95th Red Line Station Rebuild

[garmon757]

12 hours ago, andrethebusman said:

In case nobody posted before, the remaining buses using the west terminal are leaving via State-91st-Lafayette-95th.

That's correct. However, starting tonight routes that are utilizing the west side of the station are going to be switched over to the east side of the station while the west side will be closed until Dec 15th or completion. Eastbound #95 will be relocated to the southeast corner of 95th and State. 

[Tcmetro]

Red Line 63/Ashland service will no longer run starting next Monday (11/27)

 

http://www.transitchicago.com/travel_information/alert_detail.aspx?AlertId=44991

[Tcmetro]

CTA latest advisory says 63/Ashland Red line won't run on Friday, so I guess it officially ended an hour ago or so. 

 

http://www.transitchicago.com/travel_information/alert_detail.aspx?AlertId=45016

[Busjack]

Another thing from my travels: From the expressway, it looks like the south station house is covered with insulation board and aluminum panels are being installed over it.

[misterb]

This station work is quite intense. Looking forward to seeing the finished product.

[Mr.cta85]

As a bus operator I'm excited how the break room is going to look lol hopefully more room ???? lol.

[artthouwill]

30 minutes ago, Mr.cta85 said:

As a bus operator I'm excited how the break room is going to look lol hopefully more room ???? lol.

Isn't that  primarily for the RAIL operators?  Seemingly  there wouldn't be  enough space, let alone time, for bus operators  too.

[Mr.cta85]

23 hours ago, artthouwill said:

Isn't that  primarily for the RAIL operators?  Seemingly  there wouldn't be  enough space, let alone time, for bus operators  too.

Well technically yea it is for the rail operators and flagmen but bus Operators go there too to have their fallback. I'm sure the new place will be bigger for both bus and rail lol.

[garmon757]

On 1/18/2018 at 1:40 PM, Mr.cta85 said:

Well technically yea it is for the rail operators and flagmen but bus Operators go there too to have their fallback. I'm sure the new place will be bigger for both bus and rail lol.

Hell, if Forest Park can allow Pace operators and K-9 guards inside the train room then it seems like any terminal can! 

[andrethebusman]

Door to 95th trainroom can be opened by either bus or rail key. Most likely since soon after 103rd garage opened and they started making bus reliefs there. There is also a separate bus driver washroom next to the trainroom door at main level.

[Mr.cta85]

On 1/20/2018 at 9:02 AM, andrethebusman said:

Door to 95th trainroom can be opened by either bus or rail key. Most likely since soon after 103rd garage opened and they started making bus reliefs there. There is also a separate bus driver washroom next to the trainroom door at main level.

Exactly sir!!!

[BusHunter]

Passed by yesterday on 95th. Looks like they are building the mezzanine part of the south bus terminal south of the 95th bridge.

Now that the 130th extension seems be a possible reality by 2026, I wonder what purpose a North and South bus terminal would have considering most bus routes would terminate south of there. Maybe they should try to incorporate a park n ride garage there instead of a south bus terminal but that probably wouldn't be realistic until 2026. Still though too bad they couldn't mod the plans to change over to a park n ride in the future. You could still have a dedicated drop off point maybe even have an uber drop off point and utilize the future traffic light that would be on the south side of the street there for that terminal. It does sound ingenious and would put to good use what infrastructure they would have.

[Busjack]

8 hours ago, BusHunter said:

Now that the 130th extension seems be a possible reality by 2026, I wonder what purpose a North and South bus terminal would have

What I thought about 6 years ago.

8 hours ago, BusHunter said:

Maybe they should try to incorporate a park n ride garage there

The real problem with that is that there isn't any access to 95th from either I-57 or I-94 from the south. Again, about 40 years ago, there were proposals to build garages over the Dan Ryan at 87th and/or 79th, where there are ramps, but nothing happened. Is anybody using the Garfield-Green Line park and ride?

Also, just as the bus terminals are supposed to move south, the stations, such as at 115th-Michigan and 130th are also supposed to have park and ride facilities.

Personally, I have the feeling that CTA is building another Ashland-63 dinosaur, and unlike say at Harlem-Higgins or Midway, people are not willing to park their cars on the far south side.

[BusHunter]

So what, the residents feel it's not safe to park cars there? (95th) Garfield park n ride would most likely serve Hyde park but why park when you can ride a #6. That's the issue for that lot. 95th would make sense if they built a ramp for it from the south. But they would have to build two ramps one for I-94 and I-57. Does anyone think 130th to downtown is a long commute. Is it farther than OHare to downtown. They really need to bring back skip stop service or incorporate an express track because you are starting to get into Metra territory in terms of the distance. The Dan Ryan with it's 7 or 8 lanes of traffic seems to move well, better than the Kennedy, so basically the issues out south are gas and downtown parking. That may be one of the issues cta out south is trying to beat.

 

[Busjack]

8 minutes ago, BusHunter said:

So what, the residents feel it's not safe to park cars there? (95th) Garfield park n ride would most likely serve Hyde park but why park when you can ride a #6.

The justification CTA gave for the Garfield Green Line one was that people would get off the Dan Ryan to use it. That was also the implied justification for the proposed 87th or 79th ones. None were for people in the neighborhood. Hyde Parkers were not going to drive to Garfield and Prairie. Most of that community consists of people associated with the U of C that do no rely on cars. As you note, they can take the #6 bus, and if they really want to take the Ls could take the #55 bus. Some are taking the Metra Electric.

 

12 minutes ago, BusHunter said:

That may be one of the issues cta out south is trying to beat.

The only thing Emanuel is trying to do is buy votes by promising that city residents from about 103rd to 127th won't have to take a bus ride to transfer at 95th, and would save some time that way. Deleting my editorial gloss of "buy votes," that's essentially what CTA said.

[artthouwill]

1 hour ago, BusHunter said:

So what, the residents feel it's not safe to park cars there? (95th) Garfield park n ride would most likely serve Hyde park but why park when you can ride a #6. That's the issue for that lot. 95th would make sense if they built a ramp for it from the south. But they would have to build two ramps one for I-94 and I-57. Does anyone think 130th to downtown is a long commute. Is it farther than OHare to downtown. They really need to bring back skip stop service or incorporate an express track because you are starting to get into Metra territory in terms of the distance. The Dan Ryan with it's 7 or 8 lanes of traffic seems to move well, better than the Kennedy, so basically the issues out south are gas and downtown parking. That may be one of the issues cta out south is trying to beat.

 

Actually you have 6 lanes of traffic ( 3 from the Bishop Ford that merges into 2 before the Ryan merge and 3 lanes from I 57 which also merges into 2 lanes before the Ryan merge) that merge into 5 lanes from 95th to the Skyway.  From downtown you have 5 lanes expanding to 7 until the Skyway, then contracting back to 5 lanes from the Skyway to 95th.  Traffic from the Bishop Ford and I 57 are nightmares just getting to the Dan Ryan.

While the distance from 130th may be comparable to the distance from zO'Hare, most of the O'Hare and Edema traffic is going downtown while a lot of the South side traffic is continuing, west, nw, or north, which creates the heavy reverse commute traffic flow.  This also applies to transit, especially the Blue Line to ORD.

The only possible loser in the Red Line extension is the Metra Electric, which could lose riders between  Kensington and Harvey to Pace and CTA.

Here is an interesting  take on the Garfield  park n ride.  There are a lot of people who drive and park  near 40th and Indiana and ride the Green Line downtown.  Where these people come from is beyond me.  But parking is at a premium  around there during the week. Perhaps CTA hopes to have those people park at Garfield  instead.  Unlike the Red Line, seats are more available.

[BusHunter]

I'm surprised they don't try and link up the south shore with a connection at or around 130th. It would seem to make sense and if the south shore had a delay or weather related incident there is an alternate. Now they might be able to bank off a huge park n ride at 130th which they'll probably build. I've seen the bishop ford in the morning and it does back up around the curves. That would partially address a park n ride at 95th but 130th doesn't serve I-57 traffic. 

Maybe Indiana/Green the customers feel is safer. It is gentrified over there with people of all incomes. But they have lots of parkers that park along avondale by addison blue line. It's like a make believe park n ride.

[BusHunter]

18 hours ago, Busjack said:

The justification CTA gave for the Garfield Green Line one was that people would get off the Dan Ryan to use it. That was also the implied justification for the proposed 87th or 79th ones. None were for people in the neighborhood. Hyde Parkers were not going to drive to Garfield and Prairie. Most of that community consists of people associated with the U of C that do no rely on cars. As you note, they can take the #6 bus, and if they really want to take the Ls could take the #55 bus. Some are taking the Metra Electric.

 

The only thing Emanuel is trying to do is buy votes by promising that city residents from about 103rd to 127th won't have to take a bus ride to transfer at 95th, and would save some time that way. Deleting my editorial gloss of "buy votes," that's essentially what CTA said.

Yeah it seems to be on the fast track lately. Hopefully it's not all smoke and mirrors. But people out south are savvy and smart too. If they don't see a ground breaking then it's not happening yet. That will hurt his election chances. We have been promised rail extensions for the last 20 years and got zippo. So he has to stand and deliver so to speak if he wants to try and get back their votes.

[andrethebusman]

If you look at State St south of 95th midday, there is a solid line of parked cars ne4xt to the park sometimes all the way to 99th. This is mostly park-n-ride. A parking deck at 95th would be full every day. Yes, a bit of a hassle off the Ford, much less off I-57. But correcting that would be quite expensive, I'm afraid.

[qwantae]

On 3/1/2018 at 3:05 PM, BusHunter said:

So what, the residents feel it's not safe to park cars there? (95th) Garfield park n ride would most likely serve Hyde park but why park when you can ride a #6. That's the issue for that lot. 95th would make sense if they built a ramp for it from the south. But they would have to build two ramps one for I-94 and I-57. Does anyone think 130th to downtown is a long commute. Is it farther than OHare to downtown. They really need to bring back skip stop service or incorporate an express track because you are starting to get into Metra territory in terms of the distance. The Dan Ryan with it's 7 or 8 lanes of traffic seems to move well, better than the Kennedy, so basically the issues out south are gas and downtown parking. That may be one of the issues cta out south is trying to beat.

 

Remember Red Line riders use Jewel-Osco farther Parking lot on 87th& Lafayette, there were a lot of issues with Car break-ins, I even witnessed it by watched two teenagers broke couple of cars window back in 2013, I was lucky enough because it happened while I got in my car from got off the Train.  

[Busjack]

4 minutes ago, qwantae said:

Remember Red Line riders use Jewel-Osco farther Parking lot on 87th& Lafayette, there were a lot of issues with Car break-ins, I even witnessed it by watched two teenagers broke couple of cars window back in 2013, I was lucky enough because it happened while I got in my car from got off the Train.  

Aren't people parking on private property afraid they are going to get towed?

[qwantae]

1 minute ago, Busjack said:

Aren't people parking on private property afraid they are going to get towed?

I guess the ones that are on the Boot List are not. 

[artthouwill]

10 minutes ago, Busjack said:

Aren't people parking on private property afraid they are going to get towed?

Never crossed my mind when parking there.  It was a very popular parking area for CTA riders.   It also served as a parking area for casino bus riders, prison bus riders, and other charter passengers.  Generally it didn't  interfere with shoppers.  Maybe once or twice you might get a parking sticker but too many cars to try to tow them all.  Besides, Jewel benefits from getting some of  those people to shop after  work.

[cta5658]

This just crossed my mind, I've been noticing that 34, 119, 111, 115, 95, 108 and 112 buses aren't going into the northern part of 95th and NB 103 and 106 buses are now routed from Michigan, 99th and State to 95th/Dan Ryan. Is it me or is the south terminal open? Because I've been noticing this on Bus Tracker

 

[cta5658]

Ok, today I went to check out the progress of the south terminal at 95th and I see that the N5, N9, 29, 34, 95, 108, 111, 112, 115, 119 will be at the south terminal from what I've seen and the North Terminal might have the 100, 103 and 106 when it's all said and done.