Chicago Central Area Transit Plan

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Contents

1 History
2 1939 Comprehensive Subway Plan
3 1958 New Horizons Plan
4 1962 CTA Plan
5 1968 Transit Planning Study

5.1 Loop Subway
5.2 Distributor Subway

6 The Chicago Urban Transportation District

6.1 Subway Plan on Hold
6.2 The Core Plan
6.3 End of the Loop?

7 Chicago Central Area Circulator
8 See also

History

Throughout its entire life, the two-mile, double track Union Loop Elevated line in Chicago's Central Area has coexisted with strong pressures, political and civic, to do away with in favor of new downtown subways.

The Union Loop Elevated has remained, however, virtually and placidly what it has been since its early days in the late 1890s to now. It's trackage had been reworked to accommodate changing operational modes. Stations had been added, lengthened, consolidated and eliminated in response to changing riding habits. While no major alterations had been made during its 108 year life, exterior modifications had been made at the stations to improve passenger flow, accessibility and weather protection. Those changes, while cosmetic, has added Monel metal and fiberglass to the basic wood and steel construction and had since replaced some of the original ornamentation.

Only one station has been rebuilt within the past 20 years, at Clark/Lake, and several have been replaced with new stations at Library-State/Van Buren and Washington/Wells, all in compliance with ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) standards.

Since its October, 1897 opening, The Chicago Union Loop Elevated has provided rail rapid transit service to the Chicago Central Business District. Its construction permitted the inter-connection of the original elevated railroads, the South Side Elevated, the Lake Street Elevated and the Metropolitan West Side Elevated, and the distribution of passengers around the downtown area. Although development of major high-rise construction went well beyond its physical limits, its presence and configuration originally defined the most prestigious locations for offices and gave the central business district of Chicago its name, the "Loop". For 108 years it has served transit riders and has seen the city grow into a major metropolitan region of more than 8,000,000 people. Awkward, noisy, ugly and obstructive of light, air and street level activity, it has become an institution, one whose removal had been a stated objective of every transit plan for the City of Chicago for more than 80 years.

From the earliest days when the first elevated railroad was constructed between the Central Area and the South Side in June, 1892, the focus of rail rapid transit activity has been the Chicago Loop area. Each net addition to the Elevated system has materially aided to the accessibility of the Loop. The first formal transit plan in Chicago was the Burnham Plan of 1909, which described an extensive rapid transit and streetcar subway system in and connected to, the Central Area. Many elements, some transposed with bus service in place of streetcars are in operation today.

This was followed by various traction plans presented by the City from the early twentieth century through the 1930s, all of which called for a unified system of surface, elevated and subway lines in the Loop.

1939 Comprehensive Subway Plan

When the State Street (Red Line) and Dearborn Street (Blue Line) Subways were being constructed between 1938 and 1951, A Comprehensive Plan for the Extension of the Subway System of the City of Chicago was proposed in October, 1939, forming the basis for all subsequent rail rapid transit improvements built through 1960.

The plan proposed extensions of the Dearborn Street Subway, Lake Street Subway, Washington Street and Jackson Street (high-level streetcar) Subways, Wells Street Subway and the Crosstown Subways.

The plan also suggested a combination of rail rapid transit and expressway facilities within a common right-of-way. It stressed the fact that the..."outstanding flaw in the existing pattern of Chicago's rapid transit system is the complete absence of facilities for north and south crosstown traffic...", a flaw that exists today. It provided for new subways to be utilized for long-haul traffic, coordinated with surface street feeder and distributor routes within the Central Area. It proposed solutions that would permit the removal of elevated structures in the Loop, thus contributing to the dynamic growth of this area.

1958 New Horizons Plan

Jackson Boulevard Subway at State Street

Wells Street Subway at Congress Street

The next major step in the development of downtown subways in Chicago came in January, 1958, when the Chicago Transit Authority proposed the New Horizons for Chicago's Metropolitan Area, a $315 million, 20-year rapid transit improvement and expansion program to be carried out once financial arrangements had been made. The plan included modernization of stations and terminal facilities, installation of signal and train control systems and raising and grade-separating the Lake, Ravenswood and Douglas lines.

The plan of expanded transit facilities would have undoubtedly benefitted the whole Chicago metropolitan area. Much of the proposals have already been completed, namely the extension of the West Side Subway (Congress line) in the median of the Eisenhower Expressway (in operation June 22, 1958), Lake Street Elevation (in operation October 28, 1962), rapid transit extensions in the Dan Ryan Expressway and the Kennedy Expressway (in operation September 28, 1969 and February 1, 1970, respectively), signal and train control systems, improvements at several outlying terminal stations and remodeling of some Loop stations. Also proposed was some curve straightening projects such as the recently completed Harrison St. curve.

Also proposed in the plan was the Wells Street Subway and the Jackson Street Subway in the Central Area, which would have made possible the removal of the Loop and adjacent elevated structures.

1962 CTA Plan

In April, 1962, the Chicago Transit Authority proposed replacing the Union Loop Elevated with a downtown subway loop under La Salle Street, Randolph Street, Jackson Street and under the Grant Park parking lot. It was to be connected with major Loop buildings and fringe parking areas around the Central Area and included a rapid transit link to the McCormick Place Convention Center and the proposed rapid transit route in the median of the Dan Ryan Expressway.

1968 Transit Planning Study

These proposals and the growing demand for improved public transportation service in the Central Business District led to the Transit Planning Study Chicago Central Area, which began in 1965 and financed through interest-free funds advanced by the Communities Facilities Administration, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (USHUD).

The study was conducted by the City of Chicago, the Chicago Transit Authority and other public agencies to examine the rapid transit system in downtown Chicago, and develop a plan to maximize the contributions that effective public transportation could make toward the City's economic health. The main objectives were to produce a definitive plan to improve distribution of rapid transit and commuter railroad passengers in the Central Area, to permit removal of the 'L' structures in the Loop, and to extend the rapid transit system to sectors of downtown Chicago not presently served -- thereby assuring that people working and visiting the Central Area could move about faster, more easier, and in a more pleasant environment.

Earlier proposals for transit facilities in the Chicago Central Area were reviewed, new plans were prepared and analyzed, and a recommended Central Area Transit Plan was developed. Loop area development potential was evaluated. Traffic projections were made. Consideration was given to architectural and environmental factors, operational requirements, and potential methods of financing the system. In April, 1968 the study had culminated into an exhaustive three volume report which recommended the construction of a 15-mile subway system to replace the old elevated lines in downtown Chicago, naming it the Chicago Central Area Transit Project or CCATP.

The system proposed as a result of the 1968 Transit Planning Study consisted of two major transit facilities:

1.) an east-west, high-level "shuttle" or "distributor" subway extending from the University of Illinois at Chicago via Monroe Street to two branches serving, respectively, the intensely developing area north of Randolph Street and along and east of Michigan Avenue, and lakefront activities, including McCormick Place and developing areas to the southeast; and

2.) a conventional subway following a loop pattern under Franklin, Randolph and Van Buren Streets and Wabash Avenue, crossing under the State and Dearborn Street subways. Improved subway connections to the Evanston-Ravenswood and Lake Street Elevated lines, and a connection to the Dan Ryan rapid transit route, and all-weather passageways within the Central Area were included. Implementation of the plan would permit removal of the Union Loop Elevated structures.

Loop Subway

The 'L' structures in downtown Chicago was to be replaced by a subway under Franklin, Van Buren, Wabash and Randolph. The proposed Loop Subway was to be linked to the Dan Ryan Line, now part of the Red Line (and quite possibly today's Orange Line) by way of a transit line along the median of the proposed (but never built) Franklin Street Extension Expressway from the southwest corner of the Loop to Cermak Road in Chinatown. The Lake Street (Green Line) 'L' structure from Damen Avenue to the northwest corner of the Loop was to be replaced by a subway under Randolph Street. The Evanston-Ravenswood (Purple and Brown Lines) 'L' structure from a point north of North Avenue to the northwest corner of the Loop would have been replaced by a subway under Orleans Street to Division Street and then along Clybourn Avenue to the 'L' at Willow Street.

Distributor Subway

The most novel part of the 1968 Transit Plan was the Distributor Subway system.

It was to be routed from a terminal at Harrison and Morgan Streets at the University of Illinois at Chicago. From there, the line was to run north to Adams Street paralleling Morgan Street. At Adams Street the alignment was to turn east, meeting Monroe Street at Peoria Street. It would then follow Monroe Street, first under the Chicago River then across the Loop to a station just east of Michigan Avenue.

East of Michigan Avenue the Distributor would split -- with one branch extending north to Walton Place and the other south to the vicinity of McCormick Place. The latter branch was to consist of two tracks leaving the subway at Adams Street and occupy Illinois Central Railroad right-of-way at grade to the Stevenson Expressway.

Monroe Street Subway at Dearborn Street

Monroe Street at First National Bank

The double-track line to the north was to follow an alignment just east of Michigan Avenue under Stetson Street to the Chicago River serving the Prudential Building and the Illinois Center. North of the river, the line would turn north under Fairbanks Court to Chicago Avenue serving the Northwestern Memorial Hospital and the River East area. Operating counterclockwise, a single track loop was to extend under De Witt Place, Walton Place, Rush Street and Chicago Avenue to the point of beginning at Fairbanks Court.

The plan called for subway construction to start in 1969, with the system opening in stages between 1973 and 1978.

By 1990, said the report, the new Loop and Distributor Subways should have carried more than 390,000 passengers on an average weekday, including 152,000 daily passengers using the Distributor system. The total daily Distributor Subway travel by passengers who transferred to or from the commuter railroads (today's Metra and Amtrak) or other CTA rapid transit lines would have been twice these volumes. The Central Area Transit Plan's financial recommendations were, in retrospect, overly optimistic even for those days before the runaway inflation of the late 1960s and 1970s. The projected cost of building the Loop and Distributor Subway systems was $478 million in 1969 dollars. In this and other financial projections, Transit Planning Study Chicago Central Area assumed an "escalation" of 5% per year, an unfortunate estimate of the unforeseeable 8%-11% inflation rates of the next few years.

The Chicago Urban Transportation District

The Chicago Central Area Transit Project was formally adopted by the City of Chicago as part of the Comprehensive Plan of Chicago. In April, 1970, the Chicago City Council passed a resolution authorizing the creation and implementation of the Chicago Urban Transportation District (CUTD). It also defined the boundaries of the District, a 9.5 square mile area emcompassing downtown Chicago--bounded on the north by North Avenue, on the west by Ashland Avenue, on the south by the Stevenson Expressway, and on the east by Lake Michigan. In June, the CUTD was approved by public referendum with the power to levy taxes to provide the local share of funds for the Chicago Central Area Transit Project which might have been the seed money for massive Federal assistance, at last, to bury the venerable Union Loop. In July, it was established by Illinois Statute as a separate municipal corporation with taxing powers.

The CUTD was formed for the sole purpose of carrying out the recommendations of the 1968 Central Area Transit Plan. In January, 1971, CUTD applied for a $500.4 million grant from the Urban Mass Transportation Administration (UMTA), now the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), to build the Loop and Distributor Subways. With the Central Area Transit Plan now in place, the stage was now set for further frustrations and a series of controversial set backs.

Subway Plan on Hold

In the early 1970s, while final planning was underway for a start on the new downtown subways, controversy began swirling in the District over the validity of the project and its cost. The 1968 Transit Plan was thought to be "mode restricted" and did not consider alternatives to the steel wheel-on-steel rail mode of rail rapid transit.

The intention was to upgrade and expand the existing CTA rail system. The 'L' system is too extensive for complete replacement, and the costs of new equipment and vehicles would have been prohibitive. This fact must be kept in mind in any transit planning for the Chicago area. There is an operating system, representing significant local investments over the last 100 years. While its service is somewhat constrainted because of its age, the 'L' system does function well. Additions and modernizations, extending its utility, are necessary and desirable, while complete replacement is virtually impossible. The CTA has taken bus substitution to its logical limits on routes replacing old streetcar routes. Where passenger densities exceed those easily and successfully carried by buses, rail rapid transit is the logical modal choice.

In 1971, the CCATP was reviewed by local consultants to verify the assumptions and results of the 1968 Transit Planning Study, based on new data then available. The 1968 Study was determined still valid, in terms of mode, service pattern, route alignments and station location. The 1971 report also looked beyond the Recommended Subway Plan to possible extensions of the Distributor system, and various operating options within the Loop system. It also explored the relationship of the CCATP with downtown parking facilities and the pedstrian passageway system, existing and planned for the Central Business District. The result of this report was a reaffirmation of the 1968 Chicago Central Area Transit Plan.

In 1973, the CUTD retained another consultant, American-Bechtel, Inc., to further review and refine the CCATP, reevalute the determination of system technology to be used in implementing the project, and conduct the necessary Environmental Impact Analysis of the resulting Transit Plan. This review and refinement was based upon the City of Chicago's communtiy goals and objectives, as expressed in the Comprehensive Plan of Chicago. From this report was other alternative concepts of the Plan, put forth by various groups since 1968. Four of these alternatives were selected for further analysis based on the evaluation of alternatives performed for the CUTD by American-Bechtel, which included:

Alternative 1 - No-Build. Leave the system as it is.
Alternative 4 - Replace Loop 'L' with east-west Distributor (Monroe Line) and north-south (Franklin Line) Subways.
Alternative 6 - Replace Loop 'L' with 1968 Recommended Loop and Distributor Subways.
Alternative 12 - Replace Loop 'L' with new elevated structures and Distributor Subway (Clinton-Monroe-Lake Front).

The Core Plan

The CUTD remained dormant from 1971 to 1973, and the CCATP was put on hold pending finalization of legality tests and approval of its application for a Technical Studies Grant. Much of the District's resources had been transferred to other programs, including exhaustive and time consuming vaildation and alternative analysis reports for the project. In June, 1973, the CUTD commenced the first phase of the project which included design criteria, specifications and general plans for the Distributor Subway, which was completed in 1974. Federal, State and local funds totaling $8.7 million were used for that 18-month effort. Similar predesign work was begun on the Franklin Line portion of the Loop Subway system, which in turn was completed in 1975.

During this time, the CUTD and the City recommended the realignment of the Evanston-Ravenswood portion of the Loop Subway system proposed in 1968 in Orleans Street to an alignment under Kingsbury Street, Larrabee Street from the Chicago River to Clybourn Avenue. This alignment was adopted in 1974.

Following a public hearing in 1974, the CUTD submitted an Environmental Impact Analysis to the Federal government, and a revised application for a facilities grant for the Chicago Central Area Transit Project. The facilities grant application proposed a 10-year project that would cost $1.642 billion based on an annual escalation of 8% compounded to the mid-year of construction of each segment of the project. The application supported a system alignment made up of the five transit lines that was used as the basis for the CUTD's presentation at the public hearing. The transit lines selected -- generally those recommended in the 1968 Transit Planning Study -- Franklin, Randolph, Wabash-Van Buren, Monroe, Lakefront North and Lakefront South.

A project of the CCATP magnitutde must logically be fitted into a staged implementation program. It would be otherwise impossible to accept the physical disruption of the urban fabric from such a construction undertaking. Financing would also be problematic.

Since it is impractical to build all parts of a large and complex project simultaneously, each of the transit lines were examined to determine which segments would provide the earliest return on investment in terms of service to greatest need, and permit early integration into the existing CTA system, all within available funds.

In the summer of 1974, the CUTD selected a Core Plan, the initial portion of the Chicago Central Area Transit Project to be built. It consisted essentially of the Monroe Line, the Franklin Line, and a portion of the Randolph Line. The Core Plan, which would take about 6 years to complete and cost $1 billion based on an August, 1973 cost estimate, was submitted to the Federal government on August 21, 1974. The Core Plan was received well, however, it was recommended that the project be reduced to $700 million. Modifications to the original Core Plan were made and the revised Plan was presented to UMTA in September, 1974.

Subsquently, it was determined locally that certain options orginally eliminated due to funding restraints placed on the project be reinstated. UMTA withdrew the cost ceiling, the adjustments were made after extensive interagency studies and conferences and the revised Core Plan was submitted to UMTA in August, 1975. It was estimated to cost $1.43 billion and would take 6 years to design and build.

None of the above actions have changed the Balance of the Project, which consisted of, the portion of the Monroe Line to the University of Illinois at Chicago, the Lakefront Line -- North and South, and the remaining portion of the Randolph, Wabash and Van Buren Lines. No work was ever started on those elements because they were determined to be subject to more changeable circumstances and potential modification and, therefore, responsive to further study of demand and benefit as part of the continuing planning process.

Concurrent with development of the Core Plan, the CUTD had completed the predesign work needed for the Monroe Line in 1974 and performed similar work on the Franklin Line, which was completed in January, 1976. Since September, 1974, the CUTD was ready to begin final design and construction on the Distributor Subway (Monroe Line), but no activity was ever started, only delayed.

End of the Loop?

Additional funding constraints were placed upon the Chicago Central Area Transit Project, and the project was scaled down to more modest levels to meet the funding limits. Initially, the Core Plan, consisting essentially of the Franklin and Monroe Lines on specific alignments determined after extensive interagency studies and conferences in 1975 and 1976, was to be built first. Together, the lines of the Core Plan, when constructed, would permit better balanced operations in downtown Chicago and elimination of the Loop 'L' structure.

On June 9, 1976, after meeting with the Mayor of Chicago and representatives of all interested City and Regional agencies, a decision was made to separate the CCATP Core Plan into its two main components, the Franklin Line and Monroe Line, in a new implementation plan which introduced certain revisions to reduce the cost of each increment, and build one of them immediately.

While each increment was desirable and viable in itself, and there was no particular cost advantage to either route, overriding and operational factors led to the conclusion that the Franklin Street Subway was to be the first increment of the Chicago Central Area Transit Project to be constructed, and the CUTD had adopted that course.

The Franklin Line, which was estimated to cost $496 million in 1977 was to extend nearly five miles from approximately Willow Street on the north (Evanston-Ravenswood Lines) to Cermak Road on the south (Englewood-Jackson Park). From north to south, the Line was to follow Clybourn Avenue (parallel to the Red Line subway) to Larrabee Street then follow Larrabee and Kingsbury Streets through a station between the Merchandise Mart and the Apparel Center under Orleans Street. It would cross the Chicago River diagonally then curve under Franklin Street in the Central Business District in a stacked arrangement with stations and two continuous platforms (similar to the Red Line and Blue Line subways). South of the Loop, the line was to follow an alignment along the proposed Franklin Street Connector through a median strip station at Roosevelt Road and then continue south in subway running diagonally to the South Side 'L' at 18th and State Streets and its connection near Cermak Road. There was also to be a connection between the Dan Ryan line and the portion of the Franklin Line in the median of the Franklin Street Connector between 15th Street and Cermak-Chinatown station.

Work was to begin on the Franklin Street Subway in January, 1979 and was scheduled for completion in December, 1983.

The route was designed to allow a second north-south service, or generally, a Ravenswood-Englewood/Jackson Park through operation with Evanston Express trains also routed into the Franklin Line to a turn-back at Roosevelt Road. Howard-Dan Ryan (Red Line) train operation could have been started as early as January 1, 1984, despite CTA's February 21, 1993 rail system reroute. Lake Street 'L' service was to continue operating over the remaining portion of the Union Loop 'L' until some time later when financial arrangements permitted construction of the Monroe Line, or at least until the Midway (Orange) Line was built. The Balance of the Project (or the unbuilt segments of the CCATP) would be constructed further into the unforeseeable future.

The overall effort to get started on the Project acquired a sudden and shocking urgency brought about by one of the most extraordinary accidents in the history of Chicago's rapid transit system. Shortly after 5:00 p.m. on Friday, February 4, 1977, a Forest Park-bound Lake-Dan Ryan train departed from the Randolph/Wabash station and pulled into the tight, 90-foot curve and Lake Street and Wabash Avenue and slammed head-on into the rear of a Ravenswood train at a standstill just beyond the turn. The four lead cars of the 8-car train derailed, two of them pluged into the street below. Eleven passengers were killed and 183 were injured. As CTA and City of Chicago crews worked diligently to clear the wreckage, one horribly tense moment was broadcast live on Chicago television. Cranes grappled with and lifted one car that had landed on its side in the street while all of Chicago held its collective breath until word came that no pedestrians were caught beneath the 50,000 pound vehicle. 'L' service was restored the next day, and there was never any more intense discussion in Chicago about replacement subways for the Loop 'L' than in the several days immediately following the disaster, even though it had been the only appallingly serious accident ever to befall the Loop throughout its existence from 1897 and up to that moment.

Even as CUTD staff commenced selecting engineers and contractors for the Franklin Line subway, a murmur of opposition began to be heard in Chicago, voices that questioned the wisdom of replacing the Union Loop 'L'. These doubters were in no way against mass transportation -- rather they felt that the existing 'L' structure, with improvement, could be useful for years to come. Then, there are the romantics who liken Chicago's downtown elevated line to what is left of the San Francisco cable-car network. Another group, namely the Chicago Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, went even further by trying to equate the elevated structure as one with the Eiffel Tower in Paris. They claimed it would have been a complete, final catastrophe to tear down so glorious an example from the years when man first began to use structutral steel to remake the face of the Earth. And then there were even those who criticized the Chicago Central Area Transit Plan to build new downtown subways to replace the Union Loop 'L' as just one more instance of backroom political deals being made at the expense of taxpayers and daily transit riders.

So much for theory. While it surely will not be the last word on the subject, any possible threat to tear down the Union Loop 'L' has been quieted for some time now. In 1979, former Chicago mayor Jane M. Byrne and former Illinois governor James R. Thompson reached an agreement whereby the Franklin Line subway project, along with the Crosstown Expressway on the West Side, was to be cancelled, the elevated Loop retained and improved, and rapid transit improvements developed for residential sections of Chicago where such service is now substandard. All of the federal grants earmarked for these projects, which had amounted to just over $2 billion, was diverted to fund other transportation programs.

From these programs came various highway infrastructure renewal projects, and the O'Hare Extension of the Blue Line (O'Hare-Congress/Douglas) in 1984, the Red Line subway link in 1993, and the Midway Airport (Orange) Line also in 1993. Those funds has since been exhausted.

The Chicago Urban Transportation District, which had suffered from a lack of support and funding, was abolished by state legislation in 1984, and the remaining $12 million it had was transferred to the CTA.

Chicago Central Area Circulator

Within a few years following the Chicago Central Area Transit Plan, the city was once again at work on plans for new, different and financially cheaper transit alternatives for downtown Chicago. The Central Area had began growing well beyond the expectations of the 1968 Transit Planning Study in terms of building development and employment growth. However, there was still concerns among Chicago's civic leaders that this growth would seriously outpace the mass transit system. Replacement subways was obviously deemed too expensive and extensions to the existing CTA system were considered too limited in their benefits. Additional or expanded bus service on overcrowded and badly congested streets would only add more fuel to the fire. So, the City opted for a new technology, one widely accepted around the world and more popular than conventional rapid transit and commuter rail -- light rail.

A new light-rail system for downtown Chicago, if done right, could enhance the attractiveness of the Central Area in terms of connectivity to expanded regions of downtown Chicago and the commuter railroad and rapid transit systems and build on the downtown's success as the business and entertainment center of Chicago.

The proposed system was dubbed, the "Central Area Circulator Project", an 8-mile light-rail transit network linking the North Western, Union and Randolph Metra suburban railroad stations to North Michigan Avenue, Streeterville, Navy Pier, the museums and McCormick Place. The system was to include east-west routes north and south of the Chicago River as well as north-south links on portions of Michigan Avenue and Columbus Drive.

Construction was scheduled to begin after a preliminary engineering phase of the Project in 1993, with operations expected to begin by 1998.

The Circulator Project was estimated at $689.4 million when it too was cancelled in 1995 after the federal government failed to appropriate money for it. Despite its' antiquity, the Union Loop 'L' structure has persevered surprisingly well. It reached its 100th anniversary on October 12, 1997 and still remains an institution to Chicago, even as the city continues to contemplate modernizing the core of its transit system.