Chicago gets FAA approval to spend $182 million on O'Hare expansion design

Tribune staff report
March 1, 2009

Chicago has received the go-ahead to spend $182 million in airline passenger ticket taxes on design drawings for a possible future expansion of O'Hare International Airport, officials said Friday.

The Federal Aviation Administration on Thursday approved the use of the ticket taxes to pay for the design of two new runways, an extension to an existing runway and a planned western passenger terminal.

Although FAA approval will allow Chicago to begin design and engineering on the remaining elements of the $15 billion O'Hare project, the major airlines still refuse to help pay for construction.

The airlines have told Chicago that they oppose more spending on the project until a re-evaluation is completed.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...,3598745.story

If people aren't opposed to genernal news here too....

American Upgrades Admirals Club Lounge At Chicago O'Hare
Mar 17, 2009 07:32 AM


American said it has completed extensive renovations to its largest Admirals Club lounge at Chicago O'Hare International Airport.

With seating for 504 customers, the 32,000-square-foot renovated Admirals Club lounge features a business center with 39 work stations and four PCs with high-speed Internet access; a walk-up cyber cafe with four PCs with high-speed Internet access; complimentary high-speed Wi-Fi access for Admirals Club members, as well as guests using a one-day pass to access the O'Hare Admirals Club facilities; and complimentary coffee, tea, soft drinks, juices and light snacks, in addition to bar services and food for purchase through the enhanced Amora food and beverage program, among other services.

Link to Story


O'Hare gets $12 million in stimulus cash
Published: 3/20/2009

Some economic stimulus cash will be trickling down to O'Hare International Airport. About $12.3 million from the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is slated for the airport, which is in the midst of a massive expansion plan, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin announced Thursday. The money will be used to repair an existing runway at O'Hare. About $1.1 billion was set aside in the stimulus package for airport modernization projects. "Rehabilitation of this runway will put Illinoisans to work immediately on a project that will contribute to the long-term ability of the O'Hare airport to serve travelers efficiently," Durbin said in a statement.

Link to Website

O'Hare expansion divides hopefuls
 

Finally some sanity in Bensenville as Village Attorney Frank Soto plans to take on John "don't meigs with us" Geils for the village Presidency.


http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...,2471278.story

By James Kimberly | Tribune reporter March 27, 2009
The specter of an expanding O'Hare International Airport is ever-present in Bensenville, as are the low-flying jets that take off and land from some of the busiest runways in the nation.

At the city limits, attached to the "Welcome to Bensenville" signs are big photographs of Chicago Mayor Richard Daley and the phrase, "Don't Meigs With Us," a reference to the downtown Chicago island airport Daley surreptitiously closed in 2003.

In the lobby of Village Hall, a videotape of Bensenville leaders at a news conference blasting the O'Hare Modernization Program plays on a loop.

Even the re-election signs for President John Geils, who is seeking a seventh term in the April 7 election, have a picture of an airplane with a circle and slash over it.

Soto, 43, believes Geils has been too singularly focused on O'Hare to the detriment of other issues in town. He said he has been knocking on doors and listening to people and that the O'Hare project is not very high on people's list of concerns.

"It isn't the first," Soto insists. "It's about the third."

Bensenville residents are more concerned about the same things that people far from the airport are concerned about—property taxes, water rates and the quality of roads and schools, he said.


Soto, an attorney who specializes in worker's compensation cases and civil litigation, grew up in Wood Dale and has lived in Bensenville nearly all his adult life. He is seeking office, he said, because he is concerned about the direction the village is headed.

Fighting the expansion of O'Hare is a losing battle, he said. The village would be better served to accept the inevitable and sit at the table with Chicago officials to negotiate terms beneficial to the community.
Bensenville should be talking about flight patterns and replacement tax dollars and maybe some state or federal money to help the local district build new schools, he said.

"The concept that we don't want to control our own destiny is going to hurt us the next four or five years, because that's when these critical decisions are going to be made," Soto said.

Geils, a fourth-generation Bensenville resident, and his family run a funeral home on York Road. Even so, he had to prove he lives in his home at 208 York Rd. in Bensenville to fend off an objection to his candidacy. During the hearings, Geils acknowledged that he spends as many as four days a week at a family resort in Green Lake, WI

jkimberly@tribune.com

^That is good news, hopefully his common sense will prevail. Bensinville has a golden opportunity to turn themselves into a second Rosemont, perfectly positioned between the new western gateway terminal and expressway extension and the Metra Station in downtown. They could be attracting a swarm of new investment and wealth but no, the current leadership has been just hell bent on fighting a battle they already lost, and bankrupting themselves in the process.

http://cbs2chicago.com/local/ohare.s....2.971081.html

Mar 30, 2009 12:52 pm US/Central

Federal Stimulus Money Flowing To O'Hare
Money Will Put People To Work On Existing Runway

CHICAGO (CBS) ― Chicago aviation officials say O'Hare International Airport will get $12 million in federal stimulus money to help improve existing infrastructure, but not for the O'Hare expansion project.

Officials, including U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), announced the money on Monday.

They say more than $5 million will be used to replace runway pavement and almost $7 million will be used to widen a taxiway.

But as for the ongoing expansion project, Rosemarie Andolino, head of the O'Hare Modernization Program, says FAA criteria bar the $15 billion project from receiving stimulus money.

One new runway opened at O'Hare in November in project's first phase.
Officials envision another runway and terminal by 2014, but the airport doesn't have funding for the second phase.

Other transportation will also benefit when the stimulus money comes in. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provides $1.3 billion for Amtrak projects nationwide, of which $80 million will be invested in Illinois.

Amtrak will use the money to rehabilitate locomotives and return train coaches to service. Amtrak officials say the funding will improve reliability during Chicago's changing seasons.

The Chicago Transit Authority will also benefit from the stimulus package. Money from the package will also go toward repairs to part of the CTA Blue Line from Washington Street to Damen Avenue. The CTA will also invest new hybrid buses.

..

$12 million is peanuts for something as complex and expensive as O'Hare Airport. I don't even know why they're reporting about it. It's basically just filling potholes... really really expensive potholes.

The new runway configuration is integral, that makes a lot of sense. I'm a little mystified by the immediate drive for a new terminal complex though. Granted, I don't regularly transit through ORD and haven't done any number-crunching. But given evidence in the articles above, why do they need a whole new complex before 2014?

UA has a tidy complex to itself and there seems to be a multitude of gates in Terminal 3 for AA. If CO moves to Terminal 1 and DL to Terminal 2 and judging from the articles, there are certainly some underused gates especially now in the downturn. If they have a fairly large, new international terminal, then who would they be building an entirely new terminal complex for?

Would UA or AA ditch their respective homes for a brand new building? Would it be for the sake of slowly paring down the east terminal complex for future redevelopment? Questions, questions.

I can see the long-term viability (they could rearrange the terminals for an ATL type setup eventually if they eliminate the NW/SE runways), but wouldn't it just be best to keep the area free of runways and develop the area in the future once it is needed and focus on runways for now?

Have they started demolition in Bensenville yet?

Also, since a large portion of their industrial tax base is being taken out, is there any plans for annexation?

Sanity prevails
 

http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/...-elmhurst.html

Voters dump mayors in Palatine, Lyons, Carpentersville, Bensenville and Waukegan
Posted by Tribune staff; last updated at 10:24 p.m.

BENSENVILLE: Challenger Frank Soto claimed victory tonight over longtime Mayor John Geils based on early returns in a village where the expansion of O'Hare International Airport continues to loom as an issue. With 11 of 14 precincts in, Soto had 70 percent.

:previous:

Wow! nice to see some NIMBY leaders getting their azzes kicked.

This is a good sign and lesson for future azzhole NIB's.

Holy cow. Must be the immigrants. ;)

Best news I've heard for a week.

Bensenville leadership changes
 

Not only did Frank Soto, challenger for Bensenville Village President cruise to a landslide victory, but so did all 4 challengers for Village Board seats and also the Village Clerk. A wholesale sweep of the old politics.

http://www.dailyherald.com/news/poli...y/bensenville/

Great Fucking News!

I'm so glad that Palatine mayor that tried to secede from Cook County is out. What a total joke of a mayor. Same with the Bensenville NIMBY.

^ The new guy, the football guy, was on NPR this morning saying he'd like to do the same... if he could figure out how.

Yet an advisory referendum to secede from Cook County passed with over 60% of the vote in Barrington, Palatine, and Hanover Townships. :yuck:

from the article:notacrook:

^ Not to get off topic, but I'd love to see somebody come in and streamroll Pat Levar like that in the next Aldermanic elections

Somewhat contradicting Bensenville also voted to "keep up the fight" with stopping O'Hare expansion last night. So that either tells that disgust with the mayor went beyond O'Hare, that people want to fight but make a settlement, or it was a save face type vote.

http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/...s-tax-mid.html
*Bensenville: continue fighting against O'Hare expansion. Yes 1,422 No 1,180 (11 of 14 precincts, advisory only)

that advisory referendum was put on the ballot by ..guess who??? Mayor Geils!. It is a way to stir up the anti O'Hare sentiment and "get out the vote". Note the margin of that referendum, 1400 for 1100 against. hardly a landslide. and anyway a question like that is the same as saying... 'Should we stop kneeling on your chest?"
Of course the residents want to "fight ohare" but they may want the fight to go in a different direction. Ot they may want to fight for a different end result.

Well this house cleaning at Bensinville Village Hall certainly made my morning :)

Its not off topic, as Levar is chairman of the city's aviation committee, and is in trouble for seeking pay to play campaign contributions from contractors working on O'Hare expansion. I don't know if the charges are serious enough to oust the fat bastard. In the last election, the spread between him and his closest challenger; Terry Boyke, was less than a 10 points in a 4-way race. Levar's biggest constituency is the "don't change my neighborhood" NIMBY crowd.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/transpo...042309.article

:cheers: :notacrook: :banana:

Finally and end to the bs lawsuits. EGV and Bensensville spent $14 millinoin and I bet Chicago spent even more. And the lost time... o well at least that part of it is over.

Southwest expands to Mitchell
 

Only somewhat related to OHare, but this thread has been dormant awhile so here ya go.

Interesting that the Southwest corporate refers to Milwaukee Mitchell as Chicago's 3rd airport.:cheers:




http://www.southwest.com/about_swa/press/prindex.html

Southwest Airlines Announces Intent to Begin Service From Milwaukee General Mitchell International Airport
Carrier Plans Start-Up with Jet Flights to Multiple Destinations in Late 2009

DALLAS, May 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Southwest Airlines today announced its intent to begin service from Milwaukee's Mitchell International Airport (MKE) late this year. The carrier has not released specific service details, but said it will offer multiple destinations from the airport of choice for business and leisure travelers who work and live across the vibrant and growing region. The new Southwest service from MKE will commence after already-announced new service to New York LaGuardia (June 28) and Boston Logan (August 16).

"I am certain our more than 90 million annual Customers will be delighted to learn they will now be able to fly Southwest Airlines when their travels take them to Milwaukee. Likewise, I look forward to bringing our great, low fare service, and the nation's largest airline network to our new friends in Milwaukee, which will also help better serve the Northern Chicago Area," said Gary Kelly, Southwest's Chairman of the Board, President, and CEO, at Southwest Airlines' Annual Meeting of Shareholders in Dallas.

"As we have previously announced, we essentially slowed our 2009 and 2010 fleet growth to zero. All of these new market opportunities are made possible without the addition of a single airplane by our continuous flight schedule optimization process," he said.

The Company plans to release more details of its future service from Milwaukee in the coming months.

"Southwest's arrival in Milwaukee will stimulate job growth, economic development, and give travelers more options they've been seeking," said Milwaukee Mitchell Airport Director Barry Bateman. "Southwest is already the dominant airline at Chicago Midway and will provide new service to the growing population of Northern Illinois and Southeastern Wisconsin, further solidifying Mitchell International as 'Chicago's Third Airport'."
To view a blog post on this news, visit: http://www.blogsouthwest.com. To visit Southwest's web site, visit: www.southwest.com.

After nearly 38 years of service, Southwest Airlines, the nation's leading low-fare carrier, continues to stand above other airlines--offering a reliable product with exemplary Customer Service with no hidden fees. Southwest Airlines is the most productive airline in the sky and offers Customers a comfortable traveling experience with all premium leather seats and plenty of legroom. Southwest recently updated its gate areas and improved its boarding procedure to make flying Southwest Airlines even more convenient. Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) currently serves 65 cities in 33 states. Based in Dallas, Southwest currently operates more than 3,300 flights a day and has more than 35,000 Employees systemwide.

http://www.southwest.com

SOURCE
Southwest Airlines

CONTACT:
Southwest Airlines, +1-214-792-4847

I don't know if any of you have been following the progress on the Elgin-O'Hare and the West Bypass, but it is progressing at a rapid pace. It will be the only new expressway in Chicagoland for probably the next decade.

Currently, there are two plans on the table. One would extend the Elgin-O'Hare along Thorndale to a western airport terminal, coupled with a complete West Bypass from 90 to 294 around the backside of O'Hare. This plan is estimated at $3.6 billion. The other plan would only complete the bypass between the Elgin-O'Hare and 294. The segment running north to 90 would be replaced by a widened Elmhurst Road and an enhanced interchange at 90. This would only cost $2.4 billion.

The Elgin-O'Hare pretty much has a fixed alignment because of the Thorndale corridor, but the West Bypass has many different alignments where it would connect to 294 and/or 90. Virtually all of them include VAST amounts of demolition, mostly of industrial areas. Am I the only one who finds the prospect of such demolition to be a little scary?

Latest Maps (look at the "Exhibits" for the alignment maps)
http://elginohare-westbypass.org/Des...iedForwardMemo

While corridors and rights-of-way should be preserved for the eventual long term need/benefit of this project, there are so many other pressing needs in the region for $3+ billion in transportation infrastructure investment I don't even know where to begin.

Yes but the Elgin-O'Hare Express Way goes to neither Elgin nor O'Hare at this point in time. Let's try to finish a project first within ones short lifetime on this planet.

If you think that's a poor use of money, you should see the transit options that RTA is considering in this corridor.

I'm not sure how USDOT will operate under Obama/LaHood, but currently, highways and transit come from separate sources, correct? The funding of this project would not negatively impact transit projects in the region. If this does not change, then I see this as being near the top of the list for highway projects. The only thing more pressing would be the widening of the Eisenhower between Mannheim and Austin.

Yes, it's different pots of money. But $3 billion would go a long way with much-needed modernization projects that would do more to unlock congestion - signal interconnects, grade separations, interchange rebuilds to fix 1950s-era ramp geometry, etc. etc.

^^^Link to those RTA options..I know its a bit OT

STAR Line is the biggy - and ardec's right, it's a notably more absurd proposal than the E-O.

^ Serious? You support the STAR Line?

I'm surprised...

Re-read my comment.

There's also a planned light-rail line running along the new Elgin-O'Hare then up 290 to Woodfield, giving the O'Hare area TWO new rail links to Woodfield. :koko:

Also included in the plans are some, much more sensible, plans for express buses and bus lanes on the highways. Mr. Downtown has imagined a decent set of express bus routes for the Northwest Corridor that serves most large employers along 90 and links them to the River Road station on the Blue Line.

What really bothers me about these suburban developments..is that it would seem to make more sense and be cheaper to increase frequency....ie decrease I think it is called "head" time...on routes in areas where the density more supports regular ridership.

For one increase frequency of trains on Metra lines that serve the city on weekends....

Increase the frequency of trains on fridays to 1 every .5 hours or so...on the North line....

Make the brown line 24 hours

Consider making Orange line 24 hours...

Extend time on the purple line ..including express serivce throughout day....maybe add a couple stops at old AB stations on redline



just thoughts

The recent article in the Tribune seemed to indicate that ridership has increased...especially in areas that are more central within the L ridership area....focus development there by simply running more trains

Also I think Metra could do a better job at weekend coverage as stated above

I think "headway". But you must have had a very nice Friday night...

Agreed. IMO getting rid of the horrible Eisenhower bottleneck once and for all is the single most pressing transportation issue in the region, besides the obvious larger picture things like CREATE and a better CTA.

But above even Elgin-O'Hare I am surprised that the Kennedy-Edens junction bottleneck is not also a more pressing issue. Inbound on any given weekday is an hour or more from O'Hare to downtown or from Lake Cook to downtown. Talk about discouraging people from the north or west, mostly big earners up there too, from coming into the city in the afternoons and evenings. No wonder those suburbs are booming with new restaurants!

I agree with BNK though we need to get the Elgin-O'Hare expressway actually finished once and for all. But fixing the amazingly absurd Eisenhower bottleneck would certainly serve a LOT more people.

BTW does anyone know if the idea to get rid of the express lanes on the Kennedy has ever been knocked around? It is horribly outdated, especially when you have more people trying to get into the city in the afternoons than out. And it encourages sprawl. Why live in the city when a reverse commute is actually WORSE. And the express lanes require four shoulder lanes total, so you are talking about a huge waste of space too that could be dedicated to actual transportation. There are multiple reasons why it just doesn't work anymore. Has anyone even brought this up at ANY meeting? I sit and watch in awe every afternoon on gcmtravel.com as I see the unbelievable travel times for people if they are coming into the city from anywhere north or west of it.

Metra already provides a good option in the UP-NW line, with frequent trains in both directions during AM and PM rush hours. Serious congestion begins where 90 and 190 merge, so Rosemont and Cumberland on the Blue Line offer last-chance options to ditch the car and take transit. Pace could probably be doing a better job with bus connections from Rosemont, but you can't say there aren't good alternatives to driving in the corridor.

Most people who are driving on the Edens or Kennedy at this point are people who obviously can AFFORD to spend so much time sitting in traffic in exchange for the comforts and convenience of an auto. Highway engineers would blame the severe congestion on the city's decision not to build the Crosstown back in the 70s.

Turning the reversible lanes into HOV has been tossed around, but IDOT is resistant to the whole idea of HOV, so they've always dismissed it. Design-wise, it would be challenging to turn the reversible lanes into regular lanes, because of the Blue Line tracks. The configuration of inbound-reversible-tracks-outbound means that there are more lanes on the inbound side than the outbound, or vice versa; they can't be split evenly between the travel directions without completely rebuilding the Blue Line.

North of the junction, I don't think it's a good idea to widen the Kennedy or Edens. Both highways are 3 lanes deliberately, to reduce traffic volume to capacity levels that the junction, and the Kennedy south of it, can handle. The situation on the Eisenhower is different, since 290 and 88 send 10 lanes into 6 lanes, which widens again to 8 lanes at Austin. I.e., it is a "true" bottleneck. The highway was built this way because it was assumed that an extra lane would be needed to handle traffic from Oak Park. Today, however, Oak Park has transit options that further-out suburbs can only dream of, so their special lane gets extended to serve the traffic from farther out.

Sure I can. I mean we are talking about reverse commute traffic. Metra is great for commuting INTO the LOOP from a suburban parking lot that people drive to get to in the first place. It is horrible for the opposite, and for obvious reasons. If you live in the city and have to work in the suburbs, forget it, you are driving 99% of the time. Just think about it. Most people first of all don't live in the Loop or near a Metra station. In fact I don't even no a single person that lives in the Loop, everyone I know lives in some neighborhood nowhere near a Metra station. So in order to even leave the city they have to somehow get to a Metra station on the exact right line, which 9 times out of 10 probably means they need to get their ass to Union Station. This means a commute to the Loop to begin with, just to begin to leave the city. Once they reach the Loop, they better be on time for the train leaving for the suburbs. After that, forget it. What percent of jobs are centered around suburban Metra stations and are walkable, or near a Pace bus station. In fact, even if it is near a Pace bus station I don't expect any human being to take the L to the Loop, which doesn't even have a stop at Union Station, so they have to get out and walk several blocks to get to Union Station, then transfer to Metra, then transfer to Pace, and do the whole thing over again back home. Unless they don't mind commuting half the day. Even if someone has an apartment in Union Station, if that were possible, you are still 9 times out of 10 stuck once you get out to the suburbs unless you have a car waiting for you.

Personally speaking, I have two friends who live in the city and work in the suburbs. And I know that it is not uncommon. These are young, able bodied men who are well aware of the alternatives to driving, and have TRIED THEM. I doubt there is a single soul who reverse commutes every day who, sitting with nothing but brake lights in front of them as far as the eye can see, has not thought of every alternative way to NOT be in the hellhole situation that they are currently sitting in. And saying that they should just move out of the city and to the suburbs is not a solution we should encourage. Saying they should get another job would also be ridiculous. Saying that they should buy a car and have it parked out in the suburbs at the Metra lots and move near to Union Station is even moreso. I'm not saying that you're saying these things but I have heard these "alternatives" brought up before. IMO these aren't real "alternatives" and they do nothing to solve the big picture problem.

In fact, what this impossibly horrible inbound traffic for reverse commuters does is encourage sprawl, because yes, the easiest (and cheapest) alternative to all this is just plain and simply move out of the city, and get a place out in the suburbs. In fact that is what my friends will be doing, and they feel almost forced to. We are forcing people out of the city by effectively making it very difficult to get back into it for anyone that lives here. I'm not sure why this is being dismissed by IDOT. Perhaps once the Tollway constructions projects are all complete it will free up so many construction workers that we may see a solution proposed though.

So yeah, I hope that they start looking at solutions to the problem of bottlenecks that Chicago has. Especially when we are talking about city dwelling folks. Having 6 lanes go into 4 lanes is a bottleneck and backs up the entire Kennedy and Edens every afternoon here. It's basically a giant finger from IDOT every afternoon for people that live in the city or want to get into it. Perhaps this is why it isn't pressing though to them, because they figure these are city folks who "can take transit." There are multiple reasons they aren't, not the least of which is how there is no real mass transit once they get out to the suburbs where they work (nor should there have to be with such low density).

Maybe, maybe not. Maybe they have no choice. Getting to Union Station and getting dropped off at a Metra station in the burbs where you bought an extra car that is parked out there, just to get to work, may be asking way too much of your average commuter. Either way rationalizing it that they can "afford" to just sit in hours of traffic every day does nothing to solve the actual problem.

Yes. Is this on the table at all?

I've noticed this. But there is no such thing as "can't" in my book. It is always said by people who have given up it seems (not saying this is you personally). I have been told I can't do certain things my whole life and I always at least look for a solution and am able to find ways. When I've seen what they've done creatively with highways in Texas and California, building up rather than just out, I just can't take "can't" seriously when I come back here and none of the highways are three dimensional save for interchanges, and there are so many bottlenecks that are clearly outdated.

Why can't they widen the northbound only then? Northbound is backed up consistently at all hours of the day on the Kennedy (but rarely the Edens). So free up capacity there. It would keep 90/94 moving better, and the Kennedy widens to 4 lanes at Cumberland anyways. Clearly there is a disharmony in capacity demand and the highway demand for each is no longer equal. Is there some law that states you have to have equal lanes on both sides? Curious. I would think they could adjust for modern demand.

The Clinton Street Subway is designed to provide a direct connection to Union Station or Ogilvie for North, Northwest, and West Side residents.

Not many major employers are clustered near Metra stations, I will admit. However, I think people ought to pay a penalty if they choose a job that is too far from their home. Regardless of whether that person takes transit or drives, they are still doing something unsustainable. I realize that reverse-commuting has allowed for far more growth in the city than would be possible if everybody worked downtown, but there has to be a price.

Since when does "moving to the suburbs" equal "encouraging sprawl"? If your friends have jobs on the urban frontier in Hampshire or Huntley or something, they REALLY shouldn't be living in the city. If they are moving to established suburbs like, say, Arlington Heights, then I don't see how that is encouraging sprawl. It's bringing new residents and money into towns that are increasingly making progressive choices about parks, bike trails, etc

Only as an exclusively-truck highway, to remove the fumes of trucks passing through from the Central Area.

Equal lanes makes sense. Everybody commuting one way in the morning commutes in the opposite direction in the afternoon.

Also, I wouldn't say that there is unequal demand. It's hard to assess that just by looking at it. The inbound may be moving smoothly while the outbound grinds to a halt, but the express lanes have a hand in the smooth flow of the inbound.

Finally, the Kennedy only widens to 8 lanes to provide a merging lane for the cloverleaf at Cumberland and the ramps to 190 towards O'Hare. After 190 splits off, it's back to 6 lanes.

If land use in the suburbs weren't so crappy it wouldn't be necessary to compound bad decisions by building ever more infrastructure that would be underutilized most hours of the week. Employment centers shouldn't be in locations inaccessibly to transit to begin with. I don't see why ever more urban fabric should be replaced with pavement because the suburbs can't pull their heads out of their ass when it comes to land use planning. Locate jobs where they'll be accessible, and not necessitate ever more infrastructure. Highways are relatively unscalable and achieve diminishing marginal returns from additional lanes after the 3rd lane. You can always increase frequencies on rail lines, which take up much less real estate anyway. Just wait until the reverse commute congestion gets so bad that suburban employers and village councils start thinking differently about the geographic nature of their jobs and transportation investments.

I agree with Viva's theme. Long term the problem is largely in that suburbs are not building much of their commercial buildings near Metra stations. A recent case in point is that in the last year in Glenview in the Glen they built two five story's office buildings facing Willow Road leading into the new Glen development. Those buildings are only about a half mile from he Glen station are on the same road and there is no perceptible reason why they wouldn't have worked nearly as well if built by the station. The development it is just far enough so that anyone who works there will not dream of walking to their office everyday. Potentially there could have be a 10 story office building across from the Metra station that would have been an anchor but instead it is surrounded by cheep two story buildings. Alas, anyone living south of Glenview (including some reverse commuters from the city) will be driving. The fact that suburbs still today engage in such blatant disregard of zoning and don't attempt to make their Metra stations anything other then park and rides to downtown Chicago is a complete waste.

If suburbs planned well and built new employment centers around Metra stations then ideally Chicago could do its part and also zone for a variety of residential TOD's around its primary Metra stations near Jefferson Park, Clybourn station, Western Ave, Ravenswood etc. for people who city residents who want to reverse commute but given that relatively little commercial space is built around most Metra lines the demand is likely not even there for developers to build for such people. The circle line also would help with such theoretical reverse commuting but again until the burbs do their part in building a good chunk of their employment base near their stations all other efforts are wasted.


edit: just realized this is the O'Hare and not transit thread and we are getting a bit off topic.

It won't get any worse, since there is a steady stream of Chicago residents who are pushed out to the suburbs just to avoid spending 10-15 hours a week commuting.

Most people don't "choose" a job in the traditional way we define choice. Once out in the workforce, most people quickly learn that the mutual choice theory of employment is for the most part myth. People do, however, choose where they live. Chicago is fortunate enough to appeal to people that are forced to work elsewhere, but choose to live here. I am not sure how penalizing them accomplishes anything, besides pushes people out to the suburbs. I guess it also contributes to smog, pollution, aggrevation, and a massive waste of time and money. As for working where one lives, not everyone in a metro area of 10 million people can live in Oakbrook, Schaumburg, O'Hare, or the Loop, and we're really not at a point where we can start to subdivide metro areas to resemble small, self-contained towns of 10,000 people.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sour...75016&t=k&z=14

Silver Spring, MD. Employment District concentrated around the multimodal Metro/MARC stop (serving employees who live to the south or north), with two 6-lane arterials connecting it to adjacent expressway (each serving inbound employees from the west and east, respectively). Bethesda is similar, as are Ballston and Rosslyn in VA.

Not rocket science. Similar planning could have been done in the I-90, I-294, and I-88 corridors.

Cool. Any place to get information on this?

I strongly disagree. In fact I don't think I've ever met anyone that has the liberty in their field to choose exactly where they work. If they do, more power to them, but I think this is the exception not the rule. I am a physician and Radiology is a high demand field, and even I can't do that, and there are hospitals scattered all over the place. I took what I could get, and luckily this happened to be at Rush. Especially with today's economy, people find the best or many times the ONLY job that they can and they should not "pay a penalty" if they happen to find a job in the suburbs and they have a home in the city.

Now if they have to move closer to work, so be it, even though moving is a huge pain I don't expect people to do lightly, but most of the jobs are in the suburbs, so you are just really encouraging people to not live in the city especially as the suburban job base continues to grow and the problem of getting back into the city in the afternoons continues to get worse.

Equal lanes only make sense if there is equal congestion, right? In the case of the Kennedy this is not true. Which is why we have express lanes in the first place, no?

Even if you build all of the suburban Chicago jobs within walking distance of a Metra station, which will never happen, you still face the problem that transit from city to suburb is not multi-modal and people have to either get themselves on the right Metra line at the right time, or much more likely they have to face a second commute to the Loop just to get to Union Station in the first place! et's be real here. It's easy to talk about this stuff as a planner but can you imagine how bad that would suck on a daily basis? This is why the vast majority of reverse commuters drive and will continue to do so.

A traditional commute from suburb to Loop is a different story, if someone is lucky enough to have that combination of home and employment. Consider themselves very very lucky. Take the Metra then, it works. It does what it is designed to do (go figure!). But having private suburban businesses who may not even have that much money to begin with build near a Metra station may not just be impractical, it may not even be possible. Encourage it, yes, but don't blame them if they don't comply. Not ever company is Motorolla and has an unlimited pocketbook, most people work for a small businesses on a tight budget. Plus you trade accesibility to commuter rail for less parking, in general. Since most people drive, this tradeoff wouldn't make sense for most business owners.

Either way, this is a collection of some of the most diverse people and businesses on the planet. This is still a free market economy so what you will see happen, rather than suburban employers "starting to think differently about the geographic nature of their investments," whatever that means no offense (I'm sure just about every suburban business has thought more than thoroughly about issues such as access, parking, location, and cost--if they haven't then they shouldn't be in business!), you will instead just see the suburbs and exurbs continue to boom with housing stock. The easiest solution on an individual level is for me to pick up my bags and get one of those shiny new houses in the exurbs. After all, they aren't going to fix the inbound junction anytime soon, right?

Maybe that's what you want though? Not really sure. But right now every policy we have encourages sprawl including this one. We have a commuter rail system that is good only if you live in the suburbs and have a car (AND a job downtown), and you have a highway system that is designed specifically to discourage living in the city if you, like most people, have a job in the suburbs. So no, I don't agree that we should just continue to keep the Kennedy and Edens inbound a bright red slow zone every afternoon on purpose when the problem is clearly not a limited amount of lanes, but instead is due to a severe junctional bottleneck secondary to archaic design.

I agree. I think right now it is about as worse as it can possibly get and any added commuters will not even deal with it. If you watch gcmtravel.com, the entire north/west inbound system on any given afternoon is red all the way from Lake Cook and/or O'Hare to the Edens/Kennedy junction. Red = 0-15 mph. (!) So yes, we have a highway system that inbound on Edens and Kennedy is literally a parking lot every afternoon. I don't see how it could get much worse. I know personally if I had a job on the west or north side, that is the day I will have to say goodbye to my beloved city unfortunately because I will never put up with that.

This seems to be a Chicago-only problem BTW. No other system that I know of, and I have lived in Manhattan and reverse commuted to Jersey back when I was in my early 20's, has something that is setup so specifically for bedroom community AM commuters at the specific and stark expense of city dwellers in a city the size of Chicago. Chicago is designed like Minneapolis yet it is not Minneapolis, it is Chicago. It may have made sense 30 years ago but it makes no sense today. Just my 2 cents.

I've see the income info for doctors of radiology - if you're not willing to hold out for a good location, it's because you've placed a higher value on things other than your commuting lifestyle.

With the exception of some factory workers, most middle class and above people whose jobs are typically located in a fixed location could arrange their lives to support a city life. Those who feel they have no choice but to take suburban job simply value something higher than a city lifestyle. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, just be honest with yourself and others that you made that choice and weren't forced into it.