If I ran Transit for one day...

[artthouwill]

If the Chicago Bears wind up choosing Wolf Lake Park  in Hammond as the site for their new stadium,  it will be great for the area.  However transit is lacking in the area and that would need immediate addressing.

 

One idea would be to run express buses from downtown via the Skyway.   Another possibility is to extend the South Chicago Metra branch into Indiana.  

It's too bad CTA never built a line along the abandoned right of way next to the Skyway.  That could have been extended to the proposed stadium site.   

 

Could Amtrak run game day trains ( or even Metra) from Union Station to the Hammond Amtrak station at Calumet Ave?  Maybe CTA or Pace or even GPTC or contracted private charters could shuttle to(from the stadium,  assuming that the Bears choose Hammond over Arlington Heights.    

That would still be 3 to 5 years away but something that should be considered. 

[Busjack]

1 hour ago, artthouwill said:

If the Chicago Bears wind up choosing Wolf Lake Park  in Hammond as the site for their new stadium,  it will be great for the area.  However transit is lacking in the area and that would need immediate addressing.

 

One idea would be to run express buses from downtown via the Skyway.   Another possibility is to extend the South Chicago Metra branch into Indiana.  

It's too bad CTA never built a line along the abandoned right of way next to the Skyway.  That could have been extended to the proposed stadium site.   

 

Could Amtrak run game day trains ( or even Metra) from Union Station to the Hammond Amtrak station at Calumet Ave?  Maybe CTA or Pace or even GPTC or contracted private charters could shuttle to(from the stadium,  assuming that the Bears choose Hammond over Arlington Heights.    

That would still be 3 to 5 years away but something that should be considered. 

You forgot the obvious solution--the South Shore Hammond Gateway. All that would be required would be a shuttle from about 145th St. to about 135th. Sort of similar to the shuttle to Notre Dame.

Not that the Bears are going to Hammond, between it not being an entertainment center worthy of a Super Bowl (only things around there are the Horseshoe Casino  and the Industrial Strip, and it isn't Vegas), fighting among Hammond, Gary, and now Portage,  the Bears would not commute 50 to 70 miles from Lake Forest (and their fanbase would not take transit but would drive to Toll Road Exit 3 rather than take some bus), and the Indiana General Assembly has almost never put money onto Lake County--certainly not $2 billion worth. Since you mention transit, it put up about a 25% match on the South Shore project, but if you remember, they said with respect to the Hammond bus, "we let you have a casino, now you pay for it.:

[Sam92]

6 hours ago, artthouwill said:

 

 

Could Amtrak run game day trains ( or even Metra) from Union Station to the Hammond Amtrak station at Calumet Ave?  Maybe CTA or Pace or even GPTC or contracted private charters could shuttle to(from the stadium,  assuming that the Bears choose Hammond over Arlington Heights.    

That would still be 3 to 5 years away but something that should be considered. 

I thought about having some Rock Island trains do something  similar and run from Union Station via the St. Charles if Amtrak got the money to fix the reverse move. You could run game day service from Union to the Sox Statium. Also it looks like there's space for an 18th St. Station were the Airline curves southward. If they could make a connection to the vacant space in Metra Electric yard to turn trains you can have that basically replace the 128. With an arrangement to use the Busway riders can be taken from the station to the entrance so the "127" or "130" Auto show shuttle could be discontinued 

[Busjack]

1 hour ago, Sam92 said:

I thought about having some Rock Island trains do something  similar and run from Union Station via the St. Charles if Amtrak got the money to fix the reverse move. You could run game day service from Union to the Sox Statium. Also it looks like there's space for an 18th St. Station were the Airline curves southward. If they could make a connection to the vacant space in Metra Electric yard to turn trains you can have that basically replace the 128. With an arrangement to use the Busway riders canWhat you are bringing up  be taken from the station to the entrance so the "127" or "130" Auto show shuttle could be discontinued 

What you are bringing up is similar to the various YouTube bots saying that if Metra is supposed to become Regional Rail, it should be more than a radial system with separate stations. Building a tunnel from Milennium to Clybourn won't work, but I'm thinking about NITA resurrecting the idea of the Monroe Circulator or Washington subway--building a subway LRT connecting Millennium, Ogilvie, Union, and LaSalle stations. How many billions it would cost, I don't know.

[strictures]

12 hours ago, Busjack said:

What you are bringing up is similar to the various YouTube bots saying that if Metra is supposed to become Regional Rail, it should be more than a radial system with separate stations. Building a tunnel from Milennium to Clybourn won't work, but I'm thinking about NITA resurrecting the idea of the Monroe Circulator or Washington subway--building a subway LRT connecting Millennium, Ogilvie, Union, and LaSalle stations. How many billions it would cost, I don't know.

It would be a lot cheaper to just move the Wells St. leg of The Loop L to Clinton, then have direct access to both Union & Ogilvie.

[Busjack]

48 minutes ago, strictures said:

It would be a lot cheaper to just move the Wells St. leg of The Loop L to Clinton, then have direct access to both Union & Ogilvie.

1. That takes care of getting some L riders to Union and Ogilvie stations, but not to connect the Metra stations. It would still be "take any eastbound bus to Michigan."
2. The Washington-Wellsb and probably the Quincy station would have to depreciate another 20 years to meet FTA service life requirements.

[strictures]

10 hours ago, Busjack said:

1.  
2. The Washington-Wells and probably the Quincy station would have to depreciate another 20 years to meet FTA service life requirements.

It would be at least 20 years before they ever got around to doing this!

[Sam92]

20 hours ago, artthouwill said:

Also consider crazy intersections like Clark/Belmont and its proximity to Clark/Halsted.  There is also Clark/Diversey/Broadway.    Clark is the main north south commercial artery south of Belmont and is also the easternmost south of Diversey and north of Devon.  Having 50 buses running the entire length of the route will solve nothing.  Maybe extend the 36 to Howard and bring back the Waveland/Halsted short turns  could give some 22 passengers an alternative that might reduce some dwell times  but traffic wise, the only possible solution might be to eliminate the Clark portion of the 22 south of Bryn Mawr.   Run the route along Ashland and Clybourn  to Division and back on Clark.   Passengers north of North Ave can use the 151, 156, 36, or the Red Line.  You can also create a 42 Halsted from Clarendon =Lawrence  via Halsted and Lincoln and Wisconsin to Clark.   Clark between Bryn Mawr and Armitage just doesn't work for that length. 

 

17 hours ago, jajuan said:

Well depending on the time, day, connecting service from the 22 and how far south, a lot of folks use 36, 136, 147, 151, or the Red Line. Since I'm commuting daily between home and the UIC area, my personal choice for an alternate during PM rush is the 7 or Pink Line into downtown, the 136 or 147 and then the 84. Matter of fact, that becomes my primary choice during spring and summer to avoid the madness that happens on Clark after Cubs home games during baseball season. 

Moving this to a better topic....

The most problematic and congested portion (south of Bryn Mawr to Diversey) parallels 8, 9, 36, 151, the Red and Brown Lines so as with Lincoln it can be justified to be cut or split. I would say rename #22 North Ashland/Clark and send it via Clark, Ashland, Irving, Clark, Addison and Racine. Would follow the reverse northbound. Or extend further south down Racine to Fullerton Station. As @artthouwillsaid south of Belmont Clark is isolated and needs bus service but 36 is there so short turns can make that up. Only issue is #8 is a busy route so IDK if waveland can hold both of those so either clear the remaining 2 #151 trips from Belmont/Halsted and let #36 have it or have them turn around in a way similar to X9. 

 

[artthouwill]

lhttps://blockclubchicago.org/2026/07/30/south-loop-neighbors-pitch-new-bus-connector-as-development-booms-in-area/

[Busjack]

1 hour ago, artthouwill said:

lhttps://blockclubchicago.org/2026/07/30/south-loop-neighbors-pitch-new-bus-connector-as-development-booms-in-area/

Maybe there's something there, maybe not. "[L]ooking at Google Earth" doesn't accomplish much, but maybe with development of The 78, there is a need for something from Ogilvie and Union stations directly to the Roosevelt Road area. 

The claim that the streets are wide enough dovetails with the prior discussion of Express ROI.

In light of all the planning that they acknowledge, which probably would take 8 years, I would suggest trying a regular bus on the proposed route.

[Busjack]

7 hours ago, mail666 said:

I wish they could give route 68 to Pace and incorporate it into a route 290 for example. 

Why?

[Elkmn]

9 hours ago, mail666 said:

I wish they could give route 68 to Pace and incorporate it into a route 290 for example. 

Have you tried to ride the 290 or any nw division route?

I don't know about you but i like my bus to exist, show up on time, be clean, watertight and not fall apart when it drives over a pothole😃😃😃

[Busjack]

9 hours ago, mail666 said:

I wish they could give route 68 to Pace and incorporate it into a route 290 for example. 

 

17 minutes ago, Elkmn said:

Have you tried to ride the 290 or any nw division route?

I don't know about you but i like my bus to exist, show up on time, be clean, watertight and not fall apart when it drives over a pothole😃😃😃

Besides that, it would divert 290 from Touhy between (presumably) Carpenter or Lehigh to Park Ridge Metra, essentially ending service on 3 miles of Touhy. 

But maybe he meant 209 (which has been kicked around elsewhere on the forum), but obviously, this unexplained idea has not been thought through.