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Originally Posted by Jaroslaw
And especially when the CTA budget situation is so dire, you have to make tough choices. Of course, politics will prevent Chicago from doing what is best for itself, as so often in the past...
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Yep, CTA wanted to shut the green line down of course for this reason. But after you've saved the green line, you can't even talk about shutting down the cermak line. So you have to keep both. Oops.
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Originally Posted by ohioguy
I believe the CTA is supposed to be finished with their Red line track improvements by the end of the year, but how much longer will the Blue line improvements take?
[snip]
I was quite when I took the Green line down to the Garfield stop 2 weeks ago (on my way to Hyde Park). The rundown vacant lots along the track are just terrible. I sat there on the train imagining thousands & thousands of international visitors riding through the area on their way to the Olympic Stadium and thinking that this isn't a particularly good impression the city will be making on them, let alone the impression IOC voters will have if they opt to check out the public transit to the prospective Olympic Stadium site. Something needs to be done to spur TODs along the southside Green line.
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How about immediately removing -any- density restrictions on any lot within 1/4 mile of a green line station? That would spur some development. Wishful thinking...
The tie work on the O'hare branch will last until November 2008, but the construction will be most painful in the places in the worst condition, like between Jeff Park and Harlem. I'd expect the first 6 months of construction to be worst and it to gradually get better and less intrusive, but there will be periodic line cuts for the next year.