Pullman

soutYou probably knew that President Barack Obama designated parts of the Pullman neighborhood and the former Pullman Company Porter train car factory as the Pullman National Monument in February 2015. The accomplishment was based on 20 years of campaigning by residents and leaders to get a national park designation.

The Chicago Transit Authority released a major study today, the next step in the developing project to extend the Red Line southward from the 95th Street terminal to 130th Street in the Altgeld Gardens neighborhood. The Environmental Impact Study is required by the federal government before the CTA can ask for funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

During last week's Mayor's Bicycle Advisory Council meeting Chicago Department of Transportation staffers shared a number of updates on the city's bike network.

The idea of Metra running its Hyde Park and South Chicago-bound Electric District line more like a CTA 'L' line may be gaining traction. If so, much of the credit goes to advocate Mike Payne, who has been tirelessly promoting the concept online and at public meetings. He calls this proposed rapid transit service as "The Gray Line," since that's one of the few colors that doesn't yet appear on the Chicago Transit Authority train map.

A dozen neighborhood organizations, along with the Active Transportation Alliance and the Center for Neighborhood Technology, are calling for the Metra Electric line, with its three branches that run through several South Side communities, to operate like a CTA 'L' line.

It’s always a chuckle to read DNAinfo.com columnist Mark Konkol’s misguided musings on transportation issues.