CHICAGO: Transit Developments

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by ardecila

LSD is an urgent project, since the bridges and underpasses (and the shoreline protection) are crumbling. If we're gonna rebuild the whole road, now is the time to have the important discussions about how transit should factor in before we spend billions.

Exactly.

Bus lanes on the mag mile would be gravy.

But that's not the project directly in front of us at the moment.

We gotta get the LSD redesign correct right now, before the window closes and whatever gets built is locked in for another 2+ generations.

[left of center]

Is there any way to create a dedicated BRT route along DLSD? Having the bus lanes in the left-most lane and then having them merge across 3 lanes of car traffic to make the stops sounds like a PITA that would slow the buses down during rush periods. Why not have a dedicated bus road ala the McCormick Busway, running alongside DSLD? To be clear, I am not advocating for more total road lanes. DSLD would be 6 car lanes instead of 8, with a 2 lane BRT route running along its western side. Having enclosed bus station buildings would be a nice bonus as well.

My assumption as to why this would not happen is $$$.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by left of center

Is there any way to create a dedicated BRT route along DLSD? Having the bus lanes in the left-most lane and then having them merge across 3 lanes of car traffic to make the stops sounds like a PITA that would slow the buses down during rush periods. Why not have a dedicated bus road ala the McCormick Busway, running alongside DSLD? To be clear, I am not advocating for more total road lanes. DSLD would be 6 car lanes instead of 8, with a 2 lane BRT route running along its western side. Having enclosed bus station buildings would be a nice bonus as well.

My assumption as to why this would not happen is $$$.

Not really money, it's space. A dedicated bus road to either side of DLSD would lead to a huge "footprint" along the lake, since the busway would have to flare out at every junction along the way, and a big loss of parkland that would need to be offset with lakefill elsewhere.

Granted, a 6-lane road without shoulders would be a lot smaller than the 8-lane road with shoulders that IDOT is proposing - combine the smaller road with the busway and it might even out.

I don't think merging across 3 lanes is a dealbreaker. Buses enter/exit at Hollywood, Foster, Irving Park, Belmont and Fullerton. Traffic dwindles further north and there is typically free flow; for the first three access points, traffic is not so heavy that buses can't change lanes. For the last two, I suggest rerouting those buses (134, 135, 143, 146) to a new, bus-only access at Diversey by the driving range. Southbound lanes would get elevated on a flyover, and there would be a signal intersection on the busway for buses to enter/exit.