I always thought one of the weaknesses of Chicago's commuter system was that the suburban line commuter stations were too far west of the downtown business area and lacked a rapid transit connection between the two. The transportation bill passed by Congress and signed by the President a few days ago "authorizes" the Circle line to address this problem. It appears that instead of bringing commuters to the main stations it proposes to distribute commuters to stations further out along the lines while at the same time serving a much wider area and with minimal construction. Pretty clever. I'm surprised that the CTA could commit to such an ambitious plan. I thought it was racing Amtrak to be first to jump into the abyss. How's this plan going over with Chicagoans? Any bets as to whether it'll be completed during the lives of anyone reading this?
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