Quote:
Originally Posted by k1052
Not sure there is enough room around the elevated there to accomplish that and with jobs continuing their shift to the west loop direct service would probably be more valuable long term.
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A 16th street station is much better than a 18th because:
(1) it puts it exactly halfway between the stations at Roosevelt and Cermak
(2) it can serve both the Orange AND the green lines
(3) it can have a transfer to the St Charles Air Line, which I think we all agree is an important future transit corridor.
I think there would be room to do it if the flyover for the inbound leg of the Orange Line over the Green Line were rebuilt a few hundred feet further south. This would leave enough space between where the Orange and Green line merge and where the ramp to the subway diverges to take out the middle two tracks, and put in an island platform in their place. There should be room for an approx. 25 foot wide island platform there without moving the outer tracks at all. This is certainly up to modern standards, leaving plenty of space for elevators and escalators. The station entrance could be built under the viaduct on either or both sides of 16th.
It moves the point where the green and orange share tracks a little further to the south but I doubt that would affect capacity in any meaningful way. The only property taken would be mostly vacant parcels where the flyover is rebuilt near 18th & Wabash. Most of the flyover could be built without disrupting service; there would just need to be a short period of single-tracking the Orange line while the new flyover is connected and the old one disconnected. The scope of the single tracking would be from the crossovers under the Dan Ryan to the crossovers at 16th street. Orange and Green line trains would all experience some additional delays during construction, but who cares.
Something like
this.
More expensive than what they're doing at Cermak? Sure. But worth it, IMO.