CHICAGO: Transit Developments

[Ryanrule]

The current intersection is a cluster. This will make it much better.

[chicagopcclcar1]

You're invited to a Public Hearing on the
Red Line Extension Project
Draft Environmental Impact Statement and Section 4(f) Evaluation Available for Public Review

CTA and Federal Transit Administration (FTA) are proposing to extend the Red Line 5.3 miles from 95th Street to 130th Street. Click here to learn more about the project.
http://www.transitchicago.com/redeis/default.aspx

Tuesday, November 1, 2016
5:30 to 7:30 PM
St. John Missionary Baptist Church
211 E. 115th Street, Chicago, IL 60628
This location is served by:
CTA Bus #34, #115, #119, and Metra Electric Kensington Station

This facility is accessible to people with disabilities.
This meeting will be conducted in an open house format.


CTA and FTA have prepared a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) based on the technical analysis of impacts of the proposed project. The Draft EIS documents the benefits and impacts of the alternatives being considered, which include impacts to parks and wetlands. Click here to review the Draft EIS on the RLE Project website. Hard copies of the Draft EIS also are available for review through November 30, 2016. Click here to learn more about reviewing the Draft EIS.

Comments on the Draft EIS are being accepted until November 30, 2016 at 4:30 PM. Comments on the Draft EIS may be made verbally to a court reporter or in writing during the hearing. You also can submit comments via e-mail to RedExtension@transitchicago.com or by mail to Chicago Transit Authority, Strategic Planning, 10th Floor, Attn: Red Line Extension Project, 567 W. Lake Street, Chicago, IL 60661.

Do you require assistance?
If you require an interpreter, including sign language services, or other accommodations at this public hearing, contact Gerald Nichols, CTA Government and Community Relations, at least 5 days before the public hearing at 312-681-2710 or GNichols@transitchicago.com.

Para más informacion en Español, llame al 312-681-2710
Customer Information: 1-888-YOUR-CTA (1-888-968-7282)

Thank you for your continued interest.

RLE Project Team
Chicago Transit Authority
E-Mail received from CTA 10/06/2016

[MayorOfChicago]

Originally Posted by ardecila

I've always disagreed with this approach. There's very little traffic on Wentworth south of Cermak - why does it need to connect to anything?

Also, the T intersection of the feeder ramp into Cermak creates very dangerous conditions for pedestrians, especially since there's an L station right there. Lots of turning movements, large trucks, people transferring from bus to train, tourists, students, etc.

I don't see why Wentworth can't be a surface extension of the feeder. Use lane widths and streetscaping treatments to calm traffic. Or, better yet, link the two severed halves of 23rd Street with a new stoplight, and start calming the feeder traffic before it gets to Cermak.

Yeah, back in the day when this was all empty or falling down you could have just run those ramps from Cermak straight up straddling the red line tracks, over the St Charles Air Line, follow up near Wells and connect them right into Wacker/Frankin at Harrison as a 4-lane street. The only messy part is they would have to straddle right around the Chinatown Red Line. Unless maybe they had at least pushed the lanes all to the east of the station as opposed to the west would have helped a bit.

[CTA Gray Line]

http://chi.streetsblog.org/2016/10/0...ar-south-side/

Thursday, October 6, 2016

"The Chicago Transit Authority released a major study today, he next step in the developing project to extend the Red Line southward from the 95th Street terminal to 130th Street......."

[chicagopcclcar1]

Saturday, 10/15, the Cincinnati Cars, #4271-4272 will be used to transport guests to a closed Open House at Skokie Shops. No public access aboard trains. Photography from public areas.



Sunday, 10/16, Midway 3200 series cars will run on a charter through subways on Red and Blue lines between 10:30 and 14:00. Rare mileage for these cars.

DH

[mrsmartman]

^^ Metro train running on road level ROW, right?

[chicagopcclcar1]

Originally Posted by mrsmartman

^^ Metro train running on road level ROW, right?

Yes. "Metro"...used throughout Europe. Old term..."heavy transit"....elevated, el, in Chicago, Illinois "L". Chicago has many miles of surface running, Brown, Purple, Yellow, and Pink lines.
DH

[denizen467]

There's been interesting structural work being done on the Wabash el at Madison for several weeks now. One big change is that the section spanning Madison has been replaced and now has a thinner profile, which should look pretty cool from a distance (I wonder if the increased road clearance was a motivating factor or just a useful result). Also, lots of vertical supports up and down Wabash have been sawed off and replaced. I wonder if ultimately there will be fewer of them in the middle of the pavement at intersections; the Van Buren style of shoving the supports out to the curbs would be useful at intersections.

Anyway, I'm surprised there haven't been lots of photos and info here about this.

[Ryanrule]

wish they would build concrete supports to cut down on the noise.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by denizen467

There's been interesting structural work being done on the Wabash el at Madison for several weeks now. One big change is that the section spanning Madison has been replaced and now has a thinner profile, which should look pretty cool from a distance (I wonder if the increased road clearance was a motivating factor or just a useful result). Also, lots of vertical supports up and down Wabash have been sawed off and replaced. I wonder if ultimately there will be fewer of them in the middle of the pavement at intersections; the Van Buren style of shoving the supports out to the curbs would be useful at intersections.

Anyway, I'm surprised there haven't been lots of photos and info here about this.

Probably they intended to increase clearance, or they wouldn't have replaced the steel. Usually they just strip/repaint it or sometimes replace the welds or rivets to ensure strength.

[chicagopcclcar1]

View northbound from a private charter 10/16/2016. Elevator towers are up.
DH

[UPChicago]

A "private charter" excuse me?

[Kippis]

Originally Posted by UPChicago

A "private charter" excuse me?

I think it was a special event held by the CTA this past Oct. 15th and 16th.

Also, did anyone see this? From the CTA Facebook page:

http://ow.ly/oqbC305gWL7

Mayor Emanuel, CTA Announce Belmont Blue Station Upgrades to Feature Notable Architecture

10/17/2016

CTA plans upgrades for Belmont Blue station and bus terminal to create attractive community gateway, modernize facility

Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago Transit Authority President Dorval R. Carter, Jr. today announced plans to use a new improvement project at the Belmont station on the Blue Line O’Hare branch to infuse unique architecture into the Northwest Side neighborhood.

The project will include a community gateway, architecturally enhancing the street-level entrance to the Belmont subway station, and will improve the bus arrival/departure areas to speed bus boarding and provide a safer, more comfortable environment for pedestrians. The most visible element will be an architectural canopy above the Belmont station entrance. Designed by the Chicago architecture firm Carol Ross Barney, the canopy will provide an expanded covered area for waiting customers, while creating a strong visual identifier for both the CTA and the community [...]

http://www.trbimg.com/img-58054926/t...17/650/650x366

[BVictor1]

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/artic...-obama-library

October 25, 2016
The $100 million dream: MacArthur may fund better Loop, Obama library transit

Greg Hinz on Politics

Lured by a $100 million carrot, a Chicago civic group is ramping up its effort to revive plans for expanded transit service in the bustling and increasingly congested Loop area with a new element: better transit to the Barack Obama library site, too, combined with new investment in housing and jobs on the South Side.

The new proposal comes from the Chicago Central Area Committee, a 60-year-old organization focused on growing and making downtown work better. It's being disclosed now because CCAC is bidding for an innovative $100 million grant that Chicago-based MacArthur Foundation is offering for the best big idea worldwide. Those applications were due early this month, and the foundation is expected to release its short list of finalists soon.

Though CCAC's plan is expansive, even wild in its ambition, it puts together in one spot two obvious concerns: downtown's need for added capacity on Chicago Transit Authority lines from the north and west, which now are near capacity in peak hours, and the South Side's need for both new service and massive redevelopment help.

The catalyst is the Obama library, which would be at the east end of the Hyde Park neighborhood in Jackson Park, roughly between 60th and 63rd streets. Right now, the location has only occasional service nearby on Metra's lakefront Electric Line.

"Chicago today is two cities," says a CCAC video submitted as part of the MacArthur application. "One buzzing with life and attracting the world's best and brightest. . . .The other is in need of investment.”

A narrator in the video is Jacky Grimshaw, a major figure in the city's African-American political establishment who served as Mayor Harold Washington's intergovernmental relations chief and, until recently, was Obama's next-door neighbor in Kenwood. She's now vice president of policy at the Center for Neighborhood Technology.

"We need to expand our transit system. And we need to bring in people who have been left out," Grimshaw said in an interview. "It's a vision. I can't put a guarantee on it. But (Obama) could help get us where we need to go.”

https://www.scribd.com/document/3287...ion#from_embed

[chicagopcclcar1]

Originally Posted by UPChicago

A "private charter" excuse me?

CTA will charter a train to individual or groups. http://www.transitchicago.com/chartertrain/

Kippis.....This was not the CTA Skokie Shop Open House 10/15. That was public with reservation required.....sold out. 10/16 was a private charter featuring the Initial Subway tour.

DH

[Randomguy34]

Originally Posted by BVictor1

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/artic...-obama-library

October 25, 2016
The $100 million dream: MacArthur may fund better Loop, Obama library tran

Here's the proposed routing of the plan. This adaptation may have some legs to it (at least the frequent MED Line part of it) since Rahm is interested in it.


Source: http://ccac.org/wp-content/uploads/2...nector-PDF.pdf

[CTA Gray Line]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=V_QoJg...ature=youtu.be

[orulz]

Not sure I like this proposal. The closest analogue I can think of is the Miami Metromover, although this proposal would be about three times as large (14 miles, vs 4.4 miles for Metromover.) Metromover is moderately successful but I think more could be gained from revising Chicago's rail network to be more RER-like.

A particular nitpick: the two east/west lines on Roosevelt and Cermak seem like an awkward and unnecessary bifurcation of service. The obvious solution is to use the St Charles Air Line, but for whatever reason, they didn't even consider it as a possibility.

[emathias]

Originally Posted by orulz

...
The obvious solution is to use the St Charles Air Line, but for whatever reason, they didn't even consider it as a possibility.

Probably because a) it's supposedly still in (very occasional) use, b) it's been earmarked for future HSR routing and c) it'd be very difficult to create a transfer to the Wabash elevated lines at 16th street.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by orulz

Not sure I like this proposal. The closest analogue I can think of is the Miami Metromover, although this proposal would be about three times as large (14 miles, vs 4.4 miles for Metromover.) Metromover is moderately successful but I think more could be gained from revising Chicago's rail network to be more RER-like.

A particular nitpick: the two east/west lines on Roosevelt and Cermak seem like an awkward and unnecessary bifurcation of service. The obvious solution is to use the St Charles Air Line, but for whatever reason, they didn't even consider it as a possibility.

The white paper (mostly Ed Zotti) very explictly compares it to Docklands Light Rail in London, which I think is a somewhat better comparison than Metromover.

DLR actually serves as the main form of rail transit for a huge swath of East London and is actually well-used by commuters and residents and well-integrated with a large transit system. It's hard to dismiss DLR as a one-off gimmick like the Detroit or Miami systems, and it was used to solve a similar dilemma in London - how to extend frequent transit to a vast, developing area under the severe fiscal constraints of the Thatcher era.

What's totally unclear to me is how the study authors plan to squeeze a light metro system along much of the alignment. Carroll Street makes sense, but are they proposing to dig a tunnel under Clinton St? Or put some ugly aerial structure? DLR is mostly elevated and terribly ugly, but it was built through totally vacant areas in advance of development. The northern and southern extensions raise similar questions about alignment.