Planning Programs and Projects

The RTA and the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) partnered together with Elevated Chicago, a collaboration of 17 public, private and nonprofit organizations, to develop two implementation action plans, one in the Washington Park area surrounding the Garfield CTA Green Line station and the other near the Logan Square Blue Line station. The assistance focused on CTA station access, traffic and circulation, community safety, equity, placemaking, economic development and beautification. Public outreach was conducted to generate public interest and engage partners to identify implementable actions.

The RTA convened a Developer Discussion Panel to assist the Village's efforts to attract transit- oriented development (TOD) at a vacant ~6-acre site located directly adjacent to the Metra Electric Ashland Avenue station. The Village will benefit from developer expertise on how to attract and consider development proposals that optimize the neighboring transit asset and align with local and regional goals.

Trinity Services provides transportation service to individuals with disabilities in Cook, Grundy, and Will counties. Transportation will be provided for trips to developmental training centers, shopping, doctor's visits, volunteer opportunities and work.

This project assisted the Village with implementation efforts as recommended in their recently adopted TOD plan that was funded through the Community Planning program. A developer panel was conducted with the goal of assisting the Village with several redevelopment sites identified in the plan. Future redevelopment of these sites will capitalize on the proximity to exiting transit facilities as well as help strengthen the vitality of downtown River Grove.

The RTA assisted the City to update its TOD Plan that was completed in 2005 for areas surrounding the Pace Harvey Transportation Center, including the Metra station, the Pace Transportation Center, the adjacent civic campus and points west to connect to residential areas and the University of Chicago Medicine Ingalls Memorial Hospital. The plan addresses population loss and ways to leverage improvements underway at the Metra station and Transportation Center to rebuild the downtown population through higher-density, transit-supportive, quality infill development.

This project provides new sidewalks, crosswalks, and pedestrian signal heads along a one-and-a-half mile section of Golf Road, improving access to three Pace fixed routes that operate on the corridor (#209, #606, and #757). Several major employers are located on this corridor and it has also been chosen by Pace as a potential Arterial Rapid Transit (ART) route.

The Skokie Swift (CTA Yellow Line) operates between Dempster Street in the Village of Skokie and the CTA Howard Street station at the Chicago/Evanston border. To provide access to major activity centers such as Old Orchard Center, the Cook County 2nd District Courthouse, Oakton Community College and the Skokie central business district, the Village of Skokie directed an RTAP study to assess the feasibility of new intermediate stations and an extension.

Three studies were conducted to study the feasibility, land use, and financing aspects of a new, high-quality and high-capacity transit service in southeast Cook County to provide access to downtown Chicago job opportunities and to complement local economic development efforts.

In 2000 Metra completed the South Suburban Commuter Rail Feasibility Study which examines the potential for implementing Metra commuter rail service on a new radial line to serve suburbs in southeastern Cook and northeastern Will Counties. The proposed route focuses on utilizing the jointly owned tracks of the Union Pacific Railroad (UP) and CSX Transportation (the railroad subsidiary of the multi-modal CSX Corporation) between Beecher and Dolton, with several options to connect with other lines to reach downtown Chicago. This Phase I Feasibility Study is the first step in a longer process to ascertain not only the potential demand for this proposed new service, but also how it might reach eventual implementation. The Study was a collaborative effort, sponsored by the South Suburban Mayors and Managers Association (SSMMA), who provided the necessary funding. The Study is organized into four major tasks or milestones, all aimed at providing a methodological and objective means of formulating Study recommendations. The four major sections are: Existing Conditions, Potential Operations, Future Plans, and Capital Improvements.

Phase I - Land Use and Local Financing Study Study completed in 2005 with sponsorship by Village of South Holland and South Suburban Mayors & Managers Association (SSMMA)

The Phase I Study was conducted to explore key land use and financial planning considerations related to a potential commuter rail connection between Chicago's downtown Loop district and various communities southeast of the City. A primary goal of the study was to ensure that residents, businesses and organizations would have a say in how communities could support and plan for commuter rail. This included discussion about station locations, development potential in the area around stations, generation of required local matching funds for station design and construction.

Phase II - Land Use and Local Financing Study Study completed in 2007 with sponsorship by South Suburban Mayors & Managers Association (SSMMA)

The Phase II Study, examines in more detail several recommendations in the Local Finance chapter of the Phase I report. It also presents information on how the communities can begin to initiate formal intergovernmental agreements to govern creation, management and oversight of a joint funding pool to help pay for the land acquisition and construction of stations and parking facilities along Metra's proposed SouthEast Service commuter rail line.