{"id":1197,"date":"2021-04-02T14:11:08","date_gmt":"2021-04-02T14:11:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world-uncensored.com\/blog\/?p=1197"},"modified":"2021-11-01T19:02:55","modified_gmt":"2021-11-01T19:02:55","slug":"how-political-intrigue-means-that-chicagos-far-south-side-is-still-waiting-for-a-connection-to-downtown-promised-in-the-60s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world-uncensored.com\/blog\/how-political-intrigue-means-that-chicagos-far-south-side-is-still-waiting-for-a-connection-to-downtown-promised-in-the-60s\/","title":{"rendered":"How Political Intrigue Means that Chicago’s Far South Side is Still Waiting for a Connection to Downtown – Promised in the 60s."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Linus Hoeller, Northwestern University<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Few Chicagoans can remember a time before the promises of a southward extension of the city\u2019s public transportation backbone, the Chicago Transit Authority\u2019s Red Line. However, none has seen it go beyond a mere promise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Decades have passed since the idea of extending the Red Line, going from the Northern border of Chicago to the southern terminus at 95th street, was first floated in the 60s. In fact, the idea is as old as the terminus itself: Richard Daley, the mayor at the time, had promised that the Red Line would extend (indefinitely) beyond 95th street and that the current ending was not a permanent terminus.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The city\u2019s South Side – predominantly populated by lower-income, minority residents – has historically been neglected, facing a number of struggles including pollution, crime and lacking public infrastructure. \u201cChicago is tremendous and it is very inequitably served by the L system,\u201d said Kate Lowe, a professor of urban planning and policy at University of Illinois Chicago. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only three lines, Orange, Green and Red, extend south of the Chicago River. The far south of the city, made up of neighborhoods like Pullman or Roseland, isn\u2019t served by the CTA\u2019s rail network at all, leaving what experts sometimes call a \u201ctransit desert,\u201d with very limited options for residents and many having to rely on cars to get around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Extending the L system farther south would mean that impoverished and neglected communities would get easy access to the opportunities of the inner city. \u201cNeighborhoods like Pullman obviously don\u2019t have the same density of jobs as the central business district,\u201d explained Lowe. The existing bus service is \u201cnot nearly as fast\u201d as a potential rail connection. Therefore, \u201cthe L extension is essential to making access to opportunities more equitable in the city.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than half a century after the promise of a more connected future was first made, some movement is finally taking place in the CTA – although there still won’t be any CTA trains running to Pullman anytime soon.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the past decade, the city has renewed its vows to extend the L\u2019s backbone all the way to the southern border of the 9th ward, which includes Pullman and Roseland. While this has been discussed in earnest since at least 2006, under mayors Immanuel and Lightfoot, the city has started taking more concrete action.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Metropolitan agencies have created environmental assessments that are prerequisites for federal funding and have decided on the route that the trains will take to 130th street, even starting to buy land that will be needed to complete the project.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to CTA documents, the red line extension would affect 236 private properties. If the plan goes forward in its current form, 79 buildings will be displaced, including 59 residential buildings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A major milestone for the red line extension to make the jump from paper to reality was reached in December 2020, when the federal government preliminarily allocated $1 billion dollars for the project to take place. That is a substantial part of the projected $2.3 million total cost. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, some doubts remain. Steven Vance, an urban planner with extensive knowledge of this and other projects in Chicago, explained why he isn\u2019t completely convinced that extending the red line is the best way to connect the far South Side. \u201cThere are other options that need looking at,\u201d he said, citing, for instance, a proposed conversion of the Metra Electric line which already runs along a similar route at the western edge of Pullman, or even the creation of a bus rapid transit system. Both, he estimates, would come in considerably cheaper and would likely be completed well before the Red Line Extension\u2019s 2029 opening date – recently pushed back three years from the initial planned completion in 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPart of why there is such a focus on the L lies in the perceived quality difference,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople will see a bus and think, \u2018but a train is better than a bus! Why are you giving the North Side trains, but the South Side buses?\u2019\u201d On the north side of the city, construction on the Red and Purple Modernization Program – similarly expensive to the proposed red line extension in the south – has been well underway since 2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n