X-Nico

Chicago Central Area Transit Plan

Had the Loop Subway actually been built when it was proposed between 1969 and 1978, the Midway Line would have also utilized the Loop Subway through a connection with the Dan Ryan branch in the median of the Franklin Street Extension between Roosevelt Road and 16th Street by the time it began operation in 1993.

•

Another group, namely the Chicago Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, went even further by trying to equate the elevated structure as one with the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

•

In 1979, then-mayor Jane M. Byrne of Chicago and former Illinois governor James R. Thompson reached an agreement whereby the Franklin Line subway project, along with the Crosstown Expressway on the West Side, was to be canceled, the elevated Loop retained and improved, and rapid transit improvements developed for residential sections of Chicago where improvements were needed.

•

The proposed system was dubbed the "Central Area Circulator Project", an eight-mile (13 km) light-rail transit network linking the North Western, Union and Randolph Metra suburban railroad stations to North Michigan Avenue, Streeterville, Navy Pier, the museums, and McCormick Place.

•

It was to be connected with major Loop buildings and fringe parking areas around the Central Area and included a rapid transit link to the McCormick Place Convention Center and the proposed rapid transit route in the median of the Dan Ryan Expressway.

see also