Friday, April 18, 2014

Red Line meeting next month and other thoughts on transit plans

In a recent article about a proposed rail bypass for Brown Line trains on the north side there was so information on a future meeting with regards to at least the proposed Red Line Extension.
The Red Line south extension open house will be held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on May 13 at Palmer Park Gymnasium, 201 E. 111th St., Chicago.

The second step is being taken in long-awaited plans to extend the south branch of the Red Line by 5 1/2 miles, from the current 95th Street terminal to 130th Street on the Far Southeast Side. Plans include building new stations near 103rd, 111th, 115th and 130th streets.

A lengthy environmental review process is required by the federal government for the CTA to secure funding for the $2.3 billion rail extension. CTA officials said they hope to satisfy the federal environmental impact statement process by the middle of 2016 and receive a record of decision from the Federal Transit Administration — leading to funding — by late 2016 or early 2017.
BTW, I almost wanted to opine on the Brown Line project. Building the bypass could require CTA to demolish buildings in the path of the bypass. If you ever took a ride to the north side when you get to Belmont on the Red Line you may have to wait for Brown Line trains to turn onto their right of way. Or a Red Line train may remain on their right of way and Brown Line trains are forced to wait until that train passes through.

In any event building a bypass is a significant change to that infrastructure on that part of town as much as building the Red Line extension would be on this part of town. So if it does get built, I would wonder if we'd have the same discussion north siders are having about the bypass. Would the people of Roseland be concerned about the potential impact to residents and businesses? Especially building the extension could result in the demolition of houses and commercial buildings? What do you think?

RELATED: Yesterday's story about CTA weighing two options for the Red Line extension.

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