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Those who plan to use the El this summer will want to be aware of
the below.<br>
<br>
Cordially,<br>
Bill<br>
<br>
<br>
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<td>Article from Chicago Sun Times News 2012 04 05</td>
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<td>Fri, 6 Apr 2012 23:50:11 -0400 (EDT)</td>
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<th align="RIGHT" valign="BASELINE" nowrap="nowrap">From: </th>
<td>NFB-NEWSLINE Online <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:nfbnewsline@nfb.org"><nfbnewsline@nfb.org></a></td>
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<th align="RIGHT" valign="BASELINE" nowrap="nowrap">To: </th>
<td>William B. Reif <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:billreif@ameritech.net"><billreif@ameritech.net></a></td>
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<br>
<br>
CTA construction to affect weekend summer L trips BY TINA SFONDELES
Staff Reporter <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:tsfondeles@suntimes.com">tsfondeles@suntimes.com</a> April 5, 2012 5:34PM For most
weekends this summer, your CTA trip to the Loop might include
reroutes, delays and, in some cases, being shipped onto a shuttle
bus. That's because the transit agency is replacing deteriorated
tracks along the Wells and Van Buren L tracks that date back nearly
100 years. It also means Wells Street will be shut to traffic from
Madison Street to Van Buren during the first weekend, starting April
20, with smaller blocks shut to traffic for the rest of the 16-week
project. But the plan will get a timeout on eight high-profile
weekends, including Lollapalooza, Blues Fest and the Taste of
Chicago. Hundreds of workers will begin their work every Friday
night after rush hour and finish just in time for regular service on
Monday morning, said Barney Gray, the project's manager. Reroutes
will begin on Friday nights. Then on Saturdays and Sundays, work
will require full closure of portions of track in the Loop. It's a
16-weekend project but will include 14 weeknights in which overnight
trains heading north, south or west will make all their stops but
share a single track. That weeknight work is minimal, Gray says, and
shouldn't affect riders. At the Brown Line's Quincy station
Wednesday, the wear and tear could be seen on the old tracks and on
the tattered and ripped wooden rail ties below. Some of the rail was
built in the 1920s, with the ties replaced every 30 to 40 years.
Think about the structure platform down to the steel. All between
that is coming out, Gray said. That means the rail ties, running
rail, the third rail how the train gets power all will be replaced,
along with safety mechanisms in place to prevent derailments. But
what makes this plan so different? It'll tackle what the CTA calls
the country's busiest rail junction: Tower 18. If you're a rider of
the Green, Brown, Orange, Purple or Pink lines in the Loop, you know
exactly where this is because you're likely to hear an announcement
about a brief signaling delay. It's where those five lines cross
over near Lake and Wells streets and employees in the tower handle
the switching. Think of it almost as a traffic light and in the
tower are switchmen and towermen that operate the switches, giving
the red or the green light to go through, Gray said. I like to think
of it as the air traffic control center of the train. More than 500
trains go through that junction every weekend, and an average of 684
trains pass through on weekdays. Although there's no way to measure
the exact number of riders who go through the junction, close to 21
million riders went through Loop L stations last year. The work will
affect four sections of the L lines around that junction, and
construction will happen section by section, so there will be some
room to breathe, the agency says. If a train can't pass through an
area under construction, a bus shuttle will get riders to the next
station. The shuttles will be needed only five or six of the
weekends, Gray said, including one or two weekends of work at the
Hubbard Street curve, just north of the Merchandise Mart. If you're
a CTA rider, you've probably seen some construction announcements on
train cars, but the agency says riders will get a more detailed plan
prior to every weekend of work. Just four weeks of the 16-week
project's street closures have been finalized, with Wells closed
from Van Buren to Madison the weekend of April 20th. Wherever track
work is going on above, streets will be closed below, but
pedestrians will still have sidewalk access during the project, the
agency said. The work will be suspended for the eight weekends with
major city festivals, he said. We planned for that, Gray said. We
were able to coordinate our plans with what's happening in the city.<br>
<br>
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