Chicago Announces First Five ‘Better Streets for Buses’ Corridors

The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) announced the first five corridors it will target for its Better Streets for Buses Plan.

According to a press release from the agency, “Utilizing an Invest in Cook grant to conduct a Bus Priority Corridor Study, CTA and CDOT plan to examine Pulaski Road, Western Avenue, Cottage Grove Avenue, Fullerton Avenue, and 55th Street. Nearly 74,000 riders travel through one of these five corridors across ten (10) bus routes on an average weekday.”

The study will develop concepts for improving the corridors for more efficient bus travel. “Better Streets for Buses is a framework plan that offers a menu of improvements based on the needs of a specific corridor. Additional planning work is needed to develop specific designs; the Bus Priority Corridor Study will do just that for the five selected corridors and is a major step toward implementation of robust bus priority projects in Chicago.”

The program has led to several immediate projects including priority bus lanes on Chicago Avenue that significantly improved bus speeds. “Implementation of additional and complementary bus service improvement projects will be ongoing through existing CTA-CDOT programs, like the Bus Priority Zones (BPZ) program. The BPZ Program consists of smaller scale street treatment projects that target pinch points on major bus corridors to improve bus service reliability across the entire route.”