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  #821  
Old Posted Oct 16, 2022, 11:00 PM
streetline streetline is offline
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Originally Posted by SIGSEGV View Post
^ the bigger problem there is burns harbor, no?
There's a plan to put a trail, the Marquette Greenway, around the south end of Burns Harbor (eventually connecting all the way from Illinois to Michigan). It'd be along the east arm of the Little Calumet River near the harbor, so it could even be somewhat scenic, even if there isn't much reason to stop for those 5 or 6 miles.

It'll be a paved bicycle trail, rather than a single track dirt foot path you might imagine backpacking on, but it should be a good fallback trail for getting between the more scenic footpaths without a car.

See the 2nd PDF map here:
https://nirpc.org/2040-plan/mobility...y-poster-plan/
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  #822  
Old Posted Oct 17, 2022, 1:30 PM
BuildThemTaller BuildThemTaller is offline
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Originally Posted by streetline View Post
Have they decided to reroute the South Shore Line closer to the Lake?

Maybe I'm just confused, but the latest info I see is from articles in February 2022, saying "an $80 million mixed-use project that will include a rebuilt South Shore Line station at the site of the recently torn-down 11th Street Station." (with a ground breaking summer 2023, station open May 2024, and apartments open spring 2025):

https://www.wndu.com/2022/02/24/priv...-improvements/

https://www.trains.com/trn/news-revi...-city-station/


So it seems like the SSL station will remain about a mile inland. I can see why people might wish it was less than that in order to promote a more compact walkable downtown. But I might also worry if it were right up against the river that would be a pain for everyone but tourists and give those tourists less reason to ever go more than a few blocks from the water.

Regarding the NIPSCO coal plant, I'm personally hoping that the National Park can expand to include at least some of the old plant's land when it closes in 2026-2028. Although I wouldn't be opposed to some private development on the part nearest to town to create a touristy gateway area. But I expect proper environmental remediation will be expensive, and key to getting either of those done.

As a future vision for the Indiana Dunes NP: It would be awesome if you could easily get off the SSL train in Michigan City, backpack across the park's beaches and trails for a few days, and hop back on a train at the other end of the trail in Gary (or vice versa). You can do that on an even grander scale in Glacier NP via the East Glacier and West Glacier Amtrak stations, and I love the idea of mixing trains and backcountry hiking and camping for a car-free vacation.
I must be mistaken about the SSL route through Michigan City. I recall talk of moving it north towards the lake and thought that had happened. It seems that the final decision was to turn 11th street into a separated, double-track route instead of the single track at-grade route running through the middle of the street like a streetcar.
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  #823  
Old Posted Oct 17, 2022, 1:43 PM
Ned.B Ned.B is offline
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Originally Posted by BuildThemTaller View Post
I must be mistaken about the SSL route through Michigan City. I recall talk of moving it north towards the lake and thought that had happened. It seems that the final decision was to turn 11th street into a separated, double-track route instead of the single track at-grade route running through the middle of the street like a streetcar.
I don't recall any discussion in the last 6-7 years of moving the line in Michigan City. Maybe sometime in the far distant past? There are discussions to move the line in South Bend, which is why that project is on a much longer, maybe decade or two schedule. I think the line is better situated where it is anyway, being well centered in the population center of downtown and still very walkable to most businesses.
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  #824  
Old Posted Oct 20, 2022, 4:49 PM
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Yes, they are keeping SSL on 11th St which required widening the street and demolishing quite a few homes. Not a great decision especially since Michigan City already has so much vacancy and empty lots. However, there is a pretty nice TOD proposal planned right at the new SSL station, separate from the hotel-focused plan shown above.

The hotel proposal is right next to the Amtrak station on the other end of downtown, but they just quietly closed that station a few months ago. Apparently Michigan City is not as important as places like Naperville, Glenview or Joliet that have both commuter rail and Amtrak service... they said only a few people use that station each day, but could it be because they sold off the stationhouse years ago and now riders have to wait in a single shitty bus shelter?
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  #825  
Old Posted Oct 27, 2022, 3:43 AM
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Crains has an update on the Marquette Greenway trail I mentioned above: A new 58-mile bike trail will connect Chicago to Michigan

Summarized:
  • The Illinois section is complete.
  • The Indiana section is funded (except a mile between Burns Harbor and Chesterton, which they're hoping to get state funding for this year). Construction is in progress and expected to complete late 2026 or early 2027.
  • The 4 mile Michigan section to New Buffalo, is funded for $5.35M of $5.6M required and trying to close the gap with donations. Construction from New Buffalo to Grand Beach will start spring 2023 and complete that year, and from Grand Beach to the Indiana border and is expected to complete by early 2025.

With the double tracking, this trail, the national park, the coal plant retiring in 2026-2028, and the downtown developments for the 11th street station and Sola hotel, it seems like the next several years could be an interesting period for the south shore area in general and Michigan City in particular.
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  #826  
Old Posted Nov 4, 2022, 4:52 PM
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I spent a LOT of late nights at that burger king back in the day. Good times. Sad to see it go but this development is pretty great so not THAT sad.
well, that old NU BK is now just a memory.

click here to see demo pics: https://evanstonnow.com/burger-king-...tion-underway/


Kinda interesting that downtown Evanston no longer has a single one of the big 3 burger chains (mcd's, BK, Wendy's) for NU students to walk to. There is an Epic Burger, and of course Edzo's makes delicious burgers, but the hours are far more limited in terms of late night burger and fries cravings.


soon to be replaced by a FAR more urban development:


710 Clark | 10 Floors | Office


source: https://evanstonnow.com/three-major-...s-face-delays/
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Last edited by Steely Dan; Nov 4, 2022 at 5:36 PM.
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  #827  
Old Posted Dec 4, 2022, 10:11 PM
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Evanston Gateway - Chicago Ave and Howard St.

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  #828  
Old Posted Dec 6, 2022, 5:11 PM
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Question: would it be possible to implement a transit TIF for a Yellow Line extension to Old Orchard Mall? The original proposal got no where because of resident pushback, but also cause of lack of funding. Now that Old Orchard is being redeveloped, now may be a good time to revive the proposal


You can shop at Old Orchard now. You soon may be able to live there, too.
Quote:
The owner of the Westfield Old Orchard shopping mall is drawing up plans for a major redevelopment of the Skokie property that could include hundreds of apartments, embracing a diversification strategy that has become popular among mall owners around the country.

In the project’s first phase, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield wants to tear down an empty Bloomingdale's department store at the northwest corner of the mall and build a roughly 360-unit apartment building in its place, said Geoff Mason, executive vice president at the mall owner. Later phases could include even more apartments at the north end of the mall.
https://www.chicagobusiness.com/comm...ts-skokie-mall
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  #829  
Old Posted Dec 6, 2022, 5:36 PM
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The Yellow Line extension resistance is exhibit A for the consequences of living in a racialized, inequitable and largely segregated society. In any other wealthy industrialized country a rapid transit service to a commercial center like Old Orchard would be welcomed with open arms and universally lauded for bringing additional customers and creating linkages to new markets. Here it's resisted primarily out of prejudicial fears of increased crime and change of character brought about be giving non-automotive access to the largely racial minority economically disadvantaged. Its not about crossing gates and turn signals or noise, its about not wanting the poors, a product of our wildly unequal economic system, in their fiefdom.
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  #830  
Old Posted Dec 6, 2022, 7:40 PM
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Originally Posted by Busy Bee View Post
The Yellow Line extension resistance is exhibit A for the consequences of living in a racialized, inequitable and largely segregated society. In any other wealthy industrialized country a rapid transit service to a commercial center like Old Orchard would be welcomed with open arms and universally lauded for bringing additional customers and creating linkages to new markets. Here it's resisted primarily out of prejudicial fears of increased crime and change of character brought about be giving non-automotive access to the largely racial minority economically disadvantaged. Its not about crossing gates and turn signals or noise, its about not wanting the poors, a product of our wildly unequal economic system, in their fiefdom.
As disappointing as that was, Skokie is changing as more millennials move in and the boomers go to Florida. It might be different if they proposed it today - still opposition, but you might get a lot more community support as well.

Westfield in particular was not supportive of the extension back then. Now that they want to add residential density on the property, they might welcome the train stop with open arms. I know they have been somewhat supportive of the Purple Line extension to Century City mall in LA...

You gotta consider Chicago politics as well. CTA is also controlled by the mayor of Chicago, who has little interest in building up shopping destinations outside of city limits that suck away sales tax revenue. Ideally you want people in Rogers Park, Edgewater etc to go shop on State St or Michigan Ave, not Skokie. I'm not sure Daley put a brick on the project and killed it, but he definitely wasn't pushing it actively.
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  #831  
Old Posted Dec 6, 2022, 8:56 PM
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Originally Posted by kolchak View Post
Evanston Gateway - Chicago Ave and Howard St.
I'm always happy to see buildings going up, but I find the location of that building bizarre. It has horrendous views in every direction and is on just an incredibly depressing corner. And it's hard to see how it can get much better with gas stations on two sides, a huge concrete wall with the cta depot across the street, and a terrible shopping mall on the opposite corner.

Still, way better than what used to be there!
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  #832  
Old Posted Dec 6, 2022, 9:26 PM
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As disappointing as that was, Skokie is changing as more millennials move in and the boomers go to Florida. It might be different if they proposed it today - still opposition, but you might get a lot more community support as well.

Westfield in particular was not supportive of the extension back then. Now that they want to add residential density on the property, they might welcome the train stop with open arms. I know they have been somewhat supportive of the Purple Line extension to Century City mall in LA...

You gotta consider Chicago politics as well. CTA is also controlled by the mayor of Chicago, who has little interest in building up shopping destinations outside of city limits that suck away sales tax revenue. Ideally you want people in Rogers Park, Edgewater etc to go shop on State St or Michigan Ave, not Skokie. I'm not sure Daley put a brick on the project and killed it, but he definitely wasn't pushing it actively.
Good points.
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  #833  
Old Posted Dec 6, 2022, 9:28 PM
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...but I find the location of that building bizarre. It has horrendous views in every direction...[...]...with the cta depot across the street...
Tell that to a train buff.
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  #834  
Old Posted Dec 10, 2022, 4:51 AM
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Originally Posted by Busy Bee View Post
The Yellow Line extension resistance is exhibit A for the consequences of living in a racialized, inequitable and largely segregated society. In any other wealthy industrialized country a rapid transit service to a commercial center like Old Orchard would be welcomed with open arms and universally lauded for bringing additional customers and creating linkages to new markets. Here it's resisted primarily out of prejudicial fears of increased crime and change of character brought about be giving non-automotive access to the largely racial minority economically disadvantaged. Its not about crossing gates and turn signals or noise, its about not wanting the poors, a product of our wildly unequal economic system, in their fiefdom.
Nah. Skokie isn't Wilmette. Basically the Swift just didn't and doesn't have enough ridership to justify the large cost of an extension. They probably dodged a bullet considering how the general decline in brick and mortar shopping has affected the mall. If the court house were just a little closer maybe but it's really beyond the usual walking distance to a transit stop.
And it's the 94 crowd that would end up living in the future residences regardless.
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  #835  
Old Posted Dec 10, 2022, 10:21 PM
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Basically the Swift just didn't and doesn't have enough ridership to justify the large cost of an extension.
well, a big part of that is due to the fact that it's a very silly rapid transit line to begin with.

extend it up to old orchard, then build some in-fill stops at ridge, dodge, & crawford and watch ridership climb as it becomes a full-fledged train line that actually goes somewhere and serves a handful of different neighborhoods.

not that i expect any of that to ever happen.
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  #836  
Old Posted Dec 11, 2022, 2:44 PM
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Originally Posted by Steely Dan View Post
well, a big part of that is due to the fact that it's a very silly rapid transit line to begin with.

extend it up to old orchard, then build some in-fill stops at ridge, dodge, & crawford and watch ridership climb as it becomes a full-fledged train line that actually goes somewhere and serves a handful of different neighborhoods.

not that i expect any of that to ever happen.
The problem is it’s too slow to get dowtown, compared to nearby metra stops or even biking. It averages out to something like 12 mph to the loop with 1-2 transfers. Howard is not a destination and there are only so many commuter college students and cubs games per year.

Last edited by Marcu; Dec 11, 2022 at 4:09 PM.
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  #837  
Old Posted Dec 12, 2022, 6:15 AM
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Need to build a Metra stop at Howard and a discounted transfer from Yellow Line to Metra. That way riders have the choice of a 25 minute ride to Ogilvie or a 50 minute ride on the Red Line.

The other problem is the Purple Line is too slow. Need to run it on the express tracks south of Belmont. Sorry Lakeview riders, get used to the Brown Line.
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  #838  
Old Posted Dec 12, 2022, 12:51 PM
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Originally Posted by ardecila View Post
The other problem is the Purple Line is too slow. Need to run it on the express tracks south of Belmont. Sorry Lakeview riders, get used to the Brown Line.
Why on earth should the city cater to suburbanites who don't pay taxes to the city?
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  #839  
Old Posted Dec 12, 2022, 4:22 PM
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Why on earth should the city cater to suburbanites who don't pay taxes to the city?
CTA is not a City agency (technically) and Evanston is legally part of their service area and they pay to support it through their sales taxes. They're not freeloading.

But also, a proper Purple Line express benefits Chicagoans too, especially if you live on the Far North Side. It should work like an express train in NYC, where it makes limited stops between Howard and downtown - not an express train to Belmont and then a local train south of there. I would go with Howard-Loyola-Wilson-Belmont-Fullerton, and then into the subway instead of around the Loop. I'd probably have it go up the 13th St incline to Cermak/McCormick Green Line and then turn back north.
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Last edited by ardecila; Dec 12, 2022 at 4:38 PM.
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  #840  
Old Posted Dec 12, 2022, 4:27 PM
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Evanston residents pay all the same taxes to support CTA that Chicagoans do
interesting.

what about the other burbs with L service like wilmette, skokie, rosemont, oak park, forest park, and cicero? same deal?
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