I was never fully aware of how active Metra has been in expanding service. I always assumed that Metra was created as a commuter railroad using existing freight right-of-way lines (which is true), but I was not aware that Metra has been actively extending these lines and increasing services considerably.

Although many of us are L lovers, one cannot deny that increasing Metra service and extending its lines outward only expands downtown Chicago's gravitational pull further and further outward and draws people into the EVIL vortex of the mighty Central Area---HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! (that was a wicked laugh)

Anyway, I encountered 3 press releases from the Metra website of extensions/expansions that will be completed by early next year and was taken aback. Were any you guys aware of how active Metra is? Here they are:

North Central Service:
The North Central Service [NCS] opened in 1996 making it the first new commuter rail line in the region in 70 years. The line extends 53 miles north from Chicago’s Union Station to Antioch and serves ten communities in parts of Cook and Lake counties, plus a transfer station at remote parking lot F at O’Hare International Airport. Through 2005, the NCS has consisted of five weekday inbound and five outbound trains and has served approximately 4,500 passenger trips daily.

The NCS will increase service to up to 22 trains each weekday. The additional trains will provide a better spread of service options throughout the day and early evening to better meet the increased demands in the marketplace. The expansion of service also provides a greater opportunity for Metra to capture more O’Hare Airport trips and to build upon the growing suburb-to-suburb market by partnering with select business centers to implement connecting shuttle services.

In addition to increased service, access points on the NCS are also expanded. Four new stations have been constructed at Grayslake, Schiller Park, Franklin Park and Rosemont with a fifth station, Grand/Cicero, opening later in 2006. Infrastructure improvements include the addition of a second track, crossovers, signals and other track configurations.

Service is scheduled to begin in January 2006.


Union Pacific West Service:
The Union Pacific West [UP-W] Line currently extends nearly 36 miles west from Chicago’s Ogilvie Transportation Center to Geneva, serving communities in parts of western Cook, DuPage and Kane counties. The Union Pacific West Line service provides 59 weekday trains and serves approximately 29,000 passenger trips daily. A spread of weekend service is also available throughout the day and evening.

In January 2006 the completion of the eight mile extension of the UP-W from Geneva to Elburn will help meet the needs of the substantial residential growth along the rail corridor. The western portion of the extension includes two new stations at LaFox and Elburn, 600 new parking spaces, and a new coach yard. The new coach yard, along with additional track and signals will increase track capacity for both commuter and freight trains and provide a more efficient operation. As part of Metra’s larger capital improvement plan, Bunker Road has been extended north of Keslinger Road to provide access for the new LaFox station. The route extension will ease parking congestion at the Geneva Station where ridership is constrained due to the lack of parking.

In addition to serving its largest customer market, Chicago’s Central Business District, the UP-W rail extension will also enhance suburb-to-suburb opportunities for Kane county commuters who will benefit from “peak directional” service frequency to access employment markets along the rail line.


SouthWest Service:
The SouthWest Service [SWS] extends 29 miles from Chicago’s Union Station to 179th Street in Orland Park, serving communities in Cook County. Until expansion, the SouthWest Service has consisted of eight inbound and eight outbound trains and has served over 6,800 passenger trips a day. Due to its limited service, Pace Route 835 supplements SouthWest Service throughout the day with additional rush hour, midday and evening trips.

In January 2006, the completion of the 12-mile extension of the SWS from Orland Park to Manhattan will help meet the areas ever increasing population growth. The SWS schedule will expand significantly from today’s 16 trains to 30 trains. The additional trains will provide a better spread of service options throughout the day and early evening to better meet the changing needs in the marketplace. In addition to the recently completed Palos Heights station, new stations along the line extension will provide better and more convenient options for Will County commuters. Locations include Laraway Road in New Lenox (summer 2006) and a station in Manhattan.

Three miles of new double track have been installed and the 12-mile extension upon previously freight-only track will allow for the increase in Metra train service. Signal upgrades will enhance safety and improve operations for corridor commuters. To provide customers more flexibility and additional convenience, more than 4,000 parking spaces have been added along the line.

It's also increasing sprawl. Look at Elburn. Its population has doubled because of the news that it would be the last station on the Chicago-Geneva line.

Yes, Metra has been aggressively looking to expand it's service areas (so has the CTA obviously, but Metra seems to operate more like a business while the CTA still runs like a buearucratic gov. financed organization). Technically, they are together known as the RTA. Hopefully, in the coming years, the CTA and Metra will be more integrated.

This 2020 Plan would be fantastic!
http://www.transitchicago.com/news/newspostdescs/120700.gif

Leaders to discuss extending Metra line
Business, government officials to look at funding for $152 million project
By LARRY SANDLER
lsandler@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Dec. 21, 2004
Top local officials and business leaders will meet Wednesday to figure out how to extend Chicago's Metra commuter trains from Kenosha to Racine and Milwaukee - and how to pay for the $152 million project.
Metra Extension

Background

8/24/04: Madison, Milwaukee rail plans proceed
6/10/04: Agencies work on Metra extension deal
10/25/03: U.S. Senate OKs money for interchange, Metra line
9/30/03: Region's officials favor Metra link
8/8/03: Panel advocates Metra line extension


On The Web

Commuter rail study



Advertisement

Racine Mayor Gary Becker is floating the idea of imposing a 1-cent-a-gallon gas tax in the three counties along the line. But other ideas - including state funding, a local sales tax, a regional transportation authority and privatization - also could be on the table, said several of those involved in setting up today's meeting.

Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker has already come out against a local gas tax. Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett is keeping an open mind on financing options until a consensus emerges, said his chief of staff, Patrick Curley. Becker did not return a call seeking comment.

Finances aside, organizers said the meeting is intended to show the business community's support for commuter rail, to gauge elected officials' feelings and to build a consensus on how to move the plan forward.

Barrett and Walker plan to attend the closed-door breakfast summit at the University Club in Milwaukee, their top aides said. Julia Taylor, president of the Greater Milwaukee Committee, and Rosemary Potter, executive director of the Southeastern Wisconsin Coalition for Transit Now, said they hoped Racine County Executive William McReynolds, Kenosha County Executive Allan Kehl, Kenosha Mayor John Antaramian and Becker would be there, as well.

Bob Mariano, chief executive officer of Roundy's Inc. and chairman of the GMC's regional transportation committee, is leading the business contingent. Among those expected to attend is Fred Luber, chief executive officer of Super Steel Inc., which in recent years has won more than $50 million in contracts and added 150 workers to assemble 326 rail cars for Metra.

A Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission study committee has recommended the 33-mile commuter rail line, with seven round trips each weekday and three each Saturday, Sunday and holiday. Trains would stop in downtown Milwaukee, Cudahy, South Milwaukee, Oak Creek, the Town of Caledonia, Racine, the Town of Somers and Kenosha.

Commuter rail lines run full-sized trains on freight railroad tracks, focusing on local service between cities and suburbs. Advocates of the Metra extension say it wouldn't compete with Amtrak's Milwaukee-to-Chicago Hiawatha line, which offers faster service with fewer stops.

The mayors and county executives are planning to gather in January to sign an agreement to move the project into preliminary engineering, the final study phase that is expected to cost $4.6 million and last 11/2 to 2 years.

If the plan is ultimately approved, trains could be running in time to provide an alternative for travelers seeking a way around reconstruction of I-94 in Racine and Kenosha counties, a five- or six-year project expected to start in 2009, Taylor said.

But it has already taken more than a year just to reach agreement to start preliminary engineering on the Metra extension, and business leaders hope to create more of a "sense of urgency" about the project, said Potter, a former legislator whose group backs commuter rail.

State involvement was one stumbling block. The study committee, backed by local officials, has recommended the state Department of Transportation run the line and pick up any costs not covered by federal aid and fares. State officials have balked at that idea, although they have agreed to take a major role in preliminary engineering.

Walker and John O. Norquist, then Milwaukee mayor, also tried unsuccessfully to shift $91.5 million in federal transportation aid into the Metra project and away from the Milwaukee Connector study of using guided electric buses to link downtown and nearby areas. Gov. Jim Doyle didn't agree, and transit advocates said the two projects shouldn't compete.

Curley said Barrett supports the commuter rail plan and is "encouraged that this is a project that business leaders want to see happen."

The Milwaukee Business Journal
December 9, 2005 print edition

Local economy needs Metra line extension
The South Side Business Club of Milwaukee has added its support for the development of the Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee commuter rail system that will extend the Chicago-area Metra line into downtown Milwaukee.

While in the past our club has opposed light rail, this commuter train proposal is different. Unlike light rail, these commuter trains connect cities and do not run on city streets. This service will connect with and use existing Chicago Metra trains or add conventional locomotives. It will make use of existing rail lines along Lake Michigan. It will utilize existing stations in Kenosha and Milwaukee and add six other stations that can connect with local bus service or shuttle lines. It will run twice as fast as similar bus service.

It is no longer a question of whether to build the commuter line, but how much longer businesses have to wait before officials get moving on this much-needed economic development initiative.

James Gruettner, South Side Business Club, Milwaukee

Don't forget the STAR line!

Here is the system's current service coverage.
http://metrarail.com/System_map/images/zone_map_09_05.gif

Don't forget the STAR line!
You mean this.
Oh, funds were already approved for the Star Line. 1.1 Billion, completetion date 2010
http://www.metrarail.com/Press_Releases/starline-map.gif

http://www.nwmc-cog.org/jahia/Jahia/engineName/filemanager/pid/111/STAR%20map%205-03.pdf?actionreq=actionFileDownload&fid=4080

The new North Central Service service is intresting. It is a good idea to bump up the frequancy of trips but I think there is even more room of improvement. There are some logistical hurdles but that route is in a prime position to serve as a TRUE O'hare express train both from downtown and from the north burbs to O'Hare. Make it something akin to the proposed Grey line only make it more of an express service (I am sure it has been thought of and for some reasons found it redundant or not feesable I guess). Maybe the new Blue Line express would make it obsolete but that partly depends on how express the new blue line eventually would be.
Regardless it would be good to serve the north burbs with an express service on the north end of the line to releive congestion on 294.

You mean this.
Oh, funds were already approved for the Star Line. 1.1 Billion, completetion date 2010

^Are you sure about that? I think the latest Federal Transportation Bill only authorizes funding for the further "study" of the STAR Line, not its construction

It's also increasing sprawl. Look at Elburn. Its population has doubled because of the news that it would be the last station on the Chicago-Geneva line.

^There may be some truth to that.

But I'd rather see the kind of sprawl that promotes transit use and brings people into downtown Chicago without bringing more cars downtown. It's better than more highways

I really, really, really want to see the Circle Line built in the somewhat near future. Not only would it link the city together better, it'd connect it to the quickly expanding Metra service----not trying to be Captain Obvious here; I just think it's really cool. :)

I didn't know it was part of any '2020 Plan', though.

^There may be some truth to that.

But I'd rather see the kind of sprawl that promotes transit use and brings people into downtown Chicago without bringing more cars downtown. It's better than more highways

I swore I saw an article that stated that the star line was a for sure thing. I'll look for it.
Here is a press release from the RTA Chairman, dated August 1st 2005
http://www.rtachicago.com/CMS200Sample/uploadedFiles/TEALU%20passage.pdf



Most of the far suburban mayors praise the Starline, which they say will ease traffic congestion, and promote more growth. I see it as a both good and bad. The good obviously more transit oriented growth in the suburbs. The bad, well, the starline will probably promote more sprawl as well.

Gotta start somewhere. Maybe they'll start to see the benefits of mass transit and demand more of it.

I swore I saw an article that stated that the star line was a for sure thing. I'll look for it.
Here is a press release from the RTA Chairman, dated August 1st 2005
http://www.rtachicago.com/CMS200Sample/uploadedFiles/TEALU%20passage.pdf


^Yeah, it even says it in the link you posted. Funding in the recent transportation bill is only for preliminary engineering studies, not for actual construction of the STAR Line. That is for sure.

Either way, the STAR Line is a good idea. Sprawl already happened and 2/3 of Chicago area residents live outside of the city--we might as well encourage transit use.

This link tells me that federal funding has been allocated for preliminary engineering for FY 2005-2009 for several projects including the Starline and the Cricleline, and the Yellow line to Old Orchard. I guess, 2010 would most likely not be the completion date for the Starline, but it does seem to me that this project will get built soon enough.
http://www.bettertransit.com/documents/SAFETEA-LUsummary.pdf

I haven't looked into it at all, but how do they expect the Star line to work? Suburb to suburb commutes, I know, but are the employment centers in these 'burbs concentrated enough for it to be of any use?

I haven't looked into it at all, but how do they expect the Star line to work? Suburb to suburb commutes, I know, but are the employment centers in these 'burbs concentrated enough for it to be of any use?

^Probably not, but I guess the assumption is that the presence of STAR/Metra Line stations and the ongoing redevelopment of the suburban downtowns around them will attract companies to move their offices there

It's also increasing sprawl.

Sprawl is going to happen regardless of if there is public transportation. At least METRA is helping direct the sprawl. Here in Milwaukee we have no commuter rail and our area is expanding along our freeways, and taking the people and jobs with it.

Sprawl is going to happen regardless of if there is public transportation. At least METRA is helping direct the sprawl. Here in Milwaukee we have no commuter rail and our area is expanding along our freeways, and taking the people and jobs with it.

Don't worry, in 10 years we will bring Metra into downtown Milwaukee. We're already at Kenosha:)

Don't worry, in 10 years we will bring Metra into downtown Milwaukee. We're already at Kenosha:)

That will help both our cities. Hopefully the Midwest High Speed train network will have begun too, connecting Milwaukee & Chicago with fast service. As long as its reasonably priced, then it would be not a long commute if you lived in 1 city and worked in the other, when you compare it to driving.

^Metra's talking about extending that line and reviving the link, last time I checked.

Excellent news for Metra!

Maybe Extend Metra into Indiana too, at least one stop at the Hammond, Gary Airport, Gary downtown, and Michigan City. Maybe to South Bend too...

That will help both our cities. Hopefully the Midwest High Speed train network will have begun too, connecting Milwaukee & Chicago with fast service. As long as its reasonably priced, then it would be not a long commute if you lived in 1 city and worked in the other, when you compare it to driving.

Yeah as the years pass the two metros are slowly but surely merging into one. I'd say by 2030 Chicago and Milwaukee will be once great big csa of 14-15 million people (along with Rockford).

As for the commuting on train, downtown to downtown will probably take 1 hour 15 minutes.

In one way you can say that the new Metra lines will increase sprawl, but look at the map of all the lines (except the star). All lines lead to the city center. It increases the primacy of downtown Chicago as at least a work destination. With more an more people living in the downtown area, if they do do the reverse commute, the availablity of public transit will help encourage those suburban business districts around the Metra stations to build more pedestrian friendly (assuming the town leaders are smart). With an automobile network, the pulling power of downtown is diluted.

With regards to the CTA, the L looks great and is an indelible part of Chicago. However, those trains run way too slow, and the fact that they are usually elevated has a lot to do with that. SO it was disappointing to see that many of teh stops of the circle line are elevated. The CTA also needs to act with the planning department and the neighborhoods to intensify land use around the stations. If it were up to me, I would allow dramatic increases in F.A.R. for any place within two blocks of an L station (or a Metra station, for that matter).

Excellent news for Metra!

Maybe Extend Metra into Indiana too, at least one stop at the Hammond, Gary Airport, Gary downtown, and Michigan City. Maybe to South Bend too...

You can already do that using the South Shore line. It goes all the way to South Bend.

Planner Shenzen, I agree with that option too, at least among major el stops in commerial areas. That's why it makes no sense why the Chicago planning department wants to lower the height limit on key streets in the West Loop. With a new planned West Loop Transportation Center and Clinton Street Subway to create a new underground "loop" it only makes sense that the blocks adjacent to such a huge multiblock transit hub be zoned for maximum highrise development. I agree that height should be limited west of the Kennedy Expressway, but those 30 or so blocks sandwiched between the expressways, the river to the east, and the railroad tracks to the north are prime commercial and mixed-use real estate.

I didn't realize the Metra extensions were so far along. From today's Trib:
Metra to open stations on 3 lines in January

Published December 23, 2005

Commuters who live in Lake, Kane and Will Counties will see expanded service on three Metra lines that serve those areas starting in late January, the commuter railroad announced Thursday.

On Jan. 23, Metra trains on the Union Pacific/West line will start running to new stations in Elburn and LaFox in Kane County. A dedication ceremony for that 8-mile extension of service will be held the same day in Elburn Village Hall.

The following week, expanded commuter service on the North Central Service line will begin. On Jan. 30 four new stations will open and 22 daily trains will operate on the line, which runs between Chicago and Antioch. Currently there are a total of 10 weekday trains on the line.

The new North Central stations are in Grayslake, Schiller Park, Franklin Park and Rosemont. A fifth station at Grand/Cicero in Chicago will open later next year.

Metra will hold a dedication ceremony for the expanded North Central Service line on Jan. 26 in the Wheeling Community Center.

Also, on Jan. 30, service on the SouthWest Service line will be extended to Manhattan in Will County. The number of commuter trains running on that line will nearly double, with 30 operating between Chicago and Manhattan, starting that day. Currently, there are 16 weekday trains on the line.

A dedication ceremony for that extension will be held Jan. 27 at the Manhattan Fire Department headquarters.

Metra has yet to release the schedules for the expanded service, according to spokesman Patrick Waldron.

---------------------------------------------------------
And then the project announcement from Metra's site:

The Union Pacific West [UP-W] Line currently extends nearly 36 miles west from Chicago’s Ogilvie Transportation Center to Geneva, serving communities in parts of western Cook, DuPage and Kane counties. The Union Pacific West Line service provides 59 weekday trains and serves approximately 29,000 passenger trips daily. A spread of weekend service is also available throughout the day and evening.

In January 2006 the completion of the eight mile extension of the UP-W from Geneva to Elburn will help meet the needs of the substantial residential growth along the rail corridor. The western portion of the extension includes two new stations at LaFox and Elburn, 600 new parking spaces, and a new coach yard. The new coach yard, along with additional track and signals will increase track capacity for both commuter and freight trains and provide a more efficient operation. As part of Metra’s larger capital improvement plan, Bunker Road has been extended north of Keslinger Road to provide access for the new LaFox station. The route extension will ease parking congestion at the Geneva Station where ridership is constrained due to the lack of parking.

In addition to serving its largest customer market, Chicago’s Central Business District, the UP-W rail extension will also enhance suburb-to-suburb opportunities for Kane county commuters who will benefit from “peak directional” service frequency to access employment markets along the rail line.
http://newstart.metrarail.com/images/up_west_map.jpg

The SouthWest Service [SWS] extends 29 miles from Chicago’s Union Station to 179th Street in Orland Park, serving communities in Cook County. Until expansion, the SouthWest Service has consisted of eight inbound and eight outbound trains and has served over 6,800 passenger trips a day. Due to its limited service, Pace Route 835 supplements SouthWest Service throughout the day with additional rush hour, midday and evening trips.

In January 2006, the completion of the 12-mile extension of the SWS from Orland Park to Manhattan will help meet the areas ever increasing population growth. The SWS schedule will expand significantly from today’s 16 trains to 30 trains. The additional trains will provide a better spread of service options throughout the day and early evening to better meet the changing needs in the marketplace. In addition to the recently completed Palos Heights station, new stations along the line extension will provide better and more convenient options for Will County commuters. Locations include Laraway Road in New Lenox (summer 2006) and a station in Manhattan.

Three miles of new double track have been installed and the 12-mile extension upon previously freight-only track will allow for the increase in Metra train service. Signal upgrades will enhance safety and improve operations for corridor commuters. To provide customers more flexibility and additional convenience, more than 4,000 parking spaces have been added along the line.
http://newstart.metrarail.com/images/southwest_map.jpg

Chicago to Manhattan commuter rail. Now that's thinking big lol.

And in only 45 min! No need for maglevs here.

Here's the map for thr North Central line

http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/4154/northcentralmap5fr.jpg

Good news for Metra users.

I don't know why there is not more brainstorming on a way to make the northcentral line almost a rapid transit line that can be connected to the O'Hare transit system coming in from both downtown and the north burbs. There are some logisitcal issues but the track is already there and it would make travel to O'Hare so much faster from downtown and really help clear up 294 if you could get frequant service from the north burbs to O'Hare.

There is indeed such a thing as railroad sprawl: how do you think all those suburbs got started? Sure, the lines terminate in Chicago, but they also terminate in what are now farm fields in towns without municipal water. Downtown commuters will move out there and eventually decide that they'd rather not ride the train for an hour when they could just drive 30 minutes to work in Bolingbrook or New Lenox, where companies are now locating because of the growing local workforce, adding to suburban congestion and increasing the demand for both new roads -- like the Hastert Sprawlway, er, Prairie Parkway -- and houses even further out, in Rockford or DeKalb. Both roads or rail reinforce the centrifugal forces of sprawl.

North Central Service's frequency is limited by freight movements on those tracks.

What's more, just as with the tollways, Cook County is subsidizing service in the collar counties -- and, in these cases, well beyond the collar counties. Many Cook suburbs are declining for want of investment, but Metra, ISTHA, and IDOT are taking the sales/gas taxes and tolls they earn off suburban Cook (and, to a lesser extent, Chicago) to build new sprawlways out in greenfields to please Dennis Hastert's friends in the construction industry. This may be "growth" and thus unanimously applauded by this crowd, but it's exactly of the sort that undermines the ultimate economic vitality of both city and region.

Spyguy -- how are reaching the conclusion that awareness of the plan to extend the Metra West line to Elburn *caused* more growth in Elburn? I don't see how the extension of the Metra line to Elburn has or will increase sprawl in any way. The decision to extend Metra lines is a consequence of sprawling population, rather than its cause. Expansion at the periphery is driven by preferences for the largest housing at the lowest cost.

It all boils downt to the funding issue. Metra, Pace and CTA all fall under the RTA. CTA is the only one who has had 3% drops (inflations being accounted for) every year for close to 2 decades.

CTA does need to clean house with management. Form a Citizens Board (to oversee operations). And get a better funding formula.

Metra has new ways to go

By Jeremy Gorner
Tribune staff reporter
Published January 6, 2006, 1:37 PM CST

Metra released new schedules today for expanded and extended service on three of its train lines, which serve commuters traveling through Lake, Kane and Will Counties.

Starting Jan. 23, trains along the Union Pacific/West line will stop at new stations in Elburn and La Fox in Kane County, according to a Metra news release.

Despite these additions, the total number of trains running between Elburn and downtown Chicago's Ogilvie Transportation Center will not change, and service to previously existing stations will remain largely unchanged, the release said.

Several trains traveling toward Ogilvie have been moved 15 or 20 minutes to accommodate for increased travel times getting to the new stations west of Geneva in Kane County.

The following week, expanded service will also go into effect along the SouthWest Service line. The line will include a new station in Manhattan in Will County on Jan. 30, allowing for an increase in the total number of weekday trains from 16 to 30 running between Manhattan and Chicago's Union Station, the news release said.

Two trains from Union Station will carry passengers to Manhattan during the evening rush hour. The new schedule will also include eight inbound morning trains, not including the train leaving Orland Park at 11:58 a.m.

The new schedule will also add options to the evening rush hour and inserts two late trains leaving Chicago at 9:50 p.m. and 11:40 p.m., according to the release.

Also on Jan. 30, the new schedule along the North Central Service line will include four new stations in Grayslake, Schiller Park, Rosemont and Franklin Park. The schedule revisions will boost the number of trains, running between Antioch in Lake County and Union Station, to 20, doubling the number under the old schedule, the release said.

The reconfigured timetable adds two trains leaving Chicago at the tail end of the evening rush hour, at 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. Trains have also been added to rush hours to give commuters more flexibility in both directions.

Minor changes were also needed on the weekday schedule for the Milwaukee District West line, because the North Central Service line shares part of its route with the Milwaukee District West east of Franklin Park, the release said.

No trains have been eliminated or added but commuters may find arrival times adjusted by a few minutes at stations between Big Timber Road in Elgin and Union Station.

All new schedules can be viewed at Metra's Web site, www.metrarail.com, starting today, the release said.

Commuters can pick up paper copies of the new schedules later in the month at Ogilvie and at Union Station.

For Union Pacific/West riders, Metra personnel will pass out schedules at Ogilvie during the evening rush hour on Jan. 12. Those schedules will be available downtown and at all outlying stations after that day.

For SouthWest Service and North Central Service commuters, Metra personnel will begin passing out schedules at Union Station on Jan. 19. In the following days, those schedules will be available downtown and at outlying stations, along with revised Milwaukee District West schedules, the release said.

A week or so ago, I saw the latest draft for the new Belvidere transit center, including a new interchange on I-90 and a Metra station just west of the DiamlerChrysler plant. It looks to be a mixed use development with some decent density. Residential, commercial, and industrial all included. I am not real big on the additional Belvidere interchange with I-90. I guess I will have to live with it in order to get metra out my way.

It's only a matter of time until Metra connect Rockford to Chicagoland.

It makes sense to. What's the closest station to Rockford now?

Rockfordians use 2 metra stations. Big Timber in Elgin, and the Harvard station, depending on which one your closer to. I live on the west side of Rockford, so both stations are about 45 minutes from my house. Personally, I use Harvard.

Rockfordians use 2 metra stations. Big Timber in Elgin, and the Harvard station, depending on which one your closer to. I live on the west side of Rockford, so both stations are about 45 minutes from my house. Personally, I use Harvard.

Since you live out there, do you see a continued growth in terms of housing in the area along the I-90 corridor from say Elgin to Rockford, I guess the western end of Kane and into Boone counties? Just curious.

Yes, Huntley's population is exploding. Mostly thanks to Del Webb's Sun City, but there are also large scale developments being built by Cambridge Homes, Richmond American, Lennar/Concord. The Huntley exit is Il-47, Maybe 5 miles west of Elgin/Randall Road exit. There are large developments between Elgin and Huntley all along Il-72 and Big Timber Road through Gilberts, as well as US-20 from Elgin to Huntley through Pingree Grove. I don't believe either Gilberts or Pingree Grove were even incorporated five years ago... They were just intersections. Past Huntley, I know of an interchange proposal for I-90 at Briar Hill Road. Lakewood Homes, Kirk Homes, and others have already snatched up all the land around the proposed interchange. The cities of Huntley and Hampshire are currently at odds as to who should get to annex all that farmland. Once you get out towards the US-20 exit, there isnt much development going on as of yet. I would say close to a 20 mile gap in the development along I-90. Then you get to Belvidere, and the pace of development is pretty impressive again. (if you like sprawl) From Belvidere to Rockford there are three major roads connecting the two cities, all you see is construction and excavating along all three. Not just residential, but industrial/warehousing, as well as the dreaded big-box commercial and strip malls. Right in between is where that Irene Road interchange is proposed for the TOD with the Metra station in Belvidere. Growth along I-90 is continuous and solid all the way to Beloit Wi from there, including another proposed interchange on I-90 at Il-173. Now, to tie all this back into the thread...... The Milwaukee West Metra line ends at Elgin/Big Timber. From there the tracks head out to Gilberts, Huntley, Union, Marengo, Belvidere, and into Rockford. The potential for ridership along the Mil-West corridor is unbelievable as growth along I-90 continues its march its way out to Rockford. Its gonna get built, its just a matter of time. I will be seeing my alderman as well as Mayor Morrisey (Rockford) on Thursday 1/12/06, I will ask them what the timeline, expectations, costs, any other updates will be as far as Metra goes. If anybody else on the forum would like me to ask Mayor Morrisey any other Metra questions just post them and I will try to get them answered. Depending on how much time he is willing to give me....

Awesome, I love star line. :D

Does CTA is in tight budget?

Yeah. They need and should get more funding/ need a new funding formula.

Yeah. They need and should get more funding/ need a new funding formula.

CTA need ask federal to get funding, also same as what LACMTA did that for Expo Line and Eastside Expansion.

My Neighborhood Assn had its general monthly meeting tonight, Mayor Morrissey (Rockford) was the keynote speaker. He answered some questions about Metra.... Under the current proposal, Metra will NOT be coming to Rockford. The city is pursuing its own RTA within Winnebago, Boone and DeKalb counties. Negotiations are in the works for track useage, and right of ways with the rail companies.

i live in the suburbs now in schaumburg particularly, good for metra, downer for CTA, they shud progress together, holding hands