Plans to construct a prestigious express line to O'Hare airport may be overkill. The existing Blue Line, which could benefit from some investment, already connects downtown Chicago and the airport.
In a piece for Streetsblog Chicago, Steven Vance makes the case that "the current push to create 'world-class' train service to O'Hare is a distraction from actually fixing what's wrong with Chicago's transit system."
Figures like Mayor Rahm Emanuel and aviation commissioner Ginger Evans have argued that installing express rail service to O'Hare will help Chicago measure up internationally. "High-speed train service to airports – with fares that typically run several times the non-express rate – is becoming a more common amenity among busy, international airports."
But Chicago's Blue Line already fulfills that function, if less glamorously: "[...] express service that runs directly to the center of town is uncommon. Chicago is unusual in that both O'Hare and Midway offer efficient train service to the Loop."
Vance argues, "There are much more cost-effective ways that current O’Hare Branch 'L' service could be upgraded. Moreover, the CTA should work on improving travel times to the airport from many of Chicago's densest neighborhoods that aren't near the Blue Line." To reinvent downtown-to-airport transit ignores the fact that Chicago is already one of only three American cities where it's faster to take transit to the airport than a cab.
FULL STORY: Express Train to O’Hare? We Already Have One and It’s Called The Blue Line
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City of Albany
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research