A rendering of Clark Street after construction.
Purple Group
Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) announced construction for the Red-Purple Bypass is set to begin this fall, a major component of CTA’s Red Purple Modernization (RPM) Phase One Project to rebuild the century-old rail system. The RPM Phase One project will make commuting better for CTA riders with improved service and modern, fully accessible stations.
A photo of Clark Street before construction.
Purple Group
This fall, CTA will begin constructing new track foundations in the Lakeview community for a new rail bypass bridge that will replace an existing rail junction built in 1907 just north of the Belmont station. The new structure will be a bypass that will carry Kimball-bound CTA Brown Line trains over north and southbound Red and Purple Line tracks just north of Belmont station.
The bypass will improve service reliability on the Red, Purple, and Brown lines, increasing train speeds, easing overcrowding on rail cars and providing CTA the ability to increase the number of trains it can run during the busiest travel periods for the nearly 150,000 rides it currently carries.
Additionally, the project improves the local community by creating a brighter, cleaner, safer, and more pleasant pedestrian environment and will complement the comprehensive Transit Oriented Development Plan that CTA prepared in 2018 with the local community for parcels of land that will be available for development when construction is completed.
CTA is finalizing construction start dates with the project’s contractor, Walsh-Fluor Design Build Team and will continue to provide advance notification of construction impacts. Red Line service will continue throughout the entire project.
Since RPM Phase One was announced in 2014, public meetings have been held to gather community input regarding the project. As a result, CTA has responded to the community’s needs and concerns in preparation to construction in several ways, including the installation of flower boxes, butterfly sculptures and landscaping on Wilton Avenue and School Street along the fence bordering the CTA-owned lot. CTA has also helped promote construction-affected businesses during utility work with Open for Business banners, social media posts, and encouraging workers to eat and shop locally.
Caltrain and its partners have implemented safety improvements at specific locations in response to known risk conditions, operational needs, and available funding since the agency’s founding.
On a recent episode of METROspectives, METRO Magazine’s Executive Editor Alex Roman sat down with Ana-Maria Tomlinson, Director of Strategic & Cross-Sector Programs at the CSA Group, to explore a bold initiative aimed at addressing those challenges: the development of a National Code for Transit and Passenger Rail Systems in Canada.
Competitive FTA grants will support accessibility upgrades, family-friendly improvements, and cost-efficient capital projects at some of the nation’s oldest and busiest transit hubs.
The 3.92-mile addition will soon take riders west beyond its current Wilshire and Western station in Koreatown, continuing under Wilshire Boulevard through neighborhoods and communities including Hancock Park, Windsor Square, the Fairfax District, and Carthay Circle into Beverly Hills.
Under the plan, all long-distance routes will transition to a universal single-level fleet, replacing today’s mix of bi-level and single-level equipment.
The milestone is a significant step toward modernizing the MAX Blue Line’s power infrastructure, one of the oldest components of the region’s light rail system.
The firm will lead the Tier 2 environmental review program for the Coachella Valley Rail Corridor, including the conceptual and preliminary engineering needed to develop project-level environmental clearance.
The ATP board’s approval of ARC enables ATP to begin pre-construction activities and advance final design for Austin Light Rail under the first phase of what will be a multibillion-dollar contract.
