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Western Avenue Subway
Posted by:
Jeff_Weiner
()
Date: September 06, 2015 07:34PM
It's been a while, and the material will probably be uncovered when we move to the farm, but I was looking at the ChicagoL.org site, and could find nothing about this. I saw it in a reprint The Electric Railway Journal, and have a vague recollection of a mention of express tracks, but even just two tracks for half of the ~24 miles of Western within the City would be really expensive.
Still, in mentioning peripheral rapid transit routes, this one would be a pip. It would cross every major radial route out of the Loop. Connections might be a bit more difficult, except at Western and the Eisenhower, but it would cover what had been a major express bus route, and what would be a major proposed BRT route.
Anyone else ever read about this?
Still, in mentioning peripheral rapid transit routes, this one would be a pip. It would cross every major radial route out of the Loop. Connections might be a bit more difficult, except at Western and the Eisenhower, but it would cover what had been a major express bus route, and what would be a major proposed BRT route.
Anyone else ever read about this?
Re: Western Avenue Subway
Posted by:
Richard Stachowski
()
Date: September 06, 2015 07:56PM
[b]say more. don't understand.[/b]
Re: Western Avenue Subway
Posted by:
Richard Stachowski
()
Date: September 06, 2015 08:34PM
[b]never a subway on western ave. there was a western line crossing fullerton at about 700 west . see encyclopedia chicago "maps" elevated lines.[/b]
Re: Western Avenue Subway
Posted by:
Jeff_Weiner
()
Date: September 06, 2015 10:16PM
It was proposed, Richard. A lot like the Second Avenue subway was proposed for years, but never started, until now. There's no mention of it at the L website, so maybe it was considered too expensive to contemplate. I just wondered if anyone else had heard of it.
Re: Western Avenue Subway
Posted by:
PKDickman
()
Date: September 07, 2015 12:12PM
How long ago are you talking about?
Early on in Circle line planning, using Western was one of the options.
As far as I can tell, even back then, the fix was in to use Ashland. It still continues with the BRT plans.
Up here in my section, we argued hard that a route from the Armitage station, past Clybourn station and down Western was a more effective option, The only shortcoming would be the need for a new Western ave stop on Lake St.
Although, even then, I thought a better investment would be connecting the two airports with a line along the freight ROW that runs NS over in the K streets.
Early on in Circle line planning, using Western was one of the options.
As far as I can tell, even back then, the fix was in to use Ashland. It still continues with the BRT plans.
Up here in my section, we argued hard that a route from the Armitage station, past Clybourn station and down Western was a more effective option, The only shortcoming would be the need for a new Western ave stop on Lake St.
Although, even then, I thought a better investment would be connecting the two airports with a line along the freight ROW that runs NS over in the K streets.
Re: Western Avenue Subway
Posted by:
Richard Stachowski
()
Date: September 07, 2015 11:05PM
[b]Never heard of seond ave in Chicago. Where is it.[/b]
Re: Western Avenue Subway
Posted by:
Jeff_Weiner
()
Date: September 08, 2015 01:23AM
Richard Stachowski Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Never heard of seond ave in Chicago. Where is it.
Not Chicago, Richard. New York. They've been planning to build this route for at least 80 years!
-------------------------------------------------------
> Never heard of seond ave in Chicago. Where is it.
Not Chicago, Richard. New York. They've been planning to build this route for at least 80 years!
Re: Western Avenue Subway
Posted by:
Jeff_Weiner
()
Date: September 20, 2015 08:42PM
PKDickman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> How long ago are you talking about?
>
> Early on in Circle line planning, using Western
> was one of the options.
> As far as I can tell, even back then, the fix was
> in to use Ashland. It still continues with the BRT
> plans.
>
> Up here in my section, we argued hard that a route
> from the Armitage station, past Clybourn station
> and down Western was a more effective option, The
> only shortcoming would be the need for a new
> Western ave stop on Lake St.
>
> Although, even then, I thought a better investment
> would be connecting the two airports with a line
> along the freight ROW that runs NS over in the K
> streets.
The original article ran in 1915, I think, and I may have seen something that was from 1920 about it. Can't be sure without having my hands on the reprints, so if anyone knows of any online archives, maybe I can find it.
The line you speak of is mostly the Belt Railway of Chicago. I don't know how much traffic it see these days, but when I was a kid on the SW Side, it was fairly active. Since one of the proposed routes for the Crosstown Expressway appeared to wipe that line out, I have to wonder what would replace it. Now, if the right-of-way is wide enough, it might be possible to run a rapid transit line side-by-side with the freight tracks at the same grade, although it would probably be better if the L was, well, elevated above the BRC trackage.
-------------------------------------------------------
> How long ago are you talking about?
>
> Early on in Circle line planning, using Western
> was one of the options.
> As far as I can tell, even back then, the fix was
> in to use Ashland. It still continues with the BRT
> plans.
>
> Up here in my section, we argued hard that a route
> from the Armitage station, past Clybourn station
> and down Western was a more effective option, The
> only shortcoming would be the need for a new
> Western ave stop on Lake St.
>
> Although, even then, I thought a better investment
> would be connecting the two airports with a line
> along the freight ROW that runs NS over in the K
> streets.
The original article ran in 1915, I think, and I may have seen something that was from 1920 about it. Can't be sure without having my hands on the reprints, so if anyone knows of any online archives, maybe I can find it.
The line you speak of is mostly the Belt Railway of Chicago. I don't know how much traffic it see these days, but when I was a kid on the SW Side, it was fairly active. Since one of the proposed routes for the Crosstown Expressway appeared to wipe that line out, I have to wonder what would replace it. Now, if the right-of-way is wide enough, it might be possible to run a rapid transit line side-by-side with the freight tracks at the same grade, although it would probably be better if the L was, well, elevated above the BRC trackage.
