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Chicago already has two rail systems that go in that direction. One, the CTA Blue Line, literally connects O’Hare and the Loop. The other, Metra, goes most of t
by lvh 8y ago
Chicago already has two rail systems that go in that direction. One, the CTA Blue Line, literally connects O’Hare and the Loop. The other, Metra, goes most of the way to the airport already.
The El (that’s the blue line) already has absurd capacity problems. Chicago airport transit, at both Midway and O’Hare, is already pretty great compared to similarly sized airports: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/planes-trains-and-taxis-when-to-take-public-transit-from-the-airport/ https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/planes-trains-and-taxis...
In conclusion, maybe we should have more trains on the El, express and otherwise, or invest in Metra to get to the airport, instead of betting on an unproven, totally new, single-use kind of transit?
- bunderbunder 8y agoThat was somewhat my first thought - "Why not just upgrade the Blue Line to a 4 track system so they can run express trains on it?" I wouldn't be at all surprised if they could halve the El service's time from the loop to O'Hare by having a train that only has stops at major connection points - Clark & Lake, (maybe) Logan Square, Jefferson Park, Cumberland, and O'Hare. But, of course, the Blue Line runs down the middle of I-90 between Jefferson Park and Cumberland, so there's probably not really any room to expand to a 4-track system.
- dominotw 8y ago> Why not just upgrade the Blue Line to a 4 track system Is think they are limited by the space available to expand.
- lvh 8y agoTrue, but they’ve been pretty happy to expand 90 our past 94. Judging by the amount of trains on the blue line even during rush hour and the relatively tiny capacity of the proposed shuttle, we can do a LOT more with the infrastructure we already have though!
- moorhosj 8y agoAnd it would require huge investment from the city, which this project doesn't require. That said, there are already projects to increase capacity (new cars, more power on the Blue Line), southern expansion of the Red Line and the Belmont Flyover.
- lvh 8y agoDo you believe that it’ll ship and the on-paper cost will be 0? Or that even accounting for operations and externalities it’ll be zero? (I appreciate the city wouldn’t get the profits directly, but I imagine it’ll benefit via taxes. I’m suggesting the externalities won’t be even close.)
- moorhosj 8y agoThis is just the opening of a negotiating window, once we see the plan we can make those calculations. For example, Boring will likely have to rent the Block 37 station from the CTA, bringing in some money (but we have no idea how much yet).
- ForrestN 8y agoSincerely asking since I don’t know: when I lived in Chicago there was constant talk of how old and crappy that infrastructure is—how confident are you that pushing it harder when many people think it needs replacing wouldn’t cause problems and endless construction delays?
- cozzyd 8y agoSure there is... Just take out some of the lanes!
- nwah1 8y agoUnironically support this.
- lvh 8y agoYep, the El’s number of stops contributes greatly. Metra follows it starting Jefferson Park and Mayfair or so, and it gets to downtown a lot faster. There already are some express trains but they still have more stops than what you’re suggesting. The El hasn’t kept up with the massive increase in popularity of Wicker Park and Logan Square. Not so huge in absolute numbers but disproportionately people more likely to take transit. Surely CTA has already mined that out of their ridership data.
- bunderbunder 8y agoThe El's "express" trains aren't really express. It's just a way to get a train back on schedule if it's been severely delayed for some reason. The system isn't set up for one train to be able to pass another, so it has to go back to regular service once it's back on schedule.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- adventured 8y agoHow about instead the US as a nation returns to not being cowards about attempting aggressive new efforts at leaping forward on infrastructure. We should be doing a lot more things like this, rather than basking in our pathetic decades-long stagnation of clinging to barely good enough. Every American should be angrily protesting the backwards, ancient transport systems the US relies on. The Fed should be mandated with establishing a $1+ trillion infrastructure development fund, by 'printing' dollars over 20 years to fill the program. We should further leverage Federal agencies like DARPA, corporate R&D, inventors, foreign capabilities, and the vast US university system, to fund and spur radical efforts to build new, experimental infrastructure everywhere. Today's regressive, conservative approach would have never enabled the US to build the Interstate Highway System. It's time for a radical change, the sooner the better. We must stop tolerating mediocrity by proclaiming that things are good enough as is.
- titanomachy 8y agoAmerica is sclerotic and timid and doomed to stay that way. The seeds were planted with the "liberty" meme hundreds of years ago. "Taxation is theft" has become a mainstream refrain. There is no trust in government to execute even basic projects, a position advocated even by the government's leader. You want infrastructure innovation, move to China.
- workinthehead 8y agoHold on, this China? https://gizmodo.com/china-accidentally-built-an-apartment-complex-in-the-mi-1442963266 https://gizmodo.com/china-accidentally-built-an-apartment-co... http://wonderfulengineering.com/how-bad-can-chinese-construction-get-well-this-bad/ http://wonderfulengineering.com/how-bad-can-chinese-construc... https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2015/10/chinas-50-lane-traffic-jam-is-every-commuters-worst-nightmare/409639/ https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2015/10/chinas-50-lan... Gee, I wonder where the "government can't execute" meme could have possibly come from?
- titanomachy 8y ago
- silverdrake11 8y agoAs Elon Musk would say do not underestimate the power of people to be inspired by new technology.
- Tiktaalik 8y agoThis is why Musk is so dangerous to cities. His future fantasy projects muddle the conversation and distract people away from proven technologies that can help people today.
- kamaal 8y agoJust like the way cars and freeways distracted perfectly fine horse carriages and country routes?
- Tiktaalik 8y agoCars, as great as they are, did disrupt and significantly negatively impact cities. They remain incredibly dangerous and kill and injure shockingly large amounts of people every year. The widespread adoption of automobile technology without much thought in the 20th century should be a cautionary lesson for tech enthusiasts.
- kamaal 8y agoSure will see you in your horse carriage soon.
- m3kw9 8y agoNo risk no reward
- erentz 8y agoThat is my frustration with American infrastructure investment. We can never just invest in what exist and what works, on a consistent reliable basis. It always has to be some kind of ego project like this. It’s infurating because we waste so much money and make all of our lives harder for it, but the population at large seem to be suckers for it.
- dominotw 8y agoCurious, What are the other 'ego project' examples from the past.
- mlindner 8y agoI mean Chicago is literally investing nothing in this. So there's nothing they're betting here. Their "bet" basically is that they don't need to spend any more money on transit. The worst case is they're in exactly the same situation they are now.
- i_cant_speel 8y agoExactly. This tunneling project and improving current infrastructure aren't mutually exclusive.