1.
Chicago "L"
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The Chicago L is the rapid transit system serving the city of Chicago and some of its surrounding suburbs in the U. S. state of Illinois. It is operated by the Chicago Transit Authority, Chicagos L provides 24-hour service on some portions of its network, being one of only five rapid transit systems in the United States to do so. The oldest sections of the Chicago L started operations in 1892, making it the second oldest rapid transit system in the Americas, the L has been credited with fostering the growth of Chicagos dense city core that is one of the citys distinguishing features. The L consists of eight rapid transit lines laid out in a spoke–hub distribution paradigm focusing transit towards the Loop. Although the L gained its name because large parts of the system are elevated, portions of the network are also in subway tunnels, at grade level, or open cut. In 2014, the L had an average of 752,734 passenger boardings each weekday,486,267 each Saturday, over the next year service was extended to 63rd Street and Stony Island Avenue, then the Transportation Building of the Worlds Columbian Exposition in Jackson Park. In 1893, trains running on the Lake Street Elevated Railroad and in 1895 on the Metropolitan West Side Elevated, which had lines to Douglas Park, Garfield Park, Humboldt Park. Two years later the South Side L introduced multiple-unit control, in which the operator can control all the cars in a train. Electrification and MU control remain standard features of most of the rapid transit systems. A drawback of early L service was none of the lines entered the central business district. The Union Loop opened in 1897 and greatly increased the rapid transit systems convenience, insull instituted many improvements, including free transfers and through routing, although he did not formally combine the original firms into the Chicago Rapid Transit Company until 1924. The construction of the Subway created the necessity to tunnel under the Chicago River, the State Street Subway opened on October 17,1943, the Dearborn Subway, on which work had been suspended during World War II, opened on February 25,1951. The subways were constructed with a purpose of serving as bomb shelters. The subways bypassed a number of curves and circuitous routings on the original elevated lines. In 1947, the Chicago Transit Authority acquired the assets of the Chicago Rapid Transit Company and the Chicago Surface Lines, operator of the citys streetcars. Over the next few years CTA modernized the L, replacing wooden cars with new ones and closing lightly used branch lines and stations. Later, after assuming control of the L, the CTA introduced a service known as the A/B skip-stop service. Under this service, trains were designated as either A or B trains, a trains would only stop at A or AB stations, and B trains would only stop at B or AB stations
2.
Rapid transit
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Rapid transit, also known as heavy rail, metro, subway, tube, or underground, is a type of high-capacity public transport generally found in urban areas. The stations typically have high platforms, without steps inside the trains and they are typically integrated with other public transport and often operated by the same public transport authorities. However, some transit systems have at-grade intersections between a rapid transit line and a road or between two rapid transit lines. It is unchallenged in its ability to transport large numbers of people quickly over short distances with little use of land, variations of rapid transit include people movers, small-scale light metro, and the commuter rail hybrid S-Bahn. The worlds first rapid-transit system was the partially underground Metropolitan Railway which opened as a railway in 1863. In 1868, New York opened the elevated West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway, china has the largest number of rapid transit systems in the world. The worlds longest single-operator rapid transit system by length is the Shanghai Metro. The worlds largest single rapid transit service provider by both length of revenue track (665 miles and number of stations is the New York City Subway. The busiest rapid transit systems in the world by annual ridership are the Tokyo subway system, the Seoul Metropolitan Subway, the Moscow Metro, the Beijing Subway, Metro is the most common term for underground rapid transit systems used by non-native English speakers. One of these terms may apply to a system, even if a large part of the network runs at ground level. In Scotland, however, the Glasgow Subway underground rapid transit system is known as the Subway, in the US, underground mass transit systems are primarily known as subways, whereas the term metro is a shortened reference to a metropolitan area. In that vein, Chicagos commuter rail system, serving the area, is called Metra. Exceptions in naming rapid transit systems are Washington DCs subway system the Washington Metro, Los Angeles Metro Rail, and the Miami Metrorail, the opening of Londons steam-hauled Metropolitan Railway in 1863 marked the beginning of rapid transit. Initial experiences with steam engines, despite ventilation, were unpleasant, experiments with pneumatic railways failed in their extended adoption by cities. Electric traction was more efficient, faster and cleaner than steam, in 1890 the City & South London Railway was the first electric-traction rapid transit railway, which was also fully underground. Both railways were merged into London Underground. The 1893 Liverpool Overhead Railway was designed to use electric traction from the outset, budapest in Hungary and Glasgow, Chicago and New York all converted or purpose-designed and built electric rail services. Advancements in technology have allowed new automated services, hybrid solutions have also evolved, such as tram-train and premetro, which incorporate some of the features of rapid transit systems
3.
Chicago Transit Authority
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Chicago Transit Authority, also known as CTA, is the operator of mass transit in Chicago, Illinois and some of its surrounding suburbs, including the trains of the Chicago L and CTA bus service. In 1952, CTA purchased the assets of the Chicago Motor Coach Company, today, the CTA is one of the three service boards financially supported by the Regional Transportation Authority. The Chicago Transit Authority provides service to Chicago and 40 surrounding suburbs, the CTA provided a total of 532 million rides in 2011, a 3 percent increase over 2010 with ridership rising to levels not seen for 20 years. CTA operates 24 hours each day and on an average weekday provides 1.7 million rides on buses and it has approximately 1,800 buses that operate over 140 routes traveling along 2,230 route miles. Buses provide about one million trips a day and serve more than 12,000 posted bus stops in 10 suburbs. The Chicago Transit Authoritys 1,450 train cars operate eight routes and 222 miles of track. Its trains provide about 750,000 customer trips each weekday and serve 144 stations in Chicago and seven suburbs. Currently, the CTA operates within Chicago and the suburbs of Forest Park, Evanston, Skokie, Oak Park, Summit, Cicero, Berwyn, North Riverside, Rosemont. The CTA accepts payment with a Ventra card, a single-ride or 1-day Ventra disposable ticket, contactless credit or debit card, children under seven can ride free with a fare-paying rider, 3-child limit. Only buses allow riders to pay with cash, the bus fare is $2, the L fare is $2.25, and no cash transfers are available. The CTA no longer sells Transit Cards, all remaining Transit Cards must have been used by July 1,2014. In its place CTA has adopted the Ventra Card system, the Ventra Card can be purchased online, at any Ventra machine at CTA stations, and at authorized retailers. Ventra is a fare payment system for the Chicago Transit Authority and Pace that replaced the Chicago Card. Ventra launched in August 2013, with a full system transition slated for July 1,2014, Ventra is operated by Cubic Transportation Systems. Riders can pay a quarter for up to two transfers within two hours, the Chicago Transit Authority produced a monthly television show, Connections, from May 2003 through December 2011. The show was hosted by Dale Rivera, Jeanne Sparrow, Connections was broadcast on City of Chicago Public-access television cable TV channels 23 &49, as well as on Comcasts CN100 in the Chicago media market, including areas of Michigan and Indiana. Connections featured news and information about the CTA and services it provides, individual segments from Connections are available on CTAs YouTube channel. The majority of train stations CTA operates have elevators or ramps to access for customers with disabilities
4.
Chicago
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Chicago, officially the City of Chicago, is the third-most populous city in the United States. With over 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the state of Illinois, and it is the county seat of Cook County. In 2012, Chicago was listed as a global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. Chicago has the third-largest gross metropolitan product in the United States—about $640 billion according to 2015 estimates, the city has one of the worlds largest and most diversified economies with no single industry employing more than 14% of the workforce. In 2016, Chicago hosted over 54 million domestic and international visitors, landmarks in the city include Millennium Park, Navy Pier, the Magnificent Mile, Art Institute of Chicago, Museum Campus, the Willis Tower, Museum of Science and Industry, and Lincoln Park Zoo. Chicagos culture includes the arts, novels, film, theater, especially improvisational comedy. Chicago also has sports teams in each of the major professional leagues. The city has many nicknames, the best-known being the Windy City, the name Chicago is derived from a French rendering of the Native American word shikaakwa, known to botanists as Allium tricoccum, from the Miami-Illinois language. The first known reference to the site of the current city of Chicago as Checagou was by Robert de LaSalle around 1679 in a memoir, henri Joutel, in his journal of 1688, noted that the wild garlic, called chicagoua, grew abundantly in the area. In the mid-18th century, the area was inhabited by a Native American tribe known as the Potawatomi, the first known non-indigenous permanent settler in Chicago was Jean Baptiste Point du Sable. Du Sable was of African and French descent and arrived in the 1780s and he is commonly known as the Founder of Chicago. In 1803, the United States Army built Fort Dearborn, which was destroyed in 1812 in the Battle of Fort Dearborn, the Ottawa, Ojibwe, and Potawatomi tribes had ceded additional land to the United States in the 1816 Treaty of St. Louis. The Potawatomi were forcibly removed from their land after the Treaty of Chicago in 1833, on August 12,1833, the Town of Chicago was organized with a population of about 200. Within seven years it grew to more than 4,000 people, on June 15,1835, the first public land sales began with Edmund Dick Taylor as U. S. The City of Chicago was incorporated on Saturday, March 4,1837, as the site of the Chicago Portage, the city became an important transportation hub between the eastern and western United States. Chicagos first railway, Galena and Chicago Union Railroad, and the Illinois, the canal allowed steamboats and sailing ships on the Great Lakes to connect to the Mississippi River. A flourishing economy brought residents from rural communities and immigrants from abroad, manufacturing and retail and finance sectors became dominant, influencing the American economy. The Chicago Board of Trade listed the first ever standardized exchange traded forward contracts and these issues also helped propel another Illinoisan, Abraham Lincoln, to the national stage
5.
Mural
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A mural is any piece of artwork painted or applied directly on a wall, ceiling or other permanent surface. A distinguishing characteristic of painting is that the architectural elements of the given space are harmoniously incorporated into the picture. Some wall paintings are painted on canvases, which are then attached to the wall. Whether these works can be accurately called murals is a subject of controversy in the art world. Murals of sorts date to Upper Paleolithic times such as the paintings in the Chauvet Cave in Ardèche department of southern France, many ancient murals have been found within ancient Egyptian tombs, the Minoan palaces and in Pompeii. During the Middle Ages murals were executed on dry plaster. The huge collection of Kerala mural painting dating from the 14th century are examples of fresco secco, in Italy, circa 1300, the technique of painting of frescos on wet plaster was reintroduced and led to a significant increase in the quality of mural painting. In modern times, the became more well-known with the Mexican muralism art movement. There are many different styles and techniques, the best-known is probably fresco, which uses water-soluble paints with a damp lime wash, a rapid use of the resulting mixture over a large surface, and often in parts. The colors lighten as they dry, the marouflage method has also been used for millennia. Murals today are painted in a variety of ways, using oil or water-based media, the styles can vary from abstract to trompe-lœil. Initiated by the works of artists like Graham Rust or Rainer Maria Latzke in the 1980s, trompe-loeil painting has experienced a renaissance in private. The buon fresco technique consists of painting in pigment mixed with water on a layer of wet, fresh. The pigment is absorbed by the wet plaster, after a number of hours. After this the painting stays for a time up to centuries in fresh. Fresco-secco painting is done on dry plaster, the pigments thus require a binding medium, such as egg, glue or oil to attach the pigment to the wall. By the end of the century this had largely displaced the buon fresco method. This technique had, in reduced form, the advantages of a secco work, in Greco-Roman times, mostly encaustic colors applied in a cold state were used
6.
Chicago Loop
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The Loop is the central business district of Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the citys 77 designated community areas, the Loop is home to Chicagos commercial core, City Hall, and the seat of Cook County. In the late century, cable car turnarounds and prominent elevated railway encircled the area. In what is now the Loop, on the bank of the Chicago River, near todays Michigan Avenue Bridge. It was the first settlement in the sponsored by the United States. Other research has concluded that the Loop was not used as a proper noun until after the 1895–97 construction of the Union elevated railway loop, Loop architecture has been dominated by skyscrapers and high-rises since early in its history. Some of the buildings in this district were instrumental in the development of towers. Chicagos street numbering system – dividing addresses into North, South, East, Chicago is still the nations rail transportation hub and passenger lines once reached seven Loop-area stations by the 1890s. Transfers from one to the other was a business for taxi drivers until the long-distance lines gave way to Amtrak in the 1970s with the majority of trains concentrated at Chicago Union Station. This area abounds in shopping opportunities, including the Loop Retail Historic District and it includes Chicagos former Marshall Fields department store location in the Marshall Field and Company Building, the original Sullivan Center Carson Pirie Scott store location. Chicagos Downtown Theatre District is also found within this area, along with numerous restaurants, Chicago has a famous skyline which features many of the tallest buildings in the world as well as the Chicago Landmark Historic Michigan Boulevard District. Chicagos skyline is spaced out throughout the area, giving it a graceful beautiful appearance. Chicagos third tallest building, the Aon Center, is located just south of Illinois Center, the complex is at the east end of the Loop, east of Michigan Avenue. Two Prudential Plaza is also located here, just to the west of the Aon Center, the Loop contains a wealth of outdoor sculpture, including works by Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró, Henry Moore, Marc Chagall, Magdalena Abakanowicz, Alexander Calder, and Jean Dubuffet. Chicagos waterfront, which is almost exclusively recreational beach and park areas from north to south, the area also hosts the annual music festival Lollapalooza which features popular alternative rock, heavy metal, EDM, hop hop and punk rock artists. Trips down the Chicago River, including tours, by commercial boat operators are great favorites with both locals and tourists alike. The Loop is the seat of Chicagos government and it is also the government seat of Cook County, Illinois and houses an office for the governor of the State of Illinois. The century old City Hall/County Building houses the chambers of the Mayor, City Council, across the street, the Richard J. Daley Center accommodates a famous Picasso sculpture and the state law courts
7.
Morgan station
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Morgan/Lake is a station on the Chicago Transit Authoritys Green and Pink Lines in the Near West Side neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. The new station opened on May 18,2012, the first Morgan station was one of the 29 stations along the Lake Street Elevated Railroad when the line opened in 1893. Service to Morgan operated continuously until April 4,1948, when the newly created CTA closed the station, due to low ridership, soon afterward, the station was demolished. The neighborhood continued to receive elevated service at the Halsted Street station, Halsted continued to serve the neighborhood until January 9,1994, when the CTA closed the Green Line for an rehabilitation and renovation project. This project included the closure of six stations, and among them was the Halsted station, with the closure of Halsted, no Green Line stations remained in the West Loop or Fulton Market areas, leaving a gap of 1.3 miles between stations at Ashland and Clinton. The closure of Halsted was unpopular, and since that date, community residents, businesses, and local organizations have argued that this area needs a new infill station to restore rail service. Morgan was a location for a new station, as it is located halfway between Ashland and Clinton, and the intersection of Morgan/Lake is close to much of the new development in the area. It also sits near many art galleries that have opened recently, as well as Oprah Winfreys Harpo Studios, in the early 2000s, the CTA began to work with local groups and city officials to plan and identify funding sources for the new station. Initially, the neighborhood planned to cover the entire cost with funding from a tax increment financing district. The final cost of building the station was $38 million, tranSystems led the design team, in conjunction with Ross Barney Architects. Like most currently active Green Line and Pink Line stations, Morgan is ADA-accessible, the station will also have bike storage. The new Morgan station officially opened on May 18,2012, and grand opening ceremonies were held on May 24
8.
Washington/Wabash station
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Washington/Wabash is a Chicago L rapid transit station scheduled to open in early 2017. It will serve as a consolidation and replacement of the Randolph/Wabash and Madison/Wabash stations, the project is being undertaken by the Chicago Department of Transportation. Construction of the $75 million station will begin in 2016 following the closure of Madison/Wabash in March 2015, the station will be located between Washington and Madison Streets on Wabash Avenue in the Chicago Loop. It will be one of three new stations in the Loop with Washington/Wells being the first and Harold Washington Library – State/Van Buren being the second
9.
Quincy station (CTA)
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Quincy is a rapid transit station on the Chicago Transit Authoritys L system. It is located between the Washington/Wells and LaSalle/Van Buren stations in the Loop, the station is located above the intersection of Quincy Street and Wells Street in Downtown Chicago, Illinois. Having opened in 1897, it is one of the oldest surviving stations on the L system, the station is located in the South Loop Financial District and is the closest CTA rail station to the Willis Tower, approximately one block west. It is also close to Union Station, the terminal for several Metra and Amtrak routes, Quincy is an elevated station, located above Quincy Street between Adams Street and Jackson Boulevard. It features two platforms and station houses, one on the west to serve the Outer Loop track. Turnstiles for fare payment are located in the houses on the platform level. The station once had a bridge, but this was removed in the 1980s. This means it is not possible to change from one platform to the other without paying another fare or asking for employee assistance, there are auxiliary exits to both Adams and Jackson on the Inner Loop platform, while the Outer Loop only has an auxiliary exit to Adams. Both platforms are designed to handle eight-car trains, the longest the CTA L system can run, prior to September 1953, the station also featured a walkway to the Wells Street Terminal for convenient transfers to interurban trains of the Chicago Aurora and Elgin Railroad. From 1985 to 1988, Quincy was restored to a much as it would have looked when it opened. Some materials, such as signage, were changed several of the stations features are original to its 1897 opening. Project Began on march 16,2017, a renovation project will begin at the station in 2016 and will continue through the end of 2017. The renovation will add two new elevators to the station to make it accessible for people with disabilities, and other improvements include new stairs, the station will remain open during the project. In normal operation, the station is serviced by the Brown, Orange, during weekday rush hours, the Purple Line also stops here. Brown Line trains stop at the Outer Loop platform, while all other lines stop at the Inner Loop platform, iL-1-A, Union Elevated Railroad, Quincy Street Station Quincy/Wells Station Page at Chicago-L
10.
Side platform
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A side platform is a platform positioned to the side of a pair of tracks at a railway station, tram stop, or transitway. Dual side platform stations, one for direction of travel, is the basic station design used for double-track railway lines. Side platforms may result in a wider overall footprint for the station compared with a platform where a single width of platform can be shared by riders using either track. In some stations, the two platforms are connected by a footbridge running above and over the tracks. While a pair of platforms is often provided on a dual-track line. Where the station is close to a crossing the platforms may either be on the same side of the crossing road or alternatively may be staggered in one of two ways. With the near-side platforms configuration, each platform appears before the intersection, in some situations a single side platform can be served by multiple vehicles simultaneously with a scissors crossing provided to allow access mid-way along its length. Normally, the facilities of the station are located on the Up platform with the other platform accessed from a footbridge. However, in cases the stations main buildings are located on whichever side faces the town or village the station serves. Larger stations may have two platforms with several island platforms in between. Some are in a Spanish solution format, with two platforms and an island platform in between, serving two tracks
11.
Lower West Side, Chicago
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Lower West Side is a community area on the West Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is three miles southwest of the Chicago Loop, and its neighborhood is Pilsen. The Heart of Chicago is a neighborhood in the southwest corner of the Lower West Side, in the late 19th century, Pilsen was inhabited by Czech immigrants who named the district after Plzeň, the fourth largest city in what is now the Czech Republic. They replaced the Germans and Irish who had settled there before them, many of the immigrants worked in the stockyards and surrounding factories. Although there was increase in the Hispanic presence in the late 1950s. This was due to the displacement of Latinos from the neighborhood UIC currently occupies, south of Hull House, and from other urban revitalization projects. In 1970, Latinos became the majority population in Pilsen, with about 25,000 people out of the communitys 43,341 people surpassing the population of people of Eastern European descent, in particular, Mexicans made up about 36% of the residents of Pilsen in 1973. In the 1980s, the Mexican-origin population grew, during that decade 95% of the people in Pilsen had some Mexican descent, and 80% of the overall population of Pilsen were first or second generation immigrants from Mexico and Mexican-Americans. Mexican growth continued into the 1990s, during that decade 40% of the Mexican-origin population in Pilsen had migrated directly there from Mexico, and about 33% of the Mexican-origin population in the Chicago area lived in Pilsen. As of 2005 many of the residents of the neighborhood were not Latino. The non-Latino population in Pilsen is still a minority as of the 2010 Census, some local advocacy groups, including one led by Michael A. Martone, have formed urging the neighborhoods alderman to curtail gentrification to preserve the Mexican-American culture. In 2006, Pilsen Historic District became a National Historic Register District, south Water Market has been added to the National Register of Historic Places. The east side of the neighborhood along Halsted Street is one of Chicagos largest art districts, st. Adalberts dominates the skyline with the opulence typical of churches in the Polish Cathedral style. Pilsen is home to a multitude of murals and other forms of street art, the United States Postal Service operates the Pilsen Post Office on 1859 S Ashland Avenue. The National Museum of Mexican Art is located in the Pilsen neighborhood, podmajersky incorporated is a major property owner in the Pilsen area. Robb Walsh of the Houston Press wrote that the Mexican restaurants in Pilsen are unconsciously authentic to original Mexican cuisine, the community area is connected to the rest of the city by both Chicago Transit Authority and Metra transportation services. There are also bikeways on Blue Island Avenue, 18th, residents are zoned to Chicago Public Schools. Benito Juarez Community Academy, located in the Lower West Side, other parts are zoned to Thomas Kelly High School
12.
Pink Line (CTA)
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The Pink Line is an 11.2 mi rapid transit line in Chicago, run by the Chicago Transit Authority as part of the Chicago L system. It is CTAs newest rail line and began operation for a 180-day trial period on June 25,2006, the route to the Loop follows tracks shared with Green Line trains on Lake Street, connected by the previously non-revenue Paulina Connector. In September 2012, the average weekday boardings on the Pink Line was 33,737, the Pink Line does not make any L train transfers on the Douglas Branch. The Pink Line operates between 54th/Cermak and the Loop, weekdays from 4,05 a. m. to 1,25 a. m. and Saturdays and Sundays from 5,05 a. m. to 1,25 a. m. This would allow a doubling of Blue Line trains to Forest Park on the Congress Line, the CTA has also promised that service to/from 54th/Cermak would be increased 100% during weekday rush hours. On February 15,2006, the CTA approved the separate plan, non-rush hour trains would be routed via the Loop, Green Line tracks and Paulina Connector. During weekday rush hours, service would be available on this routing as well as the route via the Dearborn Street Subway every half hour. These changes went into effect beginning June 25,2006, with the trial scheduled to end 180 days later on December 22,2006. Originally, Douglas trains were operated by the Metropolitan West Side Elevated directly into the Loop by means of the Metropolitans main line, the entire Douglas Branch is ADA accessible. The Pink Line began operation on June 25,2006, using the rebuilt Paulina Connector which had not been used in revenue service for 48 years. The service, which was set up as a temporary service to be run for a trial period of 180 days. Pink Line trains operate clockwise on the Inner Loop track via Lake-Wabash-Van Buren-Wells before returning to 54th/Cermak, on December 4,2008, CTA announced its decision to make the Pink Line permanent. On the Pink Line, what was once the Blue Lines Douglas branch begins at 54th Avenue, the line turns north near Paulina Street stopping at 18th and Polk stations, then crosses over the Eisenhower Expressway. Here, a two track non-revenue branch diverges that descends to the expressway to provide a track connection to the Blue Line. It continues on the Paulina Connector to share tracks with the Green Line on Lake Street with stops at Ashland, Morgan and Clinton, the Pink Line is operated with the Bombardier-built 5000-series railcars. Trains operate using four cars on weekdays and weekends, occasionally, the Pink and Green Lines borrow each others cars when either line is short on cars. The 5000-series cars returned to the Pink Line on May 7,2012, at the time of their reintroduction, all Pink Line consists using 5000-series cars were six cars long. The last 2600-series cars were removed from service from the Pink Line on June 8,2012, most of the Pink Lines 2600-series cars were reassigned to the Blue Line to replace its 2200-series cars
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Media related to 18th (CTA) at Wikimedia Commons
