Quote:
Originally Posted by Norsider
The problem I have with the Ashland corridor is that it's too redundant. Connectivity will be the Circle Line's major contribution to the CTA. This can be acheived whether the connections are at Ashland or Western. But with a Western line, you are serving an entirely new area of Chicago on a heavily traveled corridor. Ashland would be good too, but much of that corridor will already be served by the new Pink Line. An el/subway on Western opens up an entirely new area of Chicago to rail transit.
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I agree with that sentiment with Western Avenue, since it is a wide parkway most of the Metra and CTA stops have one named Western and it can share with pieces of the Orange Line since the railroad runs parallel to it for a short stretch.
But one of the strengths of the Circle Line is that it utilizes the most out of their existing infrastructure, so this would be an easy sell for Federal Funding.
Overall they should look at building a new network of lines as well as this Circle Line. New lines down Western Avenue, North Ave, Fullerton or Belmont and Garfield or 63rd Street subway along existing wider parkways that then connects with the Metra Electric South Shore branch to create the "Gray Line" concept.