Results tagged “transportation”

With the Olympic announcement less than 24-hours away, we turned to a member of the staff who has experience living in an Olympic host city for a defense of the bid. Benjy is one of three Chicagoist staffers who lived in the Atlanta area during the 1996 Olympics and offers this pro-Olympics perspective.

As expected, the Regional Transportation Authority board agreed this week to slash public funding for Chicago-area transit services by $67 million over the next six months. The nine board members in attendance voted unanimously for the cuts, in the hopes that they will bring the transit agencies' growing budget deficits in line with lower tax revenues.

The proposals for the regional high speed rail systems have been submitted as each region is competing for part of the $8 billion payday, but the Midwest region, with Chicago as its hub, got a big boost from V.P. Joe Biden who called the Midwest proposal, "one of the most comprehensive plans that have been put forward so far." In total, the system would cost around $9.6 billion and take 10 years to complete. [Tribune]

Officials said they would put plans for a proposed $1.8 billion program to add green carpool lanes on the tollway -- in addition to an interchange to connect Interstate 57 and the Tri-State Tollway -- on hold Thursday. While tollway directors still support the idea, lower gas prices and the potential use of stimulus funds for interchange work has led them to fall back on pushing the plan forward.

The Chicago Transit Authority restored Yellow Line service Saturday after switch problems at the Howard Street station. Service was suspended for less than two hours early Saturday morning as crews worked to repair the problem. The halted service caused delays on the Red and Purple lines shared at the station, according to the CTA. The Yellow line shuttles passengers between two stops: Howard and north suburban Skokie. [S-T]

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood was happy after meeting with state transportation officials and said low bidding by companies on projects means there will be more money available for additional projects. Said LaHood:

"A lot of these bids are coming in well below what was really thought might be the cost for the projects and that will enable us, I think, to have money to spend that maybe we didn't really realize...There's a real pent up demand around the country for people who have not been able to do the kind of infrastructure that they want to do... So a lot of these firms that do this kind of work — build roads and do the construction — are coming in with fairly low bids and hopefully that will create some additional dollars and create some additional jobs."

News Flash - Chicago has a pothole problem. Ok, anyone who drives (or walks . . . or looks out their window) can see that, but apparently it’s reached new highs this year. CBS2 is reporting that the city has taken notice of over 7,000 unfilled potholes, and that’s just the ones that have been reported. Thomas Byrne, the Department of Transportation Commissioner, reports that crews are now working 7 days a week, filling 3,000-4,000 potholes every day, but they are barely making a dent in the problem. About a month ago, CBS also reported that these pothole patches sometimes only survive a few days.

Times remain tough for the auto industry, with sales having fallen off a cliff due to a perfect storm of high gas prices, tight credit and the poor economy. But while we may be avoiding showrooms like the plague, we still want to check out the latest metal from Detroit and Munich -- especially if we can do so without packs of hungry salesmen nipping at our heels. While it's likely to be a less elaborate affair compared to years' past, the Chicago Auto Show must go on.

The economic crisis that's gripping the nation might have claimed yet another local victim: vehicle stickers. Whether or not that's the reason fewer people are buying stickers (as opposed to, say, laziness), you'll still get ticketed out the wazoo if you're caught sans sticker.

Through Oct. 31, investigators for the city clerk's office had issued 46,541 tickets to vehicles that either had an expired city sticker or no sticker at all. That's up 8 percent from the same period a year ago. City stickers cost $75 for passenger vehicles, reduced to $30 for senior citizens. The sticker fee for SUVs went up -- from $90 to $120 -- in 2008. The 46,541 figure includes only those tickets written by the clerk's office.

After years of talking, the City of Chicago might finally get cracking on the Carroll Avenue project, which would utilize the old bridge near Kinzie and the connected tunnel that runs beneath the Merchandise Mart as a means to connect train stops (presumably both Metra and CTA) in the West Loop to Michigan Ave.

The city envisions a streetcar -- or an express bus -- picking up passengers at the train stations and carrying them north along Clinton. City officials would like to create an underpass under the Metra tracks so cars and buses wouldn't have to wait for the train.

Continue reading "Bridge to Somewhere?"

Mayor Daley says Monday's shooting of a city employee who was booting a car is an isolated incident, and that booters don't need to go back to working in two-person teams. Earlier this year, the Department of Revenue switched to solo missions, with employees driving van equipped with cameras rather than working in crews.

Today's Darwin award nominee: "A 30-year-old man dipped the rear tires of his BMW X5 into the Cal-Sag Channel Tuesday night to see if there was a leak. Moments later the vehicle was up to its roof in water, Worth police said." The guy was fine, so it's completely OK to laugh at this. [Trib]

A new study from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says states should raise the age at which teens can get drivers licenses to 17 or 18. The report says higher licensing age "would save lives."

Metra is eliminating its bar cars come Friday. The rail service hasn't renewed contracts with vendors not because of concerns about alcohol use but because the bar cars don't bring in enough money; instead, Metra wants to use the cars for regular seating. But fear not, traveling boozers! You can still drink on the train. [Trib]

The CPD and Chicago Department of Transportation are dispatching "bike ambassadors" tonight, Thursday and Friday to remind cyclists to follow the city's safety rules. Tonight, they'll be in Wicker Park reminding people to use headlamps when biking after dark. Thursday afternoon, they'll be in Lakeview reminding people to obey traffic laws, and Friday in Uptown, asking folks not to ride on the sidewalk. (Argh! Yes! I hate that.) No one will be getting tickets—just friendly reminders. [CDOT]

According to a report released today by the Metropolitan Planning Commission, congestion costs the Chicago region billions of dollars a year. Those numbers are always kinda debatable, but agreed: Traffic = not fun.

Every year, 71 Chicago pedestrians are killed and 930 are seriously injured when they're hit by cars, according to the North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center. The most dangerous intersection for pedestrians is 79th and King Drive, where 13 people were hit in 2003 and 2005, the years for which information was available.

Mayor Daley wants to boot cars after two tickets instead of three, which he says will help the city close its $400 million budget gap by bringing in around $48 million.

The CTA is building four new structures to meet increased demand for pedal-powered parking. The Midway stop on the Orange Line, the Sox-35th stop on the Red Line, and the Jefferson Park and Damen stops on the Blue Line will each be home to covered, three-walled bike ports that will house a combined total of 382 bicycles. [S-T]

People like JoeM500 don't need to worry about vehicle stickers this year, but the rest of us motorvatin' four-wheelin' city dwellers have just days to go until we're at risk of one of those $120 "You Forgot To Get Your Sticker" tickets. Did you get your reminder in the mail? Yeah, neither did we—and WBBM is reporting that we're not alone.

     

Forget cars vs. bikes. I want a Scootacar. Like this one. Here it is in action.

A 14-year-old Chicago runaway stole a charter bus yesterday and drove down I-80. Drove erratically, of course, weaving in and out of lanes, dragging the bus's muffler, and then hitting a construction wall. The teen has been charged with possession of a stolen vehicle, and luckily no one was hurt. [AP]

Chicago has the third worst traffic in the country, according to a new study. Only LA and New York out-congest us. Bee-beeep!

IDOT's hiatus from carcass-clearing is over! Rejoice, roadkill haters.

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What do Pat Sajak, original house DJs Hot Mix 5 and Ida B. Wells have in common? They're all getting honorary streets named after them, which makes them part of the first wave of honorees since 2006, when then-Alderman Madeline Haithcock proposed and honorary street be named for Black Panther Fred Hampton. If you recall, that didn't go over so well.

Sand, kitty litter, salt and...beet juice? Yes, there's another product in the de-icing repertoire these days, and it comes from sugar beets.

We woke up this morning to another fresh coat of snow on the ground. While we're certainly among the ranks of those who just wished this winter would end already we have to concede that we have lived through worse.

href="http://londonist.com/2008/02/air_bound.php"> remove one man from Gatwick.