[VivaLFuego]

I think I’ve finally put my finger on why the Circle Line is significantly more important than the Red Line extension.
A few points:
1. People say the southland (Roseland, West Pullman, etc.) is underserved by transit. But if transit is so important to the residents, its worth pointing out that no one is forcing them to live there. What I mean by that is, there are vast amounts of underutilized areas in Chicago with excellent transit access (think south and west sides), where the cost of living is comparable or in some cases, less than the southland. Why invest in more transit infrastructure farther out from the core while what we have is going underutilized?
2. If the current demographic trends continue, i.e. the formerly-working class residents of the south side are increasingly middle class and more affluent, car ownership and usage will also continue to increase. Since the southland is essentially totally built out, both residentially by bungalows and commercially, this suggests that there is little long term ridership growth potential with a red line extension
3. the beauty of the circle line, as opposed to line extensions, is that it increases the viability and effectiveness of all the lines it connects to. Similarly, if done in conjunction with Chicago Planning and Development, it would significantly contribute to the expansion of a dense, walkable, transit-able Urban core, something these far out line extensions don’t, and can’t, do. This means that the Circle Line has (relatively) unlimited ridership growth potential, both on the circle line itself and on the lines it connects to through enhanced interconnectivity.

Basically, extending the red line is like calling the rest of the south side, which has received a ton of transit investment, a lost cause. Imagine what the ~$400 million the line extension would cost could do in terms of transit-oriented development along the south branches of green, red, and west branches of green and blue.

Hopefully you can see what I’m getting at….the Circle Line is forward-thinking, the line extension is looking backwards. The circle line is a return to the “glory” days of speculative transit, where the urban development we love followed the transit lines to give us our unique neighborhoods.

There’s a clear difference in return-on-investment. I think the red line extension –should- be built (and probably is more important than either the Orange or Yellow extension), but if we view transit as a means to an end (the end being a more sustainable and vibrant pattern of urban development), the choice between extensions and Circle Line is very clear to me, notwithstanding the economic argument that line extensions at the outer reaches have almost always wreaked havoc on operating budgets.