Let's discuss the latest dispute between a Toronto-area resident, and an American who has many things in common with them.
No, I'm not talking about the recent feud between two rap stars, "The Six" native Drake and Californian Kendrick Lamar. The latter performed his Drake diss track "Not Like Us" to 133.5 TV million viewers during last month's Superbowl halftime show.
And what I'm going to talk about is not some hardcore beef, although Canadian-style smoked meat and Windy City-style Italian beef sandwiches are both pretty hardcore. Rather, it's a difference of opinion between sustainable transportation boosters in the GTA and Chicago, about an upcoming CTA project.
The initiative in question is Chicago's long-awaited Red Line Extension project to 130th Street, near the city's southern border, currently projected to cost $5.7 billion. Promised to Far South Siders more than half a century ago, the project will significantly shorten commute times, improving transit equity while encouraging more investment in underserved communities, according to the CTA.
Providing a north-of-the-border perspective is August Puranauth, a Toronto Metropolitan University student who works for the local transit advocacy nonprofit TTCRiders. They also do research for the equitable urban design project CityUx, and write about cities and transit on a personal blog called August Street.
Recently, I came across Puranauth's detailed blog post, "For $5.7 billion, South Side Chicago deserved far more than the Red Line Extension." It was published last December after the CTA secured $1.9 billion in federal money for the project.
After I shared Puranauth's article in Streetsblog Chicago's morning headline stack last week, a Windy City resident reached out to provide a different opinion about the RLE issue. Andrew Wandyez works at a chemical plant on 138th Street in the city's Riverdale community area, about a mile south of the Red Line's future southern terminus on 130th Street.
"I take issue with the post on August Street," Wandyez wrote me. "It misses the point entirely." We'll look at his objections in a bit, but first let's check out the RLE commentary from "The Big Smoke."
Puranauth's POV
First of all, let's give the Torontonian some credit for doing their homework on the Chicago public transportation scene. The post is dense with details about local geography and demographics, plus the nitty gritty of how our regional transit system functions, and plans for the RLE.
Puranauth started out by calling the $5.7 billion cost for the 5.5-mile project "an outrageously high figure" for above-ground rapid transit route through a non-dense part of down. They say the alpha-omega of the high price is the common problem of "the hidden 'soft costs' of building transit."
"Between this cost increase [until recently, the cost was estimated at $3.6 billion], higher-value opportunities to upgrade existing commuter rail, and changing travel patterns post-2020, the value of this isolated project should be called into question," Puranauth argued. "How could $5.7 billion be better spent to deliver real transit improvements to Chicago's South Side and uplift transit-dependent communities equitably?"
Based on a social media post by Chicago-based transit advocate Nik Hunder Puranauth found that "professional services account for the majority of the [RLE] cost increase (+342 percent, or $956 million). Professional services, contingency, and finance charges – the three components of the soft costs – make up 43 percent of the Red Line Extension's total budget."
Re: the question, "Is the Red Line Extension still worth it?" Puranauth notes that the project is fully funded, seems to be a done deal, and pursing alternatives could lead to even more expenses and delays, especially under Trump. Still, they say, "It's worth discussing a holistic and broad plan for better South Side transit to connect residents with better access to work, education, healthcare, and other opportunities, in the places and directions where the [RLE] falls short."
Puranauth floated an alternative plan that they say would cost less than $5 billion, with the following goals:
- "Build a full network across the South Side"
- "Prioritize access to denser, low-income and/or non-white neighbourhoods" (Re: the spelling of the last word, remember that Puranauth is Canadian.)
- "Leverage existing passenger rail infrastructure to cheaply and effectively expand rapid transit"
- "Meet ridership where it is growing on existing CTA bus routes rather than solely doubling down on suburb-to-downtown commuters"
- "Support integration between Metra and CTA"
In addition to creating a light rail corridor on 79th Street, currently a high-ridership bus route, plus bus rapid transit on Western Avenue and a bus-priority corridor on 63rd Street, Puranauth's plan calls for linking 'L' and Metra lines. "The centrepiece [another Canadianism] of this South Side expansion is the modernization of Metra Electric's Blue Island and South Chicago branches in place of a Red Line extension," they note. "Unlike the rest of the Metra network, the Metra Electric corridor is fully electrified and owned by Metra." They note that would make it much easier to provide rapid transit-style transit than on other Metra lines, where the commuter railroad currently has to work around freight train schedules.
"The value of the Red Line Extension project seems dubious and insufficient to meet the transit needs of the South Side," Puranauth concludes. "Chicago needs to rigorously pursue a holistic vision for a high value and cost-effective rapid transit network that serves the riders of the present and future, and it won't happen without addressing costs." There are a lot more info and interesting data in the post, so I'd suggest giving it a full read yourself.
Wandyez responds
Andrew Wandyez told me he doesn't buy Puranauth's argument that the Red Line Extension's is of questionable worth. "I believe many [RLE skeptics] have not spent any time at all in Roseland or Riverdale or Altgeld Gardens," he said, citing communities that will be served by the new stations. "I have worked in and around Roseland on and off for the past five years. I drive through Roseland everyday and drive down 130th twice a day, every day. I have seen numerous posts on Red Line Extension in favor and not in favor, I myself am a strong supporter of the project."
"August Puranauth’s article is very detailed but completely misses the point," Wandyez added. "The argument that the Red Line Extension should instead be replaced by Metra improvements is misguided. Everyone knows that the 'L' can and should be better integrated with Metra, but to say the [RLE] project should be replaced with Metra improvements is wrong." Here are the reasons he gave.
• "Metra does not go where South Siders, especially Roseland and Altgeld Garden residents, need to go." Wandyez noted that the Metra tracks don't connect with shopping centers on 79th and 87th streets that are close to existing Red Line stations. "Improving the Metra Electric service will not help Altgeld garden residents go to Jewel-Osco or Home Depot or Aldi," he said. "The [RLE] will directly plug Roseland residents into an existing transit ecosystem that can serve their needs... and instantly improve their quality of life."
• "Roseland is perfectly set up for the 'L'." Wandyez said Michigan Avenue in the neighborhood is already dense and walkable, and rapid transit will help it live up to its potential. "Everyone know Roseland has seen better days, but the bones are there, they just need that shot of life that the Red Line can provide," he argued. "Houses in Roseland might not be maintained at nearly the level of say Beverly, or Archer Heights, but they are attractive and sturdy and just need new life breathed into... This neighborhood has a future, but without investment the 'L' can provide, that future will be more decline."
• "Altgeld Gardens is an island." Wandyez noted that the longtime affordable housing project doesn't even have continuous sidewalks along highway-like 130th Street. "Altgeld Gardens, Golden Gate, and Eden Green [two other enclaves in Riverdale] are bookended on either side by Metra and South Shore Line tracks, and in those 80 years neither system has built a station, they just continue to run right through... The 'Improve Metra' crowd misses this point. Metra doesn’t want to serve this area and they don’t want to serve these residents... The Red Line Extension will plug this area directly into Chicago, and sends a message that the City actually cares, and is willing to invest in this neighborhood's future."
• "The Red Line is the lifeblood of the South Side." Wandyez argued that upgrading the rapid transit corridor will improve the South Side overall. "Attractive, sturdy, and inexpensive houses will only be made more attractive by this extension," he said. "The 'L' already travels to areas with far less density and far less population than Roseland. Roseland and Altgeld Gardens need the Red line, and quite frankly will not flourish and reach their full potential with any other half-solution."
Wandyez concluded by noting that the Far South Side residents the Red Line Extension will serve have much in common with their counterparts in more transit-rich Chicago neighborhoods. "They pay taxes and share the same hopes and dreams for the city as everyone else. This area just needs to be given a chance to prove itself... The Red Line Extension is that chance."
Read August Puranauth's post, "For $5.7 billion, South Side Chicago deserved far more than the Red Line Extension."
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