The
environmental assessment is here. Based on the fact that it would increase bus capacity by 24% (and that additional bus service is not planned), it looks like it could indeed substitute for a Red Line extension.
Although I’ve defended an extension here, good for the CTA in doing this—terminal capacity was one of the main arguments for extension, so if they’ve solved this less expensively that’s a good thing. And ridership does fan out in multiple directions from 95th (why original plans had east and west branches) and I could see improvements on Michigan and especially Halsted (which was the highest-ridership, though not preferred due to visuals/sound, alignment for an extension)—if they can consider an el along Halsted they can certainly consider a BRT connector to reduce travel times.