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The below is from John Hilkevitch's Getting Around column in
yesterday's Chicago Tribune. Note the bus route changes, and the cab
stand changes at Union Station that should put a dent in the
annoying hustler problem.<br>
<br>
Cordially,<br>
Bill<br>
<br>
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<td>Article from Chicago Tribune News 2012 11 12</td>
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<th align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap" valign="BASELINE">Date: </th>
<td>Mon, 12 Nov 2012 20:31:54 -0500 (EST)</td>
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<th align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap" valign="BASELINE">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" nowrap="nowrap" valign="BASELINE">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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Getting Around. Lower Wacker traffic will flow once more \ Loop
shortcut to reopen; Congress ramps reconfigured. Jon Hilkevitch.
Lower Wacker Drive, the best shortcut through downtown Chicago,
will reopen to traffic at the end of November, while other changes
are set for this week as the $300 million Wacker Drive
reconstruction heads toward completion in December, officials
said. . Crews will reopen the intersection of Jackson Boulevard
and Wacker Drive on Thursday, according to the Chicago Department
of Transportation. The reopening should make getting around a lot
easier for drivers, pedestrians and taxicab customers, as well as
CTA riders in the West Loop whose buses have been detoured off
Jackson east of Canal Street for many months. The Wacker-Van Buren
Street intersection will remain closed until Nov. 30, CDOT said.
Nov. 30 is also when traffic will be restored from the Congress
Parkway interchange, the Eisenhower Expressway (Interstate 290)
and Harrison Street to Lower and Upper Wacker, officials said. It
means drivers will again be able to make the connection from Lake
Shore Drive to Harrison and to the Congress interchange, said
Michelle Woods, CDOT's Wacker project manager. We're very pleased
that we are winding down the project, and for drivers coming into
downtown from the west, the shortcut through the Loop on Lower
Wacker will be restored," Woods said. In connection with the
Wacker-Jackson reopening Thursday, a semblance of normalcy will
return to crowded Canal Street between Jackson Boulevard and Adams
Street. The city will reinstate the southbound "contra-flow" lane
for CTA buses on the west side of Canal in front of Union Station,
officials said. Other traffic will continue northbound on Canal
between Jackson and Adams, officials said. On Nov. 19, CTA bus
routes No. 1 Indiana/Hyde Park, No. X28 Stony Island Express and
No. 151 Sheridan will return to their original routing and serve
the bus stop along the "contra-flow" lane for the first time since
last year, officials said. A handful of other CTA bus routes will
remain detoured until the Wacker-Van Buren intersection reopens,
CTA officials said. But on Nov. 19, a dozen CTA bus routes will
undergo partial changes. Details will be posted at
transitchicago.com. Meanwhile, the taxi stand that was temporarily
relocated to the west side of Canal outside Union Station during
the Wacker project will return to its regular location on the east
side of the street effective Thursday, officials said. And Amtrak,
which owns Union Station, will continue a pilot project at the new
taxicab stand location. It involves a more organized queuing
system for taxi customers and employs uniformed cab starters to
offer assistance between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. every day, Amtrak
spokesman Marc Magliari said. The other function of having the cab
starters there is to discourage street hustlers who have been
intercepting people trying to use the cabs and soliciting them for
tips," Magliari said. Ticketing and arresting the hustlers hasn't
worked, so this is another effort to help passengers, Magliari
said. The cab starters, which coordinate the taxis, are each
dressed for winter in a long wool coat, a hat that says "Chicago
Union Station" and a badge, he said. Unlike the hustlers who tend
to have their hand out, our guys and gals will not," Magliari
said. Most elements of the double-decker Wacker reconstruction
will be completed by Nov. 30, said Oswaldo Chaves, CDOT's
construction manager for the project. The work replaces a badly
deteriorated viaduct structure that opened to traffic in 1955
between Randolph Street and Congress. Many drivers have waited,
admittedly impatiently, for the full reopening of Lower Wacker,
portions of which were reduced to one lane in each direction or
closed entirely except for service drives starting in May 2010,
officials said. As part of the full Lower Wacker reopening, a new
and improved ramp from the lower level to Congress and the
expressway system will also open Nov. 30, officials said. Traffic
engineers have reconfigured the Congress interchange to improve
sight lines and create longer lane tapers at so-called suicide
merge lanes to cut down on accidents. The Lower Wacker entrance
ramp onto westbound Congress and the eastbound Congress exit ramp
at Franklin Street have been moved below ground. The Lower Wacker
ramp will have a longer acceleration lane to make it easier for
drivers to find an opening in traffic, officials said. The
Franklin ramp onto westbound Congress has been removed,
eliminating the double-merge with the Lower Wacker ramp onto
westbound Congress. That was a big accident location," Woods said.
It's going to be a much safer transition from Lower Wacker on to
the Eisenhower. Previously, "you came out of the cloverleaf and
you just kind of had to punch it to merge into traffic," she said.
Now we've got a nice long taper lane, and you don't have to worry
about other traffic coming from Franklin, so it's going to be a
very easy transition. Replacing cloverleaf ramps with tunnels also
provided space for 3 acres of new parkland that's accessible to
the public, officials said. During the first week of December,
Franklin, which during reconstruction has been a two-way street
from Wacker to Van Buren, will revert back to one-way northbound,
officials said. As part of the change, a bicycle lane will be
added on Franklin, officials said. We think the bike lane is going
to be very well received," Woods said. As the two-year north-south
leg of the Wacker project wraps up, except for landscaping
scheduled for the spring, officials said drivers and others are
already benefiting from improvements on Upper Wacker from Randolph
to Congress. Ramps to Lower Wacker at Jackson, Adams and
Washington Street have been removed and replaced with landscaped
medians. Upper Wacker Drive was decorated with sidewalk planters
and outfitted with decorative light fixtures. The ramp at Monroe
Street was replaced with a new one-way ramp to Lower Wacker. The
east-west section of Wacker from Michigan Avenue to Randolph was
rebuilt in 2001 and 2002, restoring the historical limestone
elements of Wacker's original 1920s appearance. The project also
widened the road, raised lower-level ceiling clearances and carved
out space for expansion of the riverwalk. Meanwhile, construction
is scheduled to begin next year on a new transportation center
across the street from Union Station. The Chicago City Council
last month approved the plan, which will provide a sheltered
staging area for CTA buses. Goals include easing traffic
congestion and improving pedestrian safety along the Canal
corridor and creating a staging area for a future CTA bus
rapid-transit network to serve the central Loop, officials said.
The transportation center will replace a parking lot that is south
of Jackson between Canal and Clinton streets, officials said. The
facility will include a connection to an existing Amtrak
underground passageway so commuters can go between Union Station
and the transportation center without crossing Canal and Jackson
at street level. The project is estimated to cost $14.2 million,
said officials, adding it is 80 percent federally funded.
Completion is slated for 2014. ---------- Contact Getting Around
at <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:jhilkevitch@tribune.com">jhilkevitch@tribune.com</a> or c/o the Chicago Tribune, 435 N.
Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60611; on Twitter @jhilkevitch; and at
facebook.com/jhilkevitch. Read recent columns at
chicagotribune.com/gettingaround.<br>
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