Will County would free capacity at O'Hare for additional passenger growth. Plus, it would allow for some redevelopment of the massive industrial parks of Elk Grove Village, Franklin Park, and Northlake, which are about to get sliced'n'diced by the Elgin-O'Hare anyway.

I dunno, I guess I have a lot fewer issues with exurban industrial development than exurban residential development, since industrial development has a monolithic scale that seems appropriate to the vast open spaces and 1-mile grid of the Midwestern countryside. It also removes pollution generators like truck traffic and factories from population centers closer in. I've also historically noticed that industrial employers are far more likely to work with Pace to provide transit services than office employers. Finally, many of the jobs created in a Will County industrial park would be stable low-income jobs that would benefit the people living in South Cook County and actually shortening their commute in practical terms, since many of them must currently travel congested roads to reach the the O'Hare area or the I-88/I-90 corridors.

Oh, and the I-80 corridor is quite possibly one of the busiest roads in the country in terms of truck volume. A Peotone airport would pull those trucks off of the Tri-State going to O'Hare and put them instead onto 55 and 57, which seems to be a better use of existing capacity.

..

new Metra page is up (in English and Spanish)

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

While its obviously an improvemnet because it DOES look like it belongs in this century, my first impression is meh. Metra still does not a have a strong brand identity and i think it may have something to do with the average age of those administrators (check out those little pics)

Nitpick, but the Board of Directors aren't administrators. The board, composed of political appointees, meets once a month to oversee the administration being performed day-to-day by professional staff, and vote on broader strategic level issues and high-value contract awards.

A big part of the lack of brand identity probably results from modern-day Metra being composed of a hodgepodge of private operations, some of which (the Union Pacific lines, formerly Chicago&Northwestern) are still contracted out. If anything, I'd actually say that between the rail fleet and graphics standards Metra has done remarkably well at establishing a uniform identity for a system that is composed of parts from 6(?) different private rail operations that were only brought together in the past few decades.

Thats what I meant to say.

It would have been nice if they made the schedules viewable using mobile devices. The site is basically unusable using my Palm.

Haven't spent enough time looking around the new Metra website to form an opinion, but here's a quick comparison:

Old vs. New
http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/3694/metra1.jpghttp://img76.imageshack.us/img76/8462/metra1b.jpg
http://img76.imageshack.us/img76/8136/metra2.jpghttp://img4.imageshack.us/img4/3285/metra2b.jpg
http://img76.imageshack.us/img76/3391/metra3.jpghttp://img34.imageshack.us/img34/2666/metra3b.jpg

^I love that old rainbow divider lifted from FrontPage or Geocities.

I was wondering the same thing! I thought I was crazy!

They've paved right over the southwest entrace to the Grand Ave Red Line in front of Rock Bottom. I use to always wander out of Rock Bottom and right down into the subway, but when I walked by yesterday going to the train I was shocked to see no trace of the entrance.

They tore out the entrace and on top of that made the sidewalk even more narrow than it already was. The parking lane of the street use to end a half a block up and there was an extra wide sidewalk with the station entrance.

They have the north side of the street tore up now - and I have a feeling they'll do the same thing to that side. Or else they'll make that the elevator entrance like they did to the southwest corner of Chicago and State. That use to be an entrance to the red line as well - but now it's just the elevator.

It really pissed me off that when you're coming east on Grand you have to now walk all the way across the street and another 80 feet past to the existing entrance to come in from the opposite side.

Why!? So there's another turning lane on Grand?

Some of it is undoubtedly temporary changes due to construction, to assist in managing the traffic flow.

From this: http://egov.cityofchicago.org:80/cit...o&context=dept

It seems like CTA station exit and entrance closures will be temporary. However, they are less than clear in their language, IMO.

Rickshaws in Chicago
 

I saw rickshaws (the bicycle ones) for the first time ever a few days ago downtown.

I did a double take, because I have never seen them in Chicago before; come to think of it, I've never seen them in the United States outside of NYC.

What's up with that? It's exciting if we are indeed to expect a new mode of transportation to emerge downtown. Anything that adds more options to get around will only help to boost the central area economy.

This also could be a signal that Chicago's downtown has reached a critical mass of residential/tourist/shopping/entertaining density to support the beginnings of such an industry.

Damn, CTA loves to spring these things on us with very little notice. Someone please attend one of the meetings... there are 3 of them, so hopefully somebody can find time. I won't be around. This is, however, possibly one of the biggest catalysts for change that will drive the development of the city for another 30 or 40 years.

^ I still have yet to be convinced that mass transit is much of a driver of development in Chicago outside of the downtown area

It's not, per se, but the Circle Line will run through several wards where the aldermen have shown an unusual awareness and support for TOD principles. Manny Flores and Scott Waguespack are definitely on the progressive side when it comes to this, and I believe Danny Solis is as well, although he's under marked pressure to resist gentrification in Pilsen.

I don't buy that for a second, if you saw the view from my building, it would be quite apparent the effect the CTA has had on development. You can clearly see that the densest areas of the north side are all clustered along the Red Line, not just along the lakefront. Same goes for the Brown Line. I don't think it has as much of an effect on the South Side or west side, but CTA access is a definite locational preference in the North Neigbhorhoods (primarily because driving around here sux unless you are going somewhere with free parking that is easily accessible via LSD).

You mean pedicabs? They're ubiquitous in downtown Austin in the evenings, particularly on the weekends.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricksha...e_in_operation

I don't know where you live, but there have been pedicabs in Chicago since at least 2001. I don't find it exciting at all. They're about as much a "new mode" of transit as those stupid, dangerous, impractical motor-driven "trolleys" are, they're not transportation any more than the horse-drawn carriages are.

Exactly - I asked a pedicab driver how much it would cost to get from Wrigley to Lincoln Park (about a $5 cab ride) and he quoted me something like 25 dollars. He explained that they just pedal around wrigleyville with tourists, they don't really take people places.

Ald. Reilly's weekly newsletter says that the CTA is doing an art installation at the Chicago Brown Line stop this weekend. I found on the CTA site that BJ Krivanek should be the artist and looking at his previous work it could be pretty interesting.

Anyone know exactly what they're installing, though? I couldn't find anything about what it will actually be.

^ Yeah, I figured they were a tourist attraction.

Still, pedicabs started out this way in NYC as well, but in the densest parts of midtown Manhattan, where it's pretty tough to find a cab, it actually has emerged as a legit way to get somewhere if you really have to (and you're tired and don't want to walk any more).

Whether that ever happens in Chicago, we'll have yet to see.

Even if you can find a cab, a rickshaw can be the fastest way to go East/West in parts of midtown--they can drive around cabs stuck in traffic.

Yes, yes yes. I agree with everything you said. Major distribution centers and intermodal facilities are already flocking to Will County because of the cheap land and transportation access to existing rail and interstate highways. This why I have been saying in the past that this airport only makes sense as a cargo airport. If a passenger carrier sees a viability in providing service there, then fine let them do it; but lets not waste taxpayer money gambling on whether or not passenger service will take off there (no pun intended) because that has not happened at Gary or Rockford even with subsidies. If there are cargo carriers willing to fly there, and if the railroads want to build more intermodal facilities to serve the new airport, then lets do it.


Regarding UP's new facility in Will County; I went past there on a Amtrak Train one month ago and the rail spurs are already in place.

A freight only airport in Will County makes no sense. The competition shouldn't be looked at isn't O'Hare, but other airports in jurisdictions where you have lower costs and taxes. If it makes sense to locate in Will County instead of O'hare, why not Indianapolis? Even cheaper with less congested highways.

Incidentally, many if not most Midwest airports are already aggressively looking at air freight, hoping to peel away some of the specialty carriers from O'Hare. St. Louis plans a big push I know. Detroit and Memphis both have grand dreams of "aerotropolis".

Ahhh the Elgin-O'Hare expressway that currently goes to and from neither Elgin or O'Hare...

I am with Chicago Shawn and ardecila concerning Peotone.

http://www.southsuburbanairport.com/
http://abelincolnairport.com/
http://www.faa.gov/airport_development/ssa/






http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...,6599679.story


Elgin-O'Hare plan would cut travel to airport by nearly half, study says

Study sees benefits of Elgin-O'Hare proposal
By Jon Hilkevitch

TRIBUNE REPORTER

September 12, 2009

Building the long-planned extension of the Elgin-O'Hare Expressway and a west bypass road connecting two interstate highways would cut travel times by up to half to O'Hare International Airport, according to a preliminary study the state released on Friday.

The project would also create tens of thousands of jobs and bring an estimated $5 billion in benefits to the local economy, concluded the draft environmental impact study issued by the Illinois Department of Transportation.

Two alternative routes are under consideration to extend the eastern portion of the Elgin-O'Hare to create a western entrance to the airport, which currently is accessible only via Interstate Highway 190.

In addition, a western-bypass expressway, running north to south, would be built along the west side of O'Hare, potentially connecting Interstate Highway 90 and Interstate Highway 294.

The study found that building the western access and bypass road would significantly improve traffic conditions in the O'Hare area. It projected an up to 10 percent reduction in congested travel across area roadways; an up to 49 percent reduction in travel times to O'Hare and a growth in public transit ridership of up to 37 percent.

Transit improvements are part of the plan. Opportunities exist to extend the Chicago Transit Authority's Blue Line to the west side of O'Hare and enhance the concept of Metra's proposed suburb-to-suburb STAR Line.

The initial planning work for the project is scheduled for completion next year, and more detailed studies will follow.

There is no timetable for construction yet. IDOT said the project, based on preliminary estimates, would cost $3.6 billion.

The public can submit comments to IDOT on the draft study until Oct. 26. The study is at elginohare-westbypass.org.

A public hearing is scheduled for 4 to 8 p.m. Oct. 8 at Belvedere Banquets, 1170 W. Devon Ave., Elk Grove Village.

If you're serving the Chicago market, you probably want to be in Chicagoland. Air cargo is usually packages, critical shipments, and perishables - not stuff that generally gets transported to trucks for long-haul journeys.

^Air Frieght is just one part of the whole intermodal freight delivery system. The other critical factor is rail access as well as interstates. And Indy just cant compete in the rail access arena. Right now in the state of intermodal, Chicago is the capitol. It is not just coincidental that this plan is being moved forward just when the massive UP intermodal south of Joliet is announced.

Chicago still rules in intermodel capacity and experience, though, which isn't to be underestimated. I mean, if Illinois adds a few lanes of truck highway capacity in proximity to Peotone, sells proximity of the airport to the hub of the national rail system but with lower costs than O'Hare, it could kill off any serious competition from other low-cost locations even if it isn't the absolute lowest-cost cargo airport. Just being significantly cheaper than O'Hare could help keep logistics companies in Chicago instead of forcing them to expand operations in other states.

There are a lot of industries Chicago can live without, commodity industries like the stockyards and steel, but transportation is special. Keeping the advantage in transportation reaps a lot more for the area than just the direct income.

To be sure, I think passenger operations at Peotone is absolutely a bad idea, but IF there is a need - present or forseeable future - for a cheaper alternative for cargo operations, then Peotone might make sense (although I'd rather see Illinois invest in expanding Rockford's airport and maybe saving Illinois' second-biggest metro area than create a brand new airport and further stretch out the metro area).

Nobody disputes Chicago's dominance in rail and intermodal. But how many people are going to ship something from overseas by air to Chicago, then transfer it to a train? I'm not the ultimate expert in logistics, but this sounds like a dubious use case.

They're not. The intermodal yards exist to transfer goods from trucks to trains and vice versa. The airport would exist to transfer goods from planes to trucks and vice versa. The two systems would only be tangentially related, but Will County wants to co-locate them because both types of facilities would take advantage of the potential employees and infrastructure that Will County already has.

It also allows trucking companies to build centralized depots that can handle both types of cargo, which is a huge efficiency boost for them.

I can't understand if the article is talking about the long-discussed Peotone/Lincoln International site, or if it's talking about a completely new airport proposal at the old arsenal site, adjacent to the big BNSF intermodal project there. The two things are a long way apart.

:previous:

I think it is the long-discussed Peotone/Lincoln International site. It seems that they are justifying it by starting it out as an intermodal cargo airport to get it off of the ground.

i'm getting impatient for the new el cars on the blue line and red line. when are they supposed to start going out again?

The first set was manufactured this summer. They should be showing up on the CTA network for testing very soon, provided that CTA is making their payments on time.

And we still dont have a single confirmed design rendering or factory spy shot?

I thought testing was supposed to begin 1st quarter 2009.

Though the contract was approved in June 2006, it wasn't signed actaully until October 2006, with Notice-to-Proceed either Q4 2006 or Q1 2007. That would put prototype delivery at around Q4 2009, contractually speaking. I think the unusally large time gap between contract approval and actual signature is just due to the immensity of the contract ($900+ million) and the resulting insurance/bonding requirements, ownership/ethics disclosures of the prime and multitude of sub-contractors, and so forth.

A large downside accompanies missing this winter for trial and evaluations. If the prototypes aren't delivered in time for this winter, then realistically the full order couldn't start delivery until mid-2011 at the earliest since winter testing is absolutely vital.

One random note on an upcoming CTA project that has received little publicity: renovation of Cermak-Chinatown on the Red Line. The primary purpose of the project is a reconstruction of the Cermak stationhouse to repair damage from the truck crash a couple years ago and add an elevator to make the station ADA compliant. However, an added bonus is that in order to aid in construction phasing, CTA will construct an auxiliary entrance on the north side of the station at Archer, which will make the station more attractive to: (a) some South Loopers (b) shoppers heading to and from the China Place/Chinatown Square mall, (c) riders transferring from the #62.

Project is mostly funded with Stimulus/ARRA money.

There have been factory spy shots, they just haven't made their way to the internet. I heard somewhere that First & Fastest magazine has photos of the cars rolling out of Bombardier's factory in New York.

Well if anyone is a ShoreLine member, maybe you scan and post a pic???

Well that explains why the station still has not been fixed after the accident. I will be looking forwrd to the auxillary entrance, as I go to the north end of China Town (specifically China Town Square) more frequently than the traditional corridor on Wentworth. The new entrance will also beter serve the Imperial Court Hotel, should it ever start construction.

I found this pic on Google... no larger size.

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s...ibnsf/tn-1.jpg

I'm glad to see I apparently wasn't the only one writing them to request that ...

When's it set to start?

It won't be on the old Joliet arsenal site. That land is completelly divided up between Center Point, BNSF, a land fill and Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie. The latter takes up the vast majority of the land (over 19,000 acres out of 26,000) and is where I work. The only other possibility that might involve Army land is the Joliet Army Training site just north of the old arsenal, but I doubt that it is going there.

"Seeks" I wonder how long it takes to "seek" 300M?




http://www.illinois.gov/PressRelease...=1&RecNum=7845

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 15, 2009



CREATE Program Seeks $300 Million TIGER Grant

Projects Lead to Thousands of New Jobs, Economic & Environmental Benefits, Congestion Relief


CHICAGO –The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) today announced it is seeking $300 million in federal stimulus funds for a package of 16 projects that are part of the Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency (CREATE) Program. CREATE is a first-of-its-kind partnership, bringing together Illinois DOT, the Chicago Department of Transportation and the Association of American Railroads (AAR). Illinois DOT is eligible for the funding under the federal Transportation Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant program established in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. In addition to the $300 million being sought via the federal TIGER grant, CREATE partners also have committed to an additional 39 percent match in funding – $117.4 million in state and private monies – for the program of projects outlined in the application.


....

dup

Hi - part three of my Chicago transit series. Thanks to whomever it was here a few weeks back who posted the links about the New Bundang Line:

http://theurbanophile.blogspot.com/2...reat-part.html