Loop Link Bus Rapid Transit

The City of Chicago's Department of Transportation recently began construction on the Loop Link Bus Rapid Transit system. The project will create bus-only lanes on two miles of streets on Washington, Madison, Canal and Clinton on a circuit from Union Station to Millennium Park.

Loop Link will improve bus service to six bus lines by eliminating downtown bottlenecks on the most congested portion of the routes, speeding their passage through downtown by separating bus, bike and ordinary traffic lanes.

By improving reliability downtown, service quality will increase on the entire route, benefiting neighborhoods throughout the City. Those six lines are the J14, 20, 56, 60 124 and 157.

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[loveleii]

Something I've always loved about Chicago is the public transportation. It's so convenient and one of the many reasons of why I've chosen to move here as soon as I'm done with nursing. However, the bus situation is pretty hectic. I know whenever I visit, I try to avoid taking the bus as much as possible. This looks like a great idea that'll clear up a lot of the congestion! I believe SF did something similar but it was a bike lane :)

[omgiash]

Reduce bus stops to one every two blocks. There is NO NEED for a bus stop every block. This will greatly speed up bus transit times. Plus it will help improve public health because people will walk an extra half a block.

[havabighed]

I love the idea, but how about an express bus lane that goes from midway, straight down cicero or central, then turns and goes west on Irving Park Road directly to O'hare?

Or how about we build a skytran(google for info) that is built on top of the orange line infrastructure, which turns off and makes one stop at union station, and then turns off and goes north connecting to the blue line infrastructure which it will be built on top of?

Building a skytran on top of the existing Orange and Blue line will provide infrastructure for electrical power, elevation, and train stops.... in addition to providing ability to climb down in case of emergency and not requiring extra land.