Illinois’s New Highways Will Cost Taxpayers Dearly
The nation may be driving less, but Illinois road boosters are still determined to build more highways. The problem for Illinois taxpayers is that it may be impossible to construct these new roads without huge subsidies.
February 14, 2014
Eyes on the Street: The Union Station Sneckdown — Let’s Make It Permanent
A snowy neckdown -- or "sneckdown" -- is that place in the roadway where the snow sticks around because no one drives over it. Sneckdowns show where there's too much asphalt that could easily be claimed for pedestrian space and traffic calming.
February 13, 2014
IDOT to Waste $43 Million Trying to Relieve Kennedy Congestion
The Illinois Department of Transportation is pulling another bad idea out of its old bag of tricks, proposing to add two traffic lanes on the Kennedy Expressway between Harlem Avenue and Cumberland Avenue. Also included in IDOT's proposal are modified ramps at Cumberland and a new ramp onto the Tri-State Tollway (I-294).
February 12, 2014
New Metra CEO Drives to Work Because the Train’s Too Infrequent
The Metra board recently confirmed Don Orseno as the permanent executive director following his stint as interim chief after Alex Clifford resigned last year. After the confirmation, the Tribune reported that Orseno, a decades-long railroad and Metra employee who lives in Manhattan, a far southwest suburb, said that he has to drive to work because the "SouthWest Service Line schedule doesn't get him to the office early enough, or home late enough."
February 10, 2014
Will the New Morgan Park Sports Center Include Good Bicycle Access?
The Chicago Department of Transportation will close 115th Street just east of Western Avenue to motor vehicle through traffic, creating a cul-de-sac to reduce neighborhood traffic after a Chicago Park District ice hockey rink and gymnastics center opens. The closure for cars could improve this important bike route, but only if it maintains street connectivity for bicycling, which doesn't seem to be the case in previous designs and project renderings.
February 7, 2014
Transit Gets Shortchanged in Chicagoland, Stifling the Region’s Economy
The Chicagoland region "underspends on transit operations and capital" compared to peer cities, and the "region's economic competitiveness will suffer" as a result, according to a recent analysis by the Metropolitan Planning Council [PDF]. The report takes a look at Metra, the CTA, and Pace as a collective system, comparing it to transit networks in 17 other regions.
February 5, 2014
Let’s Measure What Happens With the Western Ave Shutdown This Weekend
Crews will be demolishing a viaduct over Western Avenue this weekend as part of Bloomingdale Trail construction, necessitating the closure of Western and diverting automobile traffic and CTA buses to Damen and California, each a half mile away. People walking or biking will be rerouted to the underpasses a block away on either side.
February 4, 2014