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Originally Posted by Rail Claimore
Extending the red, orange, and yellow lines are together only going to cost a fraction (probably around $500 million) of what it will cost to build the full circle line ($3 billion+). I'm also in favor of a Clinton Street subway as well.
Someone mentioned a metra circulator downtown. I have my own ideas about that one, but the amount it would cost and logistics behind it would be enormous. #1, it would require construction of something similar to East-Side Access in NYC (which will bring LIRR trains into Grand Central through new tunnels). #2, it would require electrification of most, if not all existing and future commuter rail lines in the Chicago area, something I'd actually love to see.
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For the record, the red line extension is the least problematic of all the extension plans because a) it ain't really that far away from downtown, and b) we're not talking about too long an extension either. And I agree that it should be through the neighborhoods and not on an expressway. The urban mojo of an expressway median "el" line amounts to slightly less than zilch.
But Rail Claimore. Dude. This is something that we have all really got to internalize here. Extending lines may cost less capital, but they absolutely fuck the operating budget. Capital is not the problem. The US is the richest country in the world and we could afford many many billions of dollars for transit projects every year if anyone gave a shit about it (instead, we give those billions to Exxon and Chevron and whoever in subsidies because they must not be making enough money to do their own R & D). What IS a problem however is having a transit system whose expenses are so high that they have to cut hours, charge prohibitively expensive fares, or let their infrastructure deteriorate. Without a critical mass of short trip riders (aka non commuters), extending lines with impunity just digs the CTA deeper into financial trouble.