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The below is from today's Chicago Tribune. I hope that the bus
lanes are also the outside lanes. Note that busses may interact
differently with stop lights than is now the case. Note also, steps
toward having to pre pay bus fare at certain stations. Is there
more that we, as blind people, need to know about any layout
changes?<br>
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Cordially,<br>
Bill<br>
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<td>Article from Chicago Tribune News Section 2015 03 02</td>
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<th align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap" valign="BASELINE">Date: </th>
<td>Mon, 2 Mar 2015 12:43:22 -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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<br>
Getting Around. Faster bus flow goal of CTA plan Work on
long-awaited rapid transit area in Loop starts this month. Jon
Hilkevitch. A long-awaited project designed to more than double
the 3-mph average speed of CTA buses traveling across the middle
of downtown will be called Loop Link, and construction of bus-only
lanes and rapid transit-style boarding stations is set to begin in
two weeks, city officials were set to announce Monday. . The
roughly 2-mile bus rapid transit area will serve Washington,
Madison, Clinton and Canal streets and will debut late this year,
when the bulk of the $31.8 million construction project is
completed, Chicago Department of Transportation officials said.
Work on the overall project, however, will stretch into next year
and result in temporary lane reductions, according to CDOT. Those
will start March 16 on portions of Madison and Clinton, followed
by Washington and Canal and Jackson Boulevard in the spring, and
on Randolph Street starting in late summer. A parallel goal
involves reorganizing downtown streets so that all users, whether
on foot or bicycle or behind the wheel, have their own space,
officials said. For its part, the CTA's Loop Link service is aimed
at significantly faster times for bus trips of roughly a mile or
so through the congested downtown for more than 21,000 commuters
each weekday, including thousands of Metra riders who connect to
CTA buses at Union Station, Ogilvie Transportation Center and
other Metra stations. "One of the reasons I hate winter is my CTA
bus trip to the office in the morning and to the train at night.
It's excruciatingly slow, and the constant stop-and-go makes my
neck hurt," said Bonnie Fuller, of Elmhurst, who said she makes
the 40-minute bus trip in less than half the time -- and more
enjoyably -- by riding a Divvy bicycle in warmer weather between
Ogilvie and her workplace in Streeterville. At stake with Loop
Link is whether bus rapid transit catches on in Chicago. Beyond
the roughly 18 months of construction, general traffic on several
Loop streets will permanently lose at least one lane to buses
operating on the dedicated 24-hour bus lanes. "The central Loop
BRT (bus rapid transit) has got to come out of the box as
something that people are impressed with and that they can really
feel the change. And not only bus riders, but also motorists and
others who today face a kind of chaotic mess on downtown streets,"
said Peter Skosey, executive vice president at the Metropolitan
Planning Council and an advocate of the project. The Emanuel
administration's plans to launch bus rapid transit on Ashland
Avenue, a program that would reduce street parking and eliminate
left-hand turns, has already made some Chicagoans wary of the
broader idea. The downtown bus rapid transit experiment will
follow a small-scale effort, called the Jeffery Jump, introduced
in late 2012 along Jeffery Boulevard on the South Side. The No.
J14 Jeffery Jump and other CTA buses slow to average speeds of 3
mph -- walking speed -- when they enter Loop traffic gridlock, a
problem that the Loop Link project is expected to address,
officials said. City officials expressed confidence that everybody
stands to gain from a better organized street layout. They say
Loop Link will result in more efficient travel downtown for bus
riders, that pedestrians will feel safer crossing streets, drivers
will find it easier to make left and right turns, and bicyclists
will have new, protected bike lanes on Washington, Randolph and
Clinton streets. "This is about modernizing the overall experience
of these downtown corridors to accommodate more people and move
them more quickly," said Chicago Transportation Commissioner
Rebekah Scheinfeld, who is scheduled to present Loop Link during a
speech to the City Club of Chicago on Monday. "We are cutting
right at the heart of congestion that has plagued the Loop for
decades," Scheinfeld said. Although Loop Link branding will be
centered in the downtown area, where buses carry almost half of
all people traveling in vehicles, the impact of the changes is not
limited to the central business district, officials said. The
improvements are expected to have a ripple effect, reducing
bus-bunching and gaps in service in all the neighborhoods that the
buses serve, officials said. "We expect to see better bus service
in Pilsen and Little Village on the No. 60. You are going to see
better bus service in Austin on the No. 20, better bus service on
the South Side on the No. J14," said Carole Morey, CTA chief
planning officer. Unlike Jeffery Jump buses, which are wrapped in
a blue livery, other buses that enter the Loop Link zone will be
identified in the buses' LED route signs with the phrase "via Loop
Link' after their route designations, officials said. Loop Link,
whose construction contract was awarded to Capitol Cement Co. of
Chicago, represents the most ambitious attempt to date to
introduce bus rapid transit in the central business district of a
major U.S. city, according to independent transportation experts.
But the same experts, who advocate widespread use of bus rapid
transit as a cost-effective alternative to building more rail
lines in urban areas, also expressed some disappointment that Loop
Link will not, at least initially, be more daring by incorporating
all elements of BRT. For example, requiring passengers to pay
their fares before boarding buses, similar to the process at rail
stations, is a cornerstone of bus rapid transit. It's aimed at
minimizing the time buses are standing still. But the CTA plans to
require fare prepayment at only one of eight bus stations that
will be located on Madison and Washington streets between Wacker
Drive and Michigan Avenue. "Obviously there are concerns about
fare evasion that we need to work through," Morey said. The
station on Madison at Dearborn Street will test prepaid boarding,
possibly by installing turnstiles, and the seven other stations
can be retrofitted with off-board fare payment later, Morey said.
In addition, the design of the steel-and-glass bus stations, while
featuring an arching 90-foot-long canopy, falls short of an
earlier concept that was more weatherproof. An artist rendering
provided by CDOT appears to show people, including women wearing
tank tops and shorts, waiting at a BRT station on a summer night
-- hardly the blizzard conditions that test a commuter's
commitment to using mass transit instead of driving or riding in a
taxi. Business owners complained that a more enclosed bus station
design would create obstructions and block sight lines to stores
and other retail establishments, Scheinfeld said. Another concern
is how strictly Chicago police and city traffic-control aides will
enforce drivers' compliance to stay out of the bus-only lanes.
Automated camera enforcement is used successfully in some cities
where bus rapid transit operates, but Chicago officials decided
against camera enforcement, saying the red concrete that will mark
the bus-only lanes, along with signs, should be adequate.
Violators are subject to a $90 fine under city ordinance. A
hallmark of bus rapid transit involves green lights that extend a
few extra seconds for buses near intersections, especially if the
buses are running behind schedule. But the system cannot be used
in Loop Link because it would gum up traffic on cross-streets and
other parallel streets, Scheinfeld said. Instead, CDOT will use a
queue-jump system that gives buses stopped at an intersection an
early green light to get ahead of other traffic and avoid
conflicts with vehicles that are turning right at the next block,
she said. Experts who advise cities to strive to achieve the
highest level of bus rapid transit service -- by adding as many of
the bells and whistles as possible -- predicted good results from
Loop Link, although they would have liked to see more elements
included. "I would say it will have benefits because Chicago is
making a tremendous improvement to the streets and the bus routes
that will use the infrastructure,' said Annie Weinstock, a
regional director for the Institute for Transportation and
Development Policy, which has established a global standard for
bus rapid transit design. "But it doesn't quite get there,' she
added. "There is more they could have done to really make a
splash. In a city where there has already been a lot of criticism
about BRT, you really need to do as much as possible to show the
public what BRT could be," Weinstock said. If the Ashland Avenue
bus rapid transit line is ever built, it should be connected to
the Loop Link, Weinstock said. CTA officials hope to eventually
build a bus rapid transit network consisting of numerous routes to
improve access to jobs and give Chicago an advantage over other
Midwestern cities for tourism, residents and businesses. The city
has committed to spend a total of about $150 million on Loop Link
and other transit enhancements in the downtown area. One of those
other projects is a bus transit center on what is currently a
parking lot south of Jackson Boulevard at Union Station. CDOT is
set to announce Monday that it has awarded a $20.1 million
contract to FH Paschen Construction Co. to build the facility
starting in April. The bus terminal will provide an off-street
staging point for CTA buses that currently contribute to traffic
tie-ups on Canal. The total cost of the transit center, including
land acquisition and design, is estimated at $41.5 million,
according to CDOT. On the CTA Loop "L" structure, meanwhile, CDOT
is preparing to start demolition of the Madison/Wabash station
March 16, officials said. Wabash will be closed to vehicle traffic
between Washington and Madison starting March 9, officials said,
adding that all businesses and sidewalks on Wabash will remain
accessible during the 18-month project. The estimated $75 million
project also will eliminate the Randolph/Wabash station and
replace the two outdated stations with a larger station at
Washington/Wabash. ---------- Contact Getting Around at
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:jhilkevitch@tribpub.com">jhilkevitch@tribpub.com</a> or c/o 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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