The Return of The Chicagoist Reader Meet-Up
Cubs Combat Casino
Notre Dame Fan Takes It Too Far, Allegedly Punches Clausen
County Sales Tax Rollback Vetoed - Here We Go Again
PHOTOS: Peaches And Amanda Blank At Metro
The CTA has firmed up construction information regarding the long-awaited West Loop CTA stop that's going in at Lake & Morgan as part of the Green and Pink lines. The total cost for the station is between $35 and $40 million with at least $8 million coming from federal funding and the rest from TIFs. The CTA is aiming to begin construction on the new stop later this year with the station opening in 2011. The new station will be located between the Ashland and Clinton stops which are separated by more than a mile. We're curious to see if Oprah will ride the train to her Harpo, Inc. studios.
In other CTA news, there's still time to get in on meetings regarding developments of the CTA's Circle Line plan both tonight and tomorrow (details here).
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
Well that's sensible.
No, it's not sensible!
It's a stupid location!
A new station should be at Halsted, because there's a major bus line on Halsted & then you could transfer from the bus to the L or L to bus without a quarter-mile walk.
Typical CTA incompetence & stupidity!
Yeah, that was my thought. It's like they design these things without actually consulting people who ride the CTA or something.
Which would explain so much...
Wow. I'm shocked that you don't like this. Usually your comments are so positive.
Have you ever considered running for office? You seem to have all of the answers.
You still here? When does the little lady drop the lil MM? Or has she come to her senses? Planned Parenthood sir, Planned Parenthood.
Don't you know this is Obama's fault?
A station at Halsted & Lake would be around four city blocks from the station at Clinton & Lake, which would be pretty ridiculous in my opinion. Morgan is fairly equidistant from the Clinton and Ashland stops, which I'm sure helped drive that decision. Plus, there is already a blue line station at Halsted if people want to connect to the Halsted bus from the loop. A station at Morgan & Lake at least makes some sense with regard to the development that has occurred in that area.
I would hate to work at the CTA, though. Damned if you do and damned if you don't. Some people will just never be happy with anything they do. Is the CTA perfect, far from it. I'm tired, however, with the constant bashing. Even with the problems, we still have one of the better systems in the US (I know that may not be saying much in and of itself, but better then living in Atlanta or Detroit where the systems are pure garbage).
Putting the station equidistant from another sounds good on paper, but has no bearing on how people actually use the system!
And I'm not talking about people going from the Loop to a bus, I'm talking about people coming from the West Side to a bus!
And the Pink & Green Lines then wouldn't have any Halsted transfer.
And I don't give a damn about any development around Lake & Morgan, the Halsted St. line has been around for way over a century. They can walk to & from the station, but people transferring don't do that! There also isn't a station at Lake & Western. That also makes no sense!
Again, the CTA can't do anything right.
Excellent examples can be found on both the Green & Brown Line reconstructions where the stations were rebuilt with two platforms, which means two elevators [a few stations have three, Ashland/Lake for example], two escalators at some stations.
That saddled the CTA with extra operating costs for the next 100 years or so, which is never covered by federal funds.
But the feds contributed a huge amount of the capital funds for the reconstruction & if they had thought it out, they would have split the tracks apart for a single, island platform station that needs only one elevator, one escalator, etc.
Sedgwick is the worst one as the right of way was so wide there they wouldn't have needed any extra land.
Wellington is the second worst as it wasn't needed at all if they had moved Belmont south a bit & then moved the south stairs [which aren't open yet] even farther south.
Again, the CTA is incompetent at station design & in station placement!
And the Circle Line is both stupid & useless!
Far better is the Super Loop plan which would move the Loop L tracks off of Wells to Clinton St. alongside both Northwestern Station & Union Station. Right now there isn't a convenient transfer from Metra to CTA downtown except for LaSalle St. Station.
No offense Scotter, but have you even ridden on the Green Line on a regular basis? I rode it for three years, and Clinton was my stop in the loop during that time. Like Navin said, Halsted is a SHORT walk from the Clinton station. The Clinton Green and Pink line station is also less than a block from the north entrance to the Ogilivie-based Metra trains. The Blue line Clinton stop is less than 3 blocks from the Union Station-based Metra trains. I also find it funny that you argue the CTA is incompetent for building Belmont and Wellington (which are about three or four blocks apart) so close, when you argue they should do the exact same thing with Clinton and Halsted.
Sorry, but designing our transit system so that people never have to walk a block ot two for a transfer is not realistic.
Why put a station at Halsted, though, when Halted's spitting distance from Clinton? You can walk from Clinton to Halsted in about three minutes. I think Morgan makes much more sense, opening up a vast area which, as you point out, has no CTA presence at all.
Agreed, I used to use the Clinton (stop) to Halsted (bus) all the time back in the day, and it's just a tiny little walk. Putting one at Halsted would be pointless, unless they wanted to then get rid of Clinton and put one somewhere else, which ain't gonna happen.
That said, I wish I could get excited about this stop, but I doubt I'll ever use it.
still waiting for that circle line
How about a Brown Line stop at Halsted/Clyborn. Yes, a luxury, but it'd be nice.
If there's going to be a new Brown Line stop, it should be at Division.
There's no reason for a Brown Line stop at either Division or Halsted/Clybourn. There are Red line subway stations at both locations, and an easy transfer to Brown at Fullerton or Belmont. If you are headed downtown, we are talking about a 3 or 4 extra block walk if you come in on the Red line under State Street. Big deal. If you don't want to walk the extra blocks, catch the Madison bus going west.
There's also a Brown line approx 6 blocks East at Sedgwick. It's less than 10 min walk from Halsted.
It's a pretty good haul from Ashland/Lake to the California stop too.
I wonder why there isn't one closer to the united center? Say... on Damen?
i agree with this. though i think it should be a pink line stop at madison and paulina.
There should be a stop at Irving and Janssen, because thats where I live. Also, an escalator from me room to the station that only I can access.
lol
i also need an express bus from diversey and logan to and from the west and south loops.
And all of you are forgetting that there are large numbers that aren't 25 years old & can't walk it in three minutes or can't walk it at all.
And that's in good weather!
There are three months a year with snow & not only don't most places do a good job shoveling snow, but then the goddammed city plows the snow onto the sidwalks & crosswalks & you can't even cross the street!
Damen & Lake is too deserted and ghetto kind of like Western is too deserted. I just don't know how many people will use that morgan st. one, especially at night
Sure the CTA should make its system better, but let's throw some love at the more consistent ridership - red line to 123rd or Ashland/63 extend to Ashland 95th