wait...wheres the photo or map?

we should build the circle line first anyway

i heard from an unreliable source, that this is first on NYC's plans...bitch.

by shovel ready did he mean readt to be buried? who the hell takes the el to the old orchard mall except for the people that work at the food court. thats mercedes country.

"by shovel ready did he mean readt to be buried? who the hell takes the el to the old orchard mall except for the people that work at the food court. thats mercedes country."

Not really. The North Shore has really changed the last 10 years.

Shovel-ready is the expression for stuff that's ready to go in the stimulous package.

Here's in an interesting map:

http://ctiassoc.com/cti/Chimap_070705_Flat.pdf

thanks but i know what shovel ready means. that was a joke son in regard to betas pic.

I agree, circle line is much more useful & important to chicago, and will reach a much more diverse demographic. screw the mall, shop local. so, i vote circle line for obama.

Baltimore -

- Red line
- Charles Street streetcar line

Miami-Dade:
Metrorail East-West line connecting through the airport MIC (Miami intermodal Center), downtown, to Miami Beach.
Next: West Kendall to Dadeland (this could be a streetcar)

New Hampshire--restoration of commuter rail between Concord, Manchester, Nashua and Boston. It's already in the works, but some federal money would be nice to help a project in the state that receives the least money back from the government for every dollar it sends in.

heard on the radio yesterday that the american dialect association has declared 'bailout' the word of 2008.

i'm not going to be surprised is 'shovel-ready' will be in the running by then end of 2009. and that, by then, it will have become a little ironic/bittersweet.

NYC:

- Completion of the full Second Avenue Subway (first phase currently in construction; no funding yet for further phases)
- Inclusion of the 41st Street/10th Avenue station in the 7 train extension to the Javits Center. This station has already been designed, but was axed from the project due to budget issues.
- Two additional Amtrak/NJT tubes under the Hudson River to Penn Station. The existing two tubes are at capacity, lack modern safety features, and are the biggest bottleneck on the Northwest Corridor.
- Additional station renovations and ADA upgrades throughout the subway and commuter rail system. The system fell into an extended period of disrepair during the 1970's-80's due to the city's fiscal crisis, and still has a substantial backlog of needed upgrades.
- Completion of LIRR East Side Access project (already in construction).

Wish List (not necessarily shovel-ready):

- Extend PATH from Newark Penn Station to Newark Airport AirTrain station.
- Extend JFK AirTrain to LaGuardia Airport.
- Extend N/W subway line to LaGuardia Airport.
- Provide Metro North access to Penn Station via Hudson River line.
- Provide commuter rail link between Penn Station and Grand Central Terminal.
- Extend commuter rail to Financial District, either from Grand Central and/or under the East River from Flatbush Terminal.

Cincinnati:

- Build a light rail system to connect downtown, the UC campus, Northern Kentuck, and the airport with regional employment centers. This has been on the drawing boards for ages, but has consistently been voted down by right-wing zealots from the wealthier suburbs.
- Not directly mass transit related, but replacement of the Brent Spence Bridge and a massive upgrade of I-75 north of the river is desperately needed. This is already in the works, but adequate funding is critical.

oops, that should have been "Northeast Corridor" above.

Express commuter rail between Naptown and Chicago.

Seattle- Light rail expansion from downtown to the UW and northward, possible branch westward.

lb's ... and a high-speed triangle between indy, louisville, and cincinnati!

national high-speed train network

lb i think a train to carry your husband to work would be deemed a pork barrell project.

Vado,

We'll extend it to Old Orchard so you can eat lunch at the food court.

Anyway, here's the proposed new mainline headed south and east.

http://www.midwesthsr.org/stimulus/reroute.htm

DC - Purple Line

and an infill Metro stop at Potomac Yard.

funding for the silver line to be a tunnel through Tysons.

anything that GGW deems necessary...

GGW = Greater Greater Washington

why the hell would i ever want to go to skokie.

In Chicago and surrounding environs.

#1 fully electrified rail from Union Station in Chicago to Carbondale IL and beyond

#2 Establish Amtrak passenger service from St Louis to Indianapolis along the I 55 / 72 corridor, needed are some stations and in a few places new rails

#3 Build a new fully electric rail from Ogilvie station in Chicago to Rockford and possibly Freeport and Galena


CTA:

#1 Extend the green line to LSD along East 63rd

#2 Extend the Blue and Green line past Oak Park

#3 Renovate the newly renovated stations along the Brown Line so they have a full canopy over the platform and so that they are enclosed and heated to some degree in the winter, Ridership falls off dramatically once the mercury dips below 40

#4 Rehab the elevators at Clark and Lake

#5 Build more parking structures at Jefferson Park along the blue line as well as expand the Cumberland parking garage.

#6 Reopen the abandoned Blue line stations along the Eisenhower and create an A/B line on that stretch.

#7 And I agree with rebuilding the yellow line to its 1940s era glory with all 9 stops

#8 Also most important equip all stop lights with sensors like in Europe that automatically change the light for oncoming busses


Bigger dreams but are not shovel ready:

#1 Extend the brown line from Kimball to Jefferson Park with stops at Lawndale Elston, and Pulaski

#2 How about a lakefront line from Thorndale on the red line through Lincoln Park to downtown then use the existing tracks to go to the south side through Grant Park. In Lincoln Park this can be done on the ground just west of LSD on that narrow strip of land that everyone throws their trash on. The lake front line could go as far as 135th street before it hits a major barrier if the route follows the transmission lines and abandoned rail right ways that still exist. This would go right through lake Calumet and could spur a major renaissance in that otherwise neglected area. The lakefront line could be an excuse to rebuild the running trail that loops around the Magnificent Mile the underpasses could easily be converted to stations with tracks resting just off the north bound shoulder. The tricky parts are how to cross LSD near Oak Street and somehow connect to Navy Pier and cross the river to Millennium Park. This would let the poor people have a cheep and efficient means of accessing all the museums and cultural institutions that their taxes support but are located beyond their reach. On that thought this probably would be the most difficult thing to do politically since the rich don’t like the other people of Chicago to visit their museums and parks.

#3 And just incase there is any money left for China to loan us how about another pair of tracks elevated over the O’Hare Blue line along I 90 so we can run an express train from Belmont to Jefferson park, to O’Hare. Stopping in Jefferson Park due to the Metra tracks making an overpass too costly

#4 Also how about putting and El on the abandoned Viaduct along Bloomingdale Ave in Bucktown it can connect the Blue Line Western stop with North and Clybourn (almost about 2,000 ft at the east end to walk to the red line) and it runs west to Pulaski before it runs into the Metra line that connects to Elgin. This is just sitting there growing weeds.

What about completing the block 37 (Chicago) super station that was moth balled at the end of the year. I understand the design documents are done on this, aren't they? It seems like a functional project, and with so much already invested in design and set up, would be reasonably "cheap" to finish.

I like the other suggestions too, circle line would be great.

My pipe dream super project involves building a second super elevated level for the trains in the loop. I think it would be awesome if the brown and purple opperated on one level and the green, orange and pink lines opperated on seperate level. The efficiency gained would be incredible. I know the loop serves as a collector, but it is such a terrible bottle neck, particularly during rush hour. This project is probably not shovel ready... :).

I love the idea that brown line run past Kimball to connect to blue line at Jefferson Park. That seems like such a missed opportunity currently.

That is a really good point Mantaray, kind of a backdoor to getting to O'hare, it could really save a lot of time for many travelers.

Yes and obviously there isn't an existing right-of-way, however the train line there would be cheap to build as it is surface-bound. The most expensive part would be getting over the freeway (because unfortunately it would be just past the 90/94 split, requiring a jump across the... 90 or whatever, whichever one is the freeway that doesn't go to O'Hare).

There's no existing brown/blue connection outside of the loop, and therefore this would be a huge help even to those who aren't going to the airport.

are any of these shovel ready? just because some transportation planning intern used corel draw to make a map in color doesn't mean its a shovel ready project.

design buiild vado, design build :)

i think the TC has the only real shovel ready transit project, the light rail connecting the two has been approved and ready to get online. i think it's due to be completed in 2013 and online in 2014...4 years of work, and years of construction beyond for new architecture...

yeah it really is more of fantasy list, but still interesting to discuss.

Great ideas all around. Make, I especially like that PDF map. We would FINALLY have a system in Chicago that would have a large enough and dense enough to really get people around this city efficiently.

However, I do agree with Stourley, that these are NOT really ready to build projects that the stimulus could fund. The projects in CHICAGO that are in the pipeline thus far and could be pegged for implementation are:

CTA Alternative Analysis Planning Studies

1. Circle Line
2. Yellow Line Extension to Old Orchard
3. Red Line Extension to 135th
4. Orange Line Extension to Ford City

While these are all admirable projects, I can't help but think the later three do NOTHING to encourage transit use and decrease travel times in the central city area. We need SEVERAL more rail lines and easy connections through the Loop. I particularly like the idea of a Lakeshore line that would replace the hundreds of buses that run along Sheridan and LSD. It could continue on the Metra Electric Tracks on the south side. I also think a line that would run north/south along Canal Street from Ogilvy and Union Stations would be beneficial. It could connect on the north to the blue line to O'Hare and on the south to the orange line to Midway.

I agree, extending the lines out further will only heighten the problems of the current spoke and hub set up, we really need the circle line to create a larger hub. It would open up the system so much more than just allowing a few more extreme distance commuters to make the daily trip in.

The CTA Brown line extension was my Master’s thesis. A right of way does not exist all the way but the air rights over the public ally and a new set of elevated tracks could be done with some minor use of emanate domain. Also crossing the interstate above the split is cheaper due to smaller spans on the bridges, two smaller bridges much cheaper than one huge one.

I wonder if the various mass transit authorities have big plans laid out like adding a circle line or another light rail system to their cities. With so many foreclosures it may be less costly to buy up the land for a planed corridor outright or to have a bunch of homes to land swap with once those projects come about. Shovel ready should include long term acquisition plans if market conditions are favorable.

Mass transit corridor or right-of-way acquisition could help clear some neglected and foreclosed homes off the market if planned correctly.

One thing that worries me about this shovel ready concept is that it will be bad in the long run since it will establish a culture of local government not needing to support transit operations and or capital improvements. Just wait for the Sate or the Feds to bail us out could easily become the new mantra. This could delay necessary fare increases or changes in staffing automation and contracts to eliminate waist and corruption.

Perhaps a subsidy based on actual rides given for all transit systems big and small, I know some rural communities in Southern Illinois that manage to give lots of rides with very little overhead, they should benefit too.

vado, i think that's going to be true all over. the reason for my comment above.

i know we've been approached about whether we could start/finish a 'shovel-ready' project very quickly if the money comes. pork barrel under a different name/motivation is still...

:

The BeltLine (sometimes Belt Line, Beltline) is a proposed street car or light rail line around the core of Atlanta. Using existing rail track easements, it aims to improve not only transportation, but to add green space and promote redevelopment.

[originally the thesis of an old classmate at georgia tech- go ryan!]

One of the biggest problems with adding high speed rail for Amtrak is that Conrail owns most of the track and has right of way. Additionally, since the tracks were not originally designed for high speed (like Japan's Shinkansen) they need to use leaning trains to allow for high speed in the turns. But, back to the tracks, they are too close together, so if trains passed in the opposite directions, they would collide.

I loved the trains in Japan and kinda, casually analyzed them while I was there and noticed a few things. One of the biggest being that, the Shinkansen almost NEVER crosses a street, and doesn't go through the center of a town until it really has to. It's always elevated or on the side then cuts in at the last minute. Same with the smaller local trains. They rarely cross roads unless you're in the middle of nowhere. Usually elevated or go under ground. Amazing system.

Now I live in Reading, PA, you know, Reading Railroad of Monopoly fame? There isn't even a train to Philly anymore...60 miles away. Just a big fat traffic jam from King of Prussia to Center City. Sucks. Rumor is they are working on a train from Reading to Norristown, then take Septa to Philly. We need our trains back. But, people have to use them if we get them. It's a chicken and egg situation with America's trains.

To add another city to the mix, Saint Louis has enjoyed successful ridership growth in its metrolink system. While the most recent expansion, the Cross County, was grossly over budget and late, Saint Louis is perfect candidate for more transit. There have been studies for the North and South Lines, but I'm not sure what stage these projects are at now. Again, this simply creates a hub and spoke system, but for a mid sized metro area, I think four lines downtown is a great start. It would be my hope that these lines would spur further redevelopment within the city of Saint Louis.

Also, I thought I'd share a timely anecdote. On the bus home tonight in Chicago, I overheard a few people talking about their arduous car trips home to Des Moines and how they wish they could take the train. There really is great demand for high speed rail in midwest. I just hope we can fund these high speed networks asap. In honor of Iowa, "if you build it [hopefully] they will come?"

The LSD corridor line sounds like a great plan too. These are all interesting to read about.

of course there is also the springsfield monorail

$6 Million CTA Circle Line Earmark in Omnibus
Produced by Ammad Omar on Wednesday, March 11, 2009

The Chicago Transit Authority's long-discussed Circle Line is getting a boost from Congress. The project received a $6 million earmark - sponsored by Illinois Senator Dick Durbin - in the omnibus spending package passed yesterday. If built, the circle line would connect all CTA and Metra lines in Chicago, using newly built western and northern corridors, and some existing tracks.

Durbin's office calls the plan a key component of the city's strategy for the 2016 Olympics. President Barack Obama is expected to sign the omnibus package shortly.

The bill also contains over $30 million to modernize the CTA Brown Line, and about a quarter million dollars each to lengthen the Red and Yellow lines.

http://www.wbez.org/Content.aspx?audioID=32736