Readers want the scoop on lost trains and mysterious road projects.
Q–Please settle a dispute. Can a Chicago Transit Authority rail operator take the train pretty much wherever he or she wants? On a recent night, my Purple Line/Evanston Express train went the wrong way. Instead of turning off Wabash Avenue onto Van Buren Street, it went straight to Roosevelt Road. Mass confusion! All the passengers had to get off and double back to catch the next Evanston Express. The train operator claimed it was her mistake, but a friend says it couldn’t happen that way. He said the operators really don’t steer the trains and have no control over which track to take. I say not, they only have to wait to get the “go” signals to proceed and can pretty much go wherever they like, no matter how erroneous it might be. Who is right?
Nancy Kirkpatrick, e-mail
A–The train operator was right in informing the passengers that she went wrong. This was a case of operator error, said Jack Hruby, the head of CTA rail operations. If tower personnel are not on duty at rail intersections, the track direction is set automatically, but the train operator is responsible for checking to ensure that the track lineup is correct for the route. The Evanston Express operator should have stopped at the wayside route selector, canceled the proposed routing and selected the right one. She failed to properly read the signal indication and switch points, which resulted in the train taking the through route to Roosevelt instead of the diverging route, Hruby said.
Q–Can you tell me how long Ridge Boulevard will be closed north of Devon Avenue for the reconstruction project?
Sandra Harris, Northwestern University
A–Work will continue through the end of September, said Tom LaPorte of the Chicago Department of Water Management. A new sewer is being built from Lunt Avenue to just south of Pratt Boulevard, detouring traffic between Touhy and Devon Avenues. Southbound Ridge is closed, while one northbound lane is maintained for local traffic. The southbound Ridge detour is via Touhy and Clark, then back to Ridge.
Q–I’ve tried to contact the Chicago Department of Transportation and have been unable to get any response to my question. Huge signs have been put up around Clark Street and Diversey Parkway announcing construction work. What’s the work? It seems much too far north to be referring to the Clark Street project between Polk and 15th Streets that you reported on last week.
Ruth Siegel, Lakeview
A–Two projects are taking place, according to CDOT. Southbound Clark between Diversey and St. James Place is closed Mondays through Saturdays from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. through Nov. 1 for water main work. One lane of traffic is open in each direction. A streetscape project on Clark between Belden Avenue and St. James Place will limit parking through the summer.
As a reminder, Clark closes Monday through next spring between Polk and 15th in the Near South Loop for reconstruction of the Clark-Roosevelt intersection. Roosevelt will remain open. State Street is the designated detour route for Clark.
Q–I think it’s kind of a convenient coincidence that the CTA Red Line has been absolutely abhorrent since CTA officials announced recently they were searching for additional state funding–or else. Hey, Mayor Daley, you’ve made your point. Please run the trains on schedule again.
Aaron Martin, e-mail
A–Other CTA customers, including bus riders, have made similar observations. Some have also questioned why CTA officials are moving ahead next year to expand station platforms on the Brown Line, between downtown and Kimball Avenue on the Near Northwest Side, and preparing plans for a new train route, the Silver Line serving the Near West and Near Southwest Sides, while also threatening to curtail 24-hour bus and rail service if the CTA’s operating subsidy is not raised soon. CTA President Frank Kruesi is correct in saying that capital improvements and daily operations are funded by separate pots of money, but it’s a budgetary distinction that most riders may not appreciate. They see Kruesi pointing to a potential $75 million budget deficit in 2005 and warning of draconian service cuts, while moving ahead with hundreds of millions of dollars in new projects. It’s a big problem for the CTA chief and the mayor.
Nobody asked, but . . .
New changes are in effect this week to the traffic patterns on the southbound local lanes of the Dan Ryan Expressway at the interchange with the Chicago Skyway. The right local lane is now required to exit the Ryan to the Skyway, leaving only the left local lane to continue southbound on the Ryan, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation. The traffic shift, needed to build new ramps between the Ryan and the Skyway, will be in place until early 2005. The work is part of the advance work for the $430 million Ryan reconstruction. IDOT has opened a reconstruction hot line–773-723-7714–for the public to ask questions about the project.
Wells Street between 63rd and 65th Streets closes Monday until August 2005 as part of the Ryan project.
Traffic on Wentworth Avenue over Interstate Highway 80 was shifted onto a newly constructed bridge over the weekend as part of preliminary work for the $300 million reconstruction of the Kingery Expressway.
The Northwest Tollway southbound entrance and exit ramps at the Rockton Road interchange near Rockford will close to traffic Monday through Oct. 20 for widening Rockton west of the tollway. Northbound entrance and exit ramps on the Northwest Tollway (Interstate Highway 90) will remain open, but northbound tollway drivers will not be able to exit to westbound Rockton, according to the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority. Drivers are advised to use Illinois Highway 75 as an alternate.
———-
Contact Getting Around at “mailto:jhilkevitch@tribune.com”, jhilkevitch@tribune.com or c/o the Chicago Tribune, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60611. Read recent Getting Around columns at bancodeprofissionais.com/go/gettingaround.
