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The Mechanics
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Public Transportation Fri May 01 2009

Mellow Yellow

The CTA unveiled last night its preliminary concept for a significant extension of the Yellow Line, a/k/a the Skokie Swift, from its current terminus at Dempster Street in Skokie, to Old Orchard Road, just east of the Edens Expressway. The authority rolled out its presentation at a public meeting at Niles North High School, near where the extension would end. Approximately 50 members of the public were in attendance, along with what seemed to be at least a dozen CTA staffers and consultants. Public officials were notably absent, except for Skokie Mayor George Van Dusen, a longtime booster of more rapid transit to the inland North Shore burb, and an aide of State Rep. Lou Lang.

Much of the presentation consisted of what must have seemed, to much of the audience, a jargon-laden recap of the laborious process the authority had been following since the last public meeting nearly 9 months ago at which first comments were taken. This meeting, dubbed "Screen 2," was intended to present the "Locally Preferred Alternative" favored by planners and, presumably, the public. This alternative, the "Heavy Rail East Option - Elevated," utilizes the existing abandoned Union Pacific Railroad tracks from Dempster to approximately Golf Road, then jogs east to a point east of I-94, just south of Old Orchard Road, north of the high school, and steps from the Old Orchard shopping mall.

The planners considered this endpoint to have more potential traffic than a more straight-line alternative that would end closer to the Cook County 2d District Courthouse about ΒΌ mile west; however, this is still walkable for courthouse emnployees and patrons, and is more likely to serve mall shoppers and employees, residents of the new Optima development, and workers at the several office buildings clustered near the Old Orchard expressway exit.

An alternative would have been to use bus lines from Dempster north. That might make sense if most of the anticipated traffic was between Dempster and Old Orchard. However, if the expected ridership is either to or from Chicago to Skokei, then a transfer point would be a disincentive.

The entire presentation, including slideshow and aerial maps, as well as previous proposals, studies, and public comments is all available online.

The extension is only part of the ambitious transit planning underway in Skokie. The Village has for some years been planning a new Oakton Station to be located in "downtown"Skokie, between Oakton Street and Searle Parkway, where the village has created a TIF and is working on significant job creation through a technology park. Planning and land acquisition are underway and the municipality has obtained federal and local funding assistance for the project. Click here to download the 24-page "executive summary" of the project.

The Oakton stop and Old Orchard extension fit into the 2007 Skokie Swift North Shore Corridor Travel Market Analysis completed by Skokie, Evanston and the RTA. Again, there is a 14-page executive summary of a much longer report.

That same report analyzed adding an intermediate stop in south Evanston, likely near St. Francis Hospital. However, Evanston has not made the same progress as Skokie.

Notably, and commendably, Skokie has been planning its redevelopment efforts around jobs, rather than bedrooms, seeking to replace some of the employment lost when Pfizer pulled up stakes. This is an essential component of true transit-oriented development, because if all you're doing is stacking condos next to train stations, without thought of where people are going to work, all you're doing is stacking condos near train stations. That's not TOD, it's DUM.

From now through May 14, 2009, members of the public and organizations may submit written comments and questions on the Old Orchard extension to the CTA by writing or e-mailing:

Mr. Darud Akbar
Chicago Transit Authority
Government and Community Relations
P.O. Box 7567
Chicago, IL 60680-7567
dakbar@transitchicago.com
CTA Customer Service: 1-888-YOUR-CTA
TTY: 1-888-CTA-TTY1

 
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Doug / May 2, 2009 7:48 AM

This would be a complete waste of money. The CTA is broke and instead of cutting back they're contemplating expansion of unneccessary services.

Gordon / May 4, 2009 8:33 AM

Would I use it? No. Would I rather see some baby steps towards the Circle Line? Sure. But does that make this a complete waste of money? No, because other people will use it. Anything that increases ridership is good for the CTA and good for Chicago.

chicago office space / May 6, 2009 12:20 PM

I agree with Gordon, If we get more people riding the CTA how can that be a bad thing?

Rich / May 11, 2009 11:30 PM

I agree that this is good news. If urban life is going to have a sustainable renaissance (still a big if), it will happen not just in the city, but also in the older, close-in suburbs that have managed to keep or can revive their downtowns and are dense enough to sustain public transit and walkable neighborhoods. Skokie and Chicago have a lot more in common than either has with Plainfield or Orland Park.

Jeff SmithAuthor Profile Page / May 12, 2009 3:03 AM

My comment on Gordon's observation: I agree, within limits, that increasing ridership = good. A sudden massive disruption in the regional gasoline supply would increase ridership but not necessarily be good for Chicago. Or alternatively you could have a line improvement that increases ridership slightly but is extremely expensive and disruptive, i.e., poor cost-benefit. You could even take the big-picture approach and argue that outbound-expanding rail lines are what created suburbs to begin with and thus began the decline of the cities...But overall I'd look at this and say that connecting Howard/Red-Line to Old Orchard is a logical connection, and that using the existing UPRR line also makes sense. The issue to me is the long timeline and associated cost.

Jeff SmithAuthor Profile Page / May 12, 2009 3:16 AM

(in reply to Rich, sorry for the discontinuity): The key is overall mix. Jobs need to be created, not just bedrooms. I would hope that someone has done some evaluation of how many workers in the Old Orchard area -- malls, office buildings, courthouse -- live in Chicago. But in defense of the extension, just simple observation shows that a lot (too many) are trying to get on the Edens.

Jeff SmithAuthor Profile Page / May 12, 2009 3:17 AM

(in reply to Rich, sorry for the discontinuity): The key is overall mix. Jobs need to be created, not just bedrooms. I would hope that someone has done some evaluation of how many workers in the Old Orchard area -- malls, office buildings, courthouse -- live in Chicago. But in defense of the extension, just simple observation shows that a lot (too many) are trying to get on the Edens.

Jeff SmithAuthor Profile Page / May 12, 2009 3:17 AM

(in reply to Rich, sorry for the discontinuity): The key is overall mix. Jobs need to be created, not just bedrooms. I would hope that someone has done some evaluation of how many workers in the Old Orchard area -- malls, office buildings, courthouse -- live in Chicago. But in defense of the extension, just simple observation shows that a lot (too many) are trying to get on the Edens.

Rich / May 14, 2009 12:40 PM

An excellent point, Jeff, which I didn't give proper attention to in my earlier comment. Looking at it from a slightly different angle, one of the huge underlying problems in getting more public transit in place (in my opinion) is that so many of our region's jobs have gone to remote suburbs where the only practical way to travel is by car. It almost seems as if the city and the older suburbs are becoming the bedroom communities now.

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