New Lenox station

[2200SeriesFan]

Thanks for posting all these pics of the move, Pace831! I'm glad someone stepped up to preserve this building, and that it wasn't demolished. That was always a depot building I liked a lot, from those times I either rode Metra on a weekend pass trip to Joliet, or (once) went to New Lenox on a weekend pass trip of various RI line stops.

The redevelopment around the New Lenox building of retail buildings makes me wonder if it'll flop and there won't be a lot of businesses that go into there, a la Oak Forest. Where as I recall, nothing was built except for a CVS. Though I didn't mind Oak Forest deciding to build a new Metra depot building(which the new one actually is VERY nice looking), since the old one IMO was ugly looking.

[Pace831]

15 hours ago, 2200SeriesFan said:

Thanks for posting all these pics of the move, Pace831! I'm glad someone stepped up to preserve this building, and that it wasn't demolished. That was always a depot building I liked a lot, from those times I either rode Metra on a weekend pass trip to Joliet, or (once) went to New Lenox on a weekend pass trip of various RI line stops.

Thank you, I am glad you enjoyed them. Fortunately the storms that were forecasted didn't happen so I was able to stay out all day on bicycle to get all those pictures.

15 hours ago, 2200SeriesFan said:

The redevelopment around the New Lenox building of retail buildings makes me wonder if it'll flop and there won't be a lot of businesses that go into there, a la Oak Forest. Where as I recall, nothing was built except for a CVS. Though I didn't mind Oak Forest deciding to build a new Metra depot building(which the new one actually is VERY nice looking), since the old one IMO was ugly looking.

New Lenox has already found businesses for the development around the station: CVS, Starbucks, Durbin's Pizza, and Zembar Jewelers. There are, however, several vacant commercial properties around town, for which village politics are partly to blame. Pizza King (1 block west) recently closed and I can't help but wonder if expected competition from Durbin's influenced the owner's decision to close.

Oak Forest has a bank that was built at the same time as CVS, and a Starbucks was added in 2016.

[Pace831]

Construction has begun on the new station:

The new building will be in an area currently used for parking, east of the current platform.

Temporary warming shelter. The ticket trailer is right behind it:

Parking pay stations have been moved to near the other temporary structures:

Stairs at east end of platform are closed:

[Pace831]

New station building going up:

The huge ridership decrease due to the pandemic allowed them to close off most of the parking lot for reconstruction:

Platforms have been removed between Cedar Road and where the old building was. I’m not sure if they will be replaced, as the new station is meant to be farther from the crossing.

[Pace831]

Here’s how much the station construction has progressed:

Thankfully the clock tower isn’t as gaudy as the rendering made it look:

There’s only one public access point for both platforms currently, which is the new sidewalk just west of the building. Presumably, Platform 2 will be extended East from here:

New sidewalk to Cedar Road to replace the truncated platforms:

[Pace831]

New Lenox station opened last month.

The “conductor” greets people near the entrance:

On both sides of the front doors are restrooms. The ticket office is under the clock tower:

The east wing is the 24-hour waiting room. It is separated from the rest of the station by a rolling gate. I’m surprised they don’t lock it late at night to deter crime, but they do have surveillance cameras.

 

The other side can potentially include commercial space, such as a coffee shop:

Based on the curved design of the station, I was expecting the waiting room to be on the opposite side so that the windows would give people a view of the train approaching:

The black kiosk along the wall is for the new parking payment system, where commuters enter their license plate number. The old system used numbered coin slots.

One of the supposed benefits of the new station was to prevent outbound trains from blocking Cedar Road while stopped. However, the new stop isn’t far enough from the crossing to keep the gates from staying down. They should have built it even farther to the east instead of selling that property to a housing developer. That would have solved the crossing issue and allowed for a potential future stop on the SWS.

[NewFlyerMCI]

15 hours ago, Pace831 said:

The east wing is the 24-hour waiting room. It is separated from the rest of the station by a rolling gate. I’m surprised they don’t lock it late at night to deter crime, but they do have surveillance cameras.

One of the supposed benefits of the new station was to prevent outbound trains from blocking Cedar Road while stopped. However, the new stop isn’t far enough from the crossing to keep the gates from staying down. They should have built it even farther to the east instead of selling that property to a housing developer. That would have solved the crossing issue and allowed for a potential future stop on the SWS.

This is on the Rock Island right? What's the point in a 24-hr waiting room? In the same vein, I guess there's also no advantage or disadvantage to being 4a-12m either.

I agree they should've done a Prairie Crossing set-up with the RI & SWS, especially since both lines have different downtown services (although I imagine transfers would be extremely rare, but at least there would be consolidated facilities). It looks like there's the space for it across the tracks from that Walmart, although I guess they've sold that land.

Nice pics!

[Pace831]

11 hours ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

What's the point in a 24-hr waiting room?

I'm not sure. Most suburban stations have electronic locks that close shortly after the last inbound train, which is what I was expecting to find here. The old station used to be locked when the ticket office wasn't open, except during winter.

11 hours ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

especially since both lines have different downtown services

That won't matter once the 75th Street connector is built, which will divert the SWS to LaSalle Street Station. Still, it would have been better to retain the ability to build a SWS station here. They're investing in something that will be used for decades and you can't always predict how travel patterns will change. My other gripe is that the proposed "transit-oriented development" at this location will be high-end apartments when they ought to be mixed-income.

[Sam92]

4 hours ago, Pace831 said:

I'm not sure. Most suburban stations have electronic locks that close shortly after the last inbound train, which is what I was expecting to find here. The old station used to be locked when the ticket office wasn't open, except during winter.

That won't matter once the 75th Street connector is built, which will divert the SWS to LaSalle Street Station. Still, it would have been better to retain the ability to build a SWS station here. They're investing in something that will be used for decades and you can't always predict how travel patterns will change. My other gripe is that the proposed "transit-oriented development" at this location will be high-end apartments when they ought to be mixed-income.

Wait SWS and RI cross paths in new Lenox? I knew heritage and RI met in Joliet. Are they really that close to each other like Joliet and the 2 Blue Islands? 

[NewFlyerMCI]

2 hours ago, Sam92 said:

Wait SWS and RI cross paths in new Lenox? I knew heritage and RI met in Joliet. Are they really that close to each other like Joliet and the 2 Blue Islands? 

SWS tracks cross directly over RI tracks, almost like how MDN & NCS cross at Prairie Crossing (although I believe that's a diamond crossing). You've never seen that on the Metra system map? Laraway Rd & New Lenox stations are about an 8 min drive from each other.

[NewFlyerMCI]

9 hours ago, Pace831 said:

I'm not sure. Most suburban stations have electronic locks that close shortly after the last inbound train, which is what I was expecting to find here. The old station used to be locked when the ticket office wasn't open, except during winter.

I'm guessing it's so far out and so sparsely used, they just didn't bother. There's only 4 hours between the last outbound train and first inbound train on weekdays and 6 hours on the weekend. They can always retrofit that, I suppose.

 

10 hours ago, Pace831 said:

That won't matter once the 75th Street connector is built, which will divert the SWS to LaSalle Street Station. Still, it would have been better to retain the ability to build a SWS station here. They're investing in something that will be used for decades and you can't always predict how travel patterns will change. My other gripe is that the proposed "transit-oriented development" at this location will be high-end apartments when they ought to be mixed-income.

Ah, in which case it really would've been a second Prairie Crossing. Almost exactly like it, since the RI, much like the MDN & NCS, would've had the lion's share of the ridership with faster downtown access and more frequent trains, compared to the SWS. 

I agree with the mixed-income apartments, but considering the demographics of New Lenox, high-end apartments were the only thing getting built there lol. Pretty much the only outcome for an area that's 96% middle-aged white people (is 36 middle-aged or young now?), with a median income of $108k (as of 2018)

[Pace831]

6 hours ago, Sam92 said:

Wait SWS and RI cross paths in new Lenox? I knew heritage and RI met in Joliet. Are they really that close to each other like Joliet and the 2 Blue Islands? 

SWS crosses the RI on an overpass about a quarter mile east of the New Lenox RI station. However, the nearest SWS stop is two miles south at Laraway Road. The village owned the land in the southwest quadrant of the junction until a few years ago. Had they not done that, they could easily have built a station that serves both lines.

1 hour ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

I agree with the mixed-income apartments, but considering the demographics of New Lenox, high-end apartments were the only thing getting built there lol. Pretty much the only outcome for an area that's 96% middle-aged white people (is 36 middle-aged or young now?), with a median income of $108k (as of 2018)

Arlington Heights started a trend where any new apartments near the Metra station are called “transit-oriented development”. That’s not an appropriate term when the target demographic rides Metra to work downtown and uses a car for everything else. Essential elements of TOD include local bus service, nearby retail, and mixed-income housing. I suppose the Walmart counts as nearby, but this shouldn’t be called TOD when it lacks the other two things.

[NewFlyerMCI]

5 hours ago, Pace831 said:

Arlington Heights started a trend where any new apartments near the Metra station are called “transit-oriented development”. That’s not an appropriate term when the target demographic rides Metra to work downtown and uses a car for everything else. Essential elements of TOD include local bus service, nearby retail, and mixed-income housing. I suppose the Walmart counts as nearby, but this shouldn’t be called TOD when it lacks the other two things.

Unfortunately, this isn't just a IL problem. I find that 95% of all "transit-oriented development", at least the ones centered around a commuter rail station, are not really that (if anything, in some areas, its transit-induced gentrification). I will say I don't think TOD requires local bus service, just some form of transit that it's centered around, but the obvious lack of mixed-use retail & mixed-income housing do indicate that it's just regular development.

[Pace831]

33 minutes ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

I will say I don't think TOD requires local bus service

Assuming that the goal of TOD is to minimize car use, why do you think that? If the only transit available is commuter rail, I don't see how the development would attract many people other than those who work traditional hours in downtown offices. Local bus service allows access to a wider variety of jobs and reduces the use of cars for non-work trips.

[NewFlyerMCI]

11 minutes ago, Pace831 said:

Assuming that the goal of TOD is to minimize car use, why do you think that? If the only transit available is commuter rail, I don't see how the development would attract many people other than those who work traditional hours in downtown offices. Local bus service allows access to a wider variety of jobs and reduces the use of cars for non-work trips.

I'm not saying that commuter rail can be the only source of TOD, but that TOD doesn't require bus service. It's certainly helpful, but not a base requirement. A subway station or a light rail stop works just as well for a base for TOD. A commuter rail station does too, although it depends on the frequency and service level of the commuter rail line (for instance, TOD along the BNSF is much more encouraging than TOD along the HC). In fact, one could argue that TOD centered around buses is ineffective or at least underutilized if there is only 1 or 2 bus lines and not like a transit center or other mass transfer facility

[Pace831]

Anywhere that is urban enough to have a subway or light rail line will likely have a bus route within 1/2 mile or so, even if it's not a feature of the development. Subway and light rail could also be considered local services, unlike commuter rail. Some level of local transit is what makes TOD effective compared to the pseudo-TOD of the suburbs. I would bet that most successful examples are built around a rail station with at least one full time bus route. I've never heard of any TODs that are served exclusively by buses.

Overall, it sounds like we are mostly in agreement.

[NewFlyerMCI]

10 hours ago, Pace831 said:

Anywhere that is urban enough to have a subway or light rail line will likely have a bus route within 1/2 mile or so, even if it's not a feature of the development. Subway and light rail could also be considered local services, unlike commuter rail. Some level of local transit is what makes TOD effective compared to the pseudo-TOD of the suburbs. I would bet that most successful examples are built around a rail station with at least one full time bus route. I've never heard of any TODs that are served exclusively by buses.

Overall, it sounds like we are mostly in agreement.

Fair enough, there aren't many subway stations I can think of without connecting bus service, less so on the light rail. Definitely in agreement that local transit is what makes TOD effective, which is why suburban TOD is mostly a misnomer.

I imagine TOD centered around exclusively buses would be featured in places where a transit center is present or in cities that have only developed local rail transit in transit in the last 2 decades. Places like Seattle & Houston come to mind, where the buses are focused heavily on hub and spoke vs point to point like Chicago's is.

Thank you for the discussion.