City Approves Ashland Avenue Bus Rapid Transit Plan
By Chuck Sudo in News on Apr 19, 2013 10:10PM
Here's some news we wanted to tackle this morning. The Emanuel administration, along with CTA and the Chicago Department of Transportation, announced plans Friday for the city's first full Bus Rapid Transit project (BRT) on Ashland Avenue. The Emanuel administration has been bullish on BRT projects and has been testing elements of bus rapid transit with the Jeffery Jump, including designated "Bus Only" lanes on Jeffery between 67th and 83rd Streets, bus stops every half mile between 67th and 103rd Streets to reduce commute times for riders.
The plans for Ashland Avenue's BRT program include a center-running bus lane running along 16-miles of the avenue from Irving Park Road on the north to 95th Street on the south, with a goal of increasing bus speeds on Ashland by up to 80 percent during rush hour periods. Other goals for the project include:
- Saving riders about 8 minutes per trip based on the current average trip length on the #9 Ashland bus of 2.5 miles
- Preserve approximately 90 percent of parking on both sides of the street
- Enhance streetscapes with more than 75 blocks of new streetscaping, including medians, better lighting, wider sidewalks and more greenery
- Allow the potential for pre-payment for faster boarding, similar to CTA ‘L’ stations
- Preserve approximately 95 percent of loading zones for delivery trucks
It sounds bold and if CTA and CDOT can pull this off, more power to them. According to CTA President Forrest Claypool, Ashland Avenue has Chicago's highest bus ridership, with over 30,000 riders a day. Transportation Commissioner Gabe Klein added:
“This configuration will allow us to provide the fastest bus trips and minimize disruption to traffic flow while retaining landscaped medians, as well as almost all parking and loading zones.”
The two agencies conducted analysis of Ashland Avenue for a year and will continue to do so. Bus Rapid Transit is also the focus of the 2013 Burnham Prize competition sponsored by the Chicago Architecture Foundation and the Chicago Architectural Club. Chicago was one of four cities announced to share a $1.2 million grant to support research and help with outreach and communication regarding BRT plans in Chicago. Western Avenue is another street where bus rapid transit is planned and the Central Loop corridor also has plans for a BRT project in the works.
The first section of Ashland to be designed to handle BRT will run from Cortland Avenue (1800 north) to 31st Street.