City receives $153M in federal funds for traffic
Chicago will receive more than $153 million in federal funding over the next two years to test a carrot-and-stick combination of ideas aimed at reducing traffic congestion.
The carrot is 10.2 miles of “bus rapid transit service” in four pilot corridors that include dedicated lanes during rush periods; traffic lights that turn green automatically for hybrid, articulated CTA buses; fewer bus stops and front and rear boarding by passengers who pay in advance at kiosks or portable fare boxes.
(Scott Stewart, Brian Jackson/Sun-Times/AP)
The stick is higher prices for on-street parking and loading zones during peak periods in congested areas and higher parking taxes at private garages and lots in the Central Business District.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters called Chicago’s plan “ambitious, bold and innovative — a powerful congestion-fighting combination.”
“Just as people pay more to park in garages during busy times, downtown street parkers will soon be paying more to park during the morning and evening rush hours. This … will encourage commuters to take transit downtown, instead of driving. And it will cut traffic on the city streets at exactly the right times,” Peters said.
Mayor Daley said bus rapid transit corridors have been a “proven success” in Miami, Vancouver and in Los Angeles, where ridership on one line rose 20 percent during the first year of the experiment.
“A million people-a-day ride CTA buses. And too many of them are stuck in traffic. ... Passengers are saying, ‘I’m being delayed all the time. This is not a rapid transit system, as compared to a car,’” the mayor said.
For years, Daley talked about installing dedicated bus lanes on Lake Shore Drive to give 77,000 daily riders speedier, service.
Sources said Lake Shore Drive would not be among the four test corridors. Daley refused to say where the concept would be tested in hopes of someday building a 100-mile network of bus rapid transit.
The mayor was equally tight-lipped when asked how much more on-street parking and deliveries might cost during peak periods.
Chicago’s metered parking system has six different zones with varying rates and time limits. Motorists pay anywhere from 25 cents-an-hour in outlying neighborhoods to $3-an-hour downtown.
“We don’t have to make it that high. ... Not as high as you think,” said the mayor, who is in the process of privatizing Chicago parking meters.
Peters said upcoming studies will determine “where is that price point at which people will wait and come in later or, better yet, use public transit.”
CTA President Ron Huberman said bus rapid transit has several components: rush hour bus lanes; sensors that turn traffic lights green for approaching buses, just as they do for ambulances and fire trucks; bus stops “four-or-five blocks apart” and a “new style” bus” where pre-paid passengers flow freely.
“There’ll be a kiosk where people pay before the bus shows up. [When] the bus shows up, both the front doors and the back doors slide open, allowing for everyone to come off [and on],” Huberman said.
Peter Skosey, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Planning Council, suggested that bus rapid transit corridors be implemented on “major arterials” that intersect with L lines, such as Ashland, Western, Irving Park and Addison.
“We can’t grow if people are choosing only the private automobile to come downtown. We simply don’t have enough roadway capacity … If we don’t do something like this, we’re gonna choke on our own congestion in the next 20 years,” he said.
Three years ago, Daley took the wraps off plans to use a computerized network of cameras and sensors at 2,800 intersections to reduce travel times by as much as 20 percent.
The ideas ranged from rush hour “high occupancy vehicle” lanes on major Loop streets such as Ohio and Ontario to electronic sensors that turn traffic lights green for CTA buses while cameras crack down on bus lane incursions. He talked about having a fleet of tow trucks arrive within 10 minutes to whisk away disabled or illegally-parked vehicles.
Now, Chicago finally has the money to dive head-first into the Brave New World of Traffic Control.
