Illinois

Bus rapid transit (BRT) is well known among planners as a cheap method to improve bus service and provide an alternative to rail, but BRT projects around the country have met resistance from an array of status quo interests.

February 26, 2014 - Atlantic Cities

The state of Illinois is actively pushing two highway projects that might fail to pencil-out for users and for state taxpayers.

February 15, 2014 - Chi.Streetsblog

The Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge opened to vehicle traffic over the weekend. The 1,500-foot cable-stayed span across the Mississippi River is touted as a traffic relief infrastructure.

February 10, 2014 - St. Louis Post-Dispatch

The first step to solving the transit “desert” problem is identifying where those deserts are. But that’s easier said than done.

February 9, 2014 - Atlantic Cities

Dealing with the scars left by past tornadoes, towns like Greensburg, Kansas, have involved the community in planning efforts to rebuild and reimagine the future.

February 3, 2014 - Chicago Tribune

Chicago's big-data projects seem unwieldy, but there is a sound core plan informing them.

January 26, 2014 - Future Cities

The October opening of a new 1.9-mile stretch of road on Chicago’s Southside anticipates a 40-year master plan for the Lakeside development—600 acres of new development in the middle of one of the country’s largest cities.

January 24, 2014 - The Architect's Newspaper

Completed in 1880 as a company town by railcar tycoon George Pullman, the 300-acre Pullman Historic District in Chicago could be a beautiful addition to the National Park System.

January 24, 2014 - The Architect's Newspaper

21 months after Chicago's Infrastructure Trust was launched by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the program finally has its first approved project. After delays and substantial downsizing, Bank of America will invest $13 million in energy efficiency improvements.

January 23, 2014 - Chicago Tribune

Once left for dead by the Bush Administration and subsequently revived by the Obama Administration, the FutureGen clean coal project was granted approval by the U.S. Department of Energy. Construction could begin this year.

January 17, 2014 - Associated Press via The St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Facing a shortfall of more than $1 million to maintain its roads, the Chicago suburb of Long Grove is looking to privatize nearly half of them by asking residents to pick up the tab. Residents are unhappy about the plan, but see few alternatives.

January 14, 2014 - Chicago Tribune

Call it the Lac-Mégantic effect - the July 6 conflagration that leveled the downtown, killing 47 people, has implications for all jurisdictions where oil and freight trains run. Cities must recognize that rail insurance policies are woefully lacking.

January 14, 2014 - The Wall Street Journal

As Chicago's population surged in the second decade of the 20th century, one dominant single-family housing type spread across the city. Over the next year the Historic Chicago Bungalow Association will celebrate these distinctive homes.

January 7, 2014 - WBEZ

When Mayor Rahm Emanuel sought out his first transportation chief, he lured Gabe Klein from Washington D.C. This week it was announced that Klein's successor had been found much closer to home: the city's transit authority.

January 2, 2014 - Chi.Streetsblog

Petroleum coke or petcoke, similar to coal, is a nasty though salable byproduct of the oil refining process. Produced from refining tar sands crude in Indiana refineries, it is stored in huge piles in Chicago, blowing dust in the Southeast Side.

December 28, 2013 - NPR Morning Edition

When architecture enthusiasts lost their battle to preserve Bertrand Goldberg's iconic Prentice Women's Hospital in Chicago, many turned their hopes to the design of a fittingly stunning replacement. Will the new design fill the architectural void?

December 16, 2013 - ArchDaily

Is there a correlation between running red lights and more violent crime like robberies and homicide? Gabe Klein, Chicago's distinguished outgoing transportation commissioner, thinks so. It's been dubbed "the broken windows effect."

December 3, 2013 - Streetsblog

When it was launched by Mayor Emanuel and Bill Clinton, the Chicago Infrastructure Trust was promoted as an innovative model for how U.S. cities could fund improvements. But after a year and a half, the bank is struggling to fulfill its promise.

November 26, 2013 - Governing

Tell me if this sounds familiar: A city repaves a crumbling street only to dig it up again 9 months later to replace an aging water main. Chicago's new Project Coordination Office (PCO) is intended to prevent such unnecessary and costly headaches.

November 23, 2013 - Governing

The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) has become the country's first transit agency to receive Federal Transit Administration (FTA) approval to apply for its new “core capacity” grants. The funds would be used to upgrade Red and Purple Line service.

November 20, 2013 - Next City