RTA Calls for Bus Lanes on Chicago Bridge Project

The Regional Transportation Authority is calling on the Chicago Department of Transportation to include bus lanes in a major intersection project.

As Steven Vance reports in Streetsblog Chicago, “The RTA, the state agency that oversees the CTA, Metra, and Pace, sent a letter to the Chicago Department of Transportation last week asking the City to collaborate on the redesign of the Chicago Avenue / Halsted Street intersection and viaduct.”

Vance details the history of the project, which will replace the Chicago Avenue bridge and rebuild a key viaduct. When first proposed, “The Active Transportation Alliance and other walk/bike/transit advocates criticized the plan as a half-measure. They noted that it included few accommodations for the many bus and bike riders who use these streets, and little proposed to reduce the number of traffic crashes.” The design also goes against the city’s Complete Streets law.

According to the RTA’s letter, “The latest proposed design that contains minimal bus priority treatments is not sufficient to result in meaningful service improvements and does not align with our shared vision to improve travel times on high-ridership bus routes.”