by Graham Garfield
Date of Publication: September, 1997
Source: Chicago ''L''.org
Though no more than a fanciful notion right now, a great deal of talk now exists about a possible extension of the Blue Line past O'Hare to Elk Grove and Shaumburg. This new rapid transit line, which is included in the recently adopted 2020 Transportation Plan, is being heavily advocated by Shaumburg Mayor Al Larson and Elk Grove Mayor Craig Johnson.
It is currently being debated whether the projected line warrents an immediate study, which the mayors and planners believe is an unequivical "yes". The cost, an estimated $100,000, would need to borne by the communities that would benefit from it, as well as the CTA and, possibly, the federal government.
The benefits, however, would be innumberable. One of the chief problems that the CTA is currently facing is that the rider base that made the system thrive in the early half of the century has moved into the suburbs. Commerce and industry have moved into these suburbs en masse, especially the northwest ones like Shaumburg and Elk Grove. The rider- and job-bases that would be taped there are considerable. The terminal at the Woodfield Shopping Center in Shaumberg (one of the nation's largest malls) would especially be of great importance.
A rapid transit link would provide fast, two-way service between these suburbs and Chicago-as well as to O'Hare International Airport, Midway Airport and numerous tourist attractions-opening new opportunites for a vast labor pool in Chicago and a convenient connection that has never before been available. The extension would be blessing not only to the suburbs and Chicago, but to the CTA, which lost a great deal of riders to the post-war population shift. The CTA is very receptive the idea, as long as the investment wouldn't siphon money from its more urgent, current needs.
The cost, which would be gargantuan, is one issue that the study would hope to solve. Prospects, however, aren't hopeful in an age when federal and state money for transit is at an all-time low.
The route is another issue that needs to be solved. One possibility is to continue the route down the median of the John. F. Kennedy Expressway and onto the Northwest Tollway. This rapid transit routing method met with mixed reviews when the Congress, O'Hare and Dan Ryan Lines opened, built in this style. Instead of creating the hoped-for transit corridor, most people decided that, once they'd reached the expressway, they might as well drive. Putting rapid transit in the middle of an expressway also physically isolates it from the neighborhoods it's supposed to serve. The cost, however, is far cheaper than blazing a trail through existing communities and also takes care of the political and community opposition that usually is created by such an arrangement.
The key issue, however, is whether or not people would use it. All indications right now seem to point to the affirmative. Existing METRA and Pace service to this region is among them most successful, demonstarting an excellent market for shoppers, workers and travelers in the corridor.
Most encouraging is the attitude of the city officials: expansive, forward-looking attitudes that envision a future not of seperate communities but of a connected region. Such thinking is essential for the future of transit.