1.
Central Street (Evanston, Illinois)
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Central Street is the principal east-west artery in the far north of Evanston, Illinois and is a major thoroughfare in other northern and northwest suburbs of Chicago. The street is located at 2600 N in the Evanston grid system and 10100 N in the Chicago grid system. Central Street has a location in Evanston, the name dates to when the street was the principal thoroughfare for the village of North Evanston. Central Street has been served by mass transit for over a century. The Chicago & Milwaukee Railroad began service from Chicago to Waukegan in 1855, the Chicago and North Western Railway took over the line in 1866, and the Central Street station still stands today as a Metra stop on the Union Pacific/North Line. An Evanston trolley system operated electric streetcars down Central Street from 1897 to 1935, today the north-south line is operated by the CTA, which maintains a Central Street stop on the Purple Line. In rush hours there is service to the Loop. Four different bus routes serve the neighborhood, with two running directly down Central Street itself, Central Street is classified by the Illinois Department of Transportation as an unmarked state-maintained road. The street is wide enough in portions for four lanes and contains sections that are part of Evanstons bicycle plan, the community takes an active interest in bicycling as transportation, including as part of multi-modal transportation. Sections of Central Street were striped in 2010 for dedicated bike lanes, the Central Street district is frequently referred to as unique, even in Evanston city code, which refers to diverse, unique, small-scale, pedestrian-oriented retail shops, services and restaurants. The local merchants have their own association and a Facebook page that lists many businesses, the Central Street district includes a number of art galleries and antique stores. It is home to the Mitchell Museum of the American Indian, since 1952 the North Branch of the Evanston library system has been located on Central Street. A large and active community organization, the Central Street Neighbors Association, maintains a website with neighborhood. Residents generally opposed the potential canyonization of the street, canyonization of the street became an issue in the 2005 municipal election. After the developers modified the proposal to four stories, with upper floors stepped back slightly from the street, in response to some of the previous controversies, the City of Evanston in the winter of 2006–07 began a long-urged comprehensive planning of Central Street. A Master Plan was adopted in June 2007, and ordinances passed in January 2008 that re-zoned the corridor, Central Street serves as the route for the Evanston Fourth of July parade. The Evanston Fourth of July Association, a 5013 not-for-profit, has held the parade since 1922, the celebration was started by the North End Mothers Club in response to a child being injured by firecrackers the previous year. The parade attracts about 15,000 spectators each year, and Country Home magazine ranked it as the third-best Fourth of July celebration in 2003, after Washington, DC and Boston
2.
Evanston, Illinois
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It is one of the North Shore communities that adjoin Lake Michigan and is the home of Northwestern University. The boundaries of the city of Evanston are coterminous with those of the former Evanston Township, prior to the 1830s, the area now occupied by Evanston was mainly uninhabited, consisting largely of wetlands and swampy forest. However, Potawatomi Indians used trails along higher lying ridges that ran in a general direction through the area. French explorers referred to the area as Grosse Pointe after a point of land jutting into Lake Michigan about 13 miles north of the mouth of the Chicago River. The area remained sparsely settled, supporting some farming and lumber activity on some of the higher ground. The 1850 census shows a few hundred settlers in this township, in 1851, a group of Methodist business leaders founded Northwestern University and Garrett Biblical Institute. They chose a bluffed and wooded site along the lake as Northwesterns home, purchasing several hundred acres of land from Dr. John Foster, a Chicago farm owner. In 1854, the founders of Northwestern submitted to the county judge their plans for a city to be named Evanston after John Evans, in 1857, the request was granted. The township of Evanston was split off from Ridgeville Township, at approximately the same time, the nine founders, including John Evans, Orrington Lunt, and Andrew Brown, hoped their university would attain high standards of intellectual excellence. Today these hopes have been fulfilled, as Northwestern consistently ranks with the best of the nations universities, Evanston was formally incorporated as a town on December 29,1863, but declined in 1869 to become a city despite the Illinois legislature passing a bill for that purpose. Evanston expanded after the Civil War with the annexation of the village of North Evanston, finally, in early 1892, following the annexation of the village of South Evanston, voters elected to organize as a city. The 1892 boundaries are largely those that exist today, during the 1960s, Northwestern University changed the citys shoreline by adding a 74-acre lakefill. In 1939, Evanston hosted the first NCAA basketball championship final at Northwestern Universitys Patten Gymnasium, in August 1954, Evanston hosted the second assembly of the World Council of Churches, still the only WCC assembly to have been held in the United States. President Dwight Eisenhower welcomed the delegates, and Dag Hammarskjöld, secretary-general of the United Nations, Evanston first received power in April 1893. Many people lined the streets on Emerson St. where the first appearance of lights were lined and turned on. Evanston is the birthplace of Tinkertoys, and Evanston, along with Ithaca, New York, Two Rivers, Wisconsin, Evanston was the home of the Clayton Mark and Company, which for many years supplied the most jobs. Evanston was a dry community from 1858 until 1972, when the City Council voted to allow restaurants, in 1984, the Council voted to allow retail liquor outlets within the city limits. According to the 2010 census, Evanston has an area of 7.802 square miles
3.
Union Pacific / North Line
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The Union Pacific / North Line is a Metra line in the Chicago metropolitan area. It runs between Ogilvie Transportation Center and Waukegan, Illinois, with trains continuing to Kenosha, Wisconsin. Although Metra owns the stock, the trains are operated by the Union Pacific Railroad. This line was known as the Chicago & Northwestern/North Line until C&NW was absorbed by Union Pacific circa 1995. The current timetable has 35 weekday trains leaving Chicago,17 of which terminate at Waukegan,9 at Kenosha,3 at Highland Park,5 at Winnetka,1 at North Chicago. The route followed by the UP/North Line was constructed in 1854 by the Chicago & Milwaukee Railroad, passenger service between Chicago and Waukegan commenced on January 4,1855. Initially, a train operated each day, departing from a terminal in Chicago at Water & Kinzie Streets at 8,30 am. The president of the railroad, former Chicago mayor Walter S. Gurnee, the railroad merged with the Green Bay, Milwaukee & Chicago Railroad in 1863, and was acquired by the Chicago and North Western Railway in 1866. Commuter rail services along the line started operating into the new Chicago and North Western Terminal in 1911, the trains—though owned by Metra—continued to be operated by the Chicago and North Western Railway until that railroad was bought by UP in 1995. UP now operates services along the line for Metra. All stations on the line except for Ravinia Park are open daily, in 2010, Metra began a project to replace 22 bridges between Clybourn and Rogers Park, which are at the end of their design lives and in need of replacement. Metras initial plan called for significantly reduced service for the duration of the project, widespread frustration with this service pattern led to the project being delayed to investigate potential ways to keep existing service. Metra claimed that in order to existing service levels during construction. This funding was procured and in 2011, Metra began work on a modified plan that will allow pre-existing service levels to be maintained as the bridges are replaced. There have been ongoing plans to extend the line, possibly as far as Milwaukee for many years, wisconsins now defunct Southeastern Regional Transit Authority had completed several studies of the project, but was disbanded in 2011. An Application for funding under the FTAs New Starts program was submitted in 2010, in 2011, however, a new Wisconsin budget passed which disbanded SERTA. $15 million in funding was returned. The project has received little attention and is generally considered Dead
4.
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
5.
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
6.
Pace (transit)
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Pace is the suburban bus division of the Regional Transportation Authority in the Chicago metropolitan area. It was created in 1983 by the RTA Act, which established the formula that provides funding to the CTA, Metra, in 2013, Pace had 39.925 million riders. Paces headquarters are in Arlington Heights, Illinois, the six counties that Pace serves are Cook, Lake, Will, Kane, McHenry, and DuPage. Some of Paces bus routes go to Chicago and Indiana. In some areas, notably Evanston, River Forest, Oak Park, many of Paces route terminals are located at CTA rail stations and bus terminals and Metra stations. The CTA and Pace have shared a payment system since 2014 called Ventra, Ventra accounts are required to obtain transfers. Metra fares are completely separated, but a phone app is being developed that may allow Metra payment with Ventra, Pace buses generally have longer routes than CTA buses. Due to its service area, service is provided by nine operating divisions, as well as under agreements with several municipalities. All Pace buses are accessible and have racks accommodating two bicycles, available during all hours of operation. Pace is responsible for ADA paratransit service in its service area, Pace also coordinates various Dial-a-Ride projects, usually sponsored by various municipalities and townships. One of the largest is Ride DuPage, sponsored by Du Page County Human Services, Pace states that it is the nations largest paratransit service provider, providing approximately 17,000 daily trips on paratransit, dial-a-ride and ADvAntage vanpools. Pace operates a Vanpool Incentive Program, where groups save by commuting together in a van owned and maintained by Pace, there is also a Municipal Vanpool Program, under which Pace provides a van to a municipality, for any public transportation purpose. Pace is not an acronym, but a marketing name, in late 2011, Pace received its first Diesel-Electric Hybrid buses from Orion Bus Industries. These Orion VII 3G buses are the first buses in the Pace fleet to not be powered directly by diesel, during weekday rush hours, Pace buses are authorized to use the Stevenson Expressway. The majority of Pace bus routes run daily, morning through early to late evening, other routes run Monday through Saturday, weekdays only, or weekday rush hours only. The Brookfield Zoo Express bus route runs on weekends during the summer, one route,352 Halsted, runs 24 hours a day/7 days a week, four routes 390,392,395, and 890 run only for weekday UPS shifts. No buses with fleet numbers ending in 13, buses delivered in 2005 or later feature the new Pace logo. Starting in 2014, buses delivered in 2003, began receiving the current logo, some routes operated with paratransit or community vehicles
7.
Metra
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Metra is a commuter railroad in the Chicago metropolitan area. The railroad operates 241 stations on 11 different rail lines and it is the fourth busiest commuter rail system in the United States by ridership and the largest and busiest commuter rail system outside the New York City metropolitan area. There were 83.4 million passenger rides in 2014, up 1. 3% from the previous year, the estimated busiest day for Metra ridership occurred on Nov.4, 2016—the day of the Chicago Cubs 2016 World Series victory rally. Using Chicagos rail infrastructure, much of which was created in the 19th century, the Illinois General Assembly established the RTA, Metras creation was a result of the anticipated failure of commuter service operated and owned by various private railroad companies in the 1970s. Freight rail companies still operate some routes, however, these operations are guided by contracted service agreements, Metra owns all rolling stock and is responsible for all stations along with the respective municipalities. Since its inception, Metra has directed more than $5 billion into the rail system of the Chicago metropolitan area. Since its founding in the 19th century, Chicago has been a major Midwestern hub in the North American rail network and it has more trackage radiating in more directions than any other city in North America. Railroads set up their headquarters in the city and Chicago became a center for building cars, passenger cars. By the 1930s Chicago had the worlds largest public transportation system, by the mid-1970s, the commuter lines faced an uncertain future. The Burlington Northern, Milwaukee Road, Chicago and North Western, to provide stability to the commuter rail system, the Illinois General Assembly formed the Regional Transportation Authority in 1974. Its purpose was to fund and plan the Chicago regions public transportation, in the beginning the Regional Transportation Authority commuter train fleet consisted of second-hand equipment, until 1976 when the first order of new EMD F40PH locomotives arrived. That F40PH fleet is still in service today, less than a decade later the Regional Transportation Authority was already suffering from ongoing financial problems. In 1983 the Illinois Legislature reorganized the agency and that reorganization left the Regional Transportation Authority in charge of day-to-day operations of all bus, heavy rail and commuter rail services throughout the Chicago metropolitan area. It was also responsible for directing fare and service levels, setting up budgets, finding sources for capital investment, due to the broad range of responsibilities entrusted with the Regional Transportation Authority, the Commuter Rail Service Board was created in 1984. It was renamed Metra in July 1985, the newly reorganized Metra service helped to bring a single identity to the many infrastructure components serviced by the Regional Transportation Authoritys commuter rail system. Metras operating arm, the Northeast Illinois Regional Commuter Railroad Corporation, was created as a separate subsidiary which operates seven Metra owned routes. Contracts were set up with the Union Pacific and BNSF railroads to operate four other Metra routes, while Metra owns all rolling stock and is responsible for most stations on those routes, the freight carriers use their own employees and control the right-of-way for those routes. In keeping with Metras purpose to provide an identity for commuter rail in the region
8.
Wilmette station
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Wilmette is the name of a commuter railroad station in Wilmette, Illinois, U. S. that is served by Metras Union Pacific/North Line. Trains go south to Ogilvie Transportation Center and as far north as Kenosha, travel time to Ogilvie is 31 minutes on local trains, and as little as 27 minutes on morning inbound trains and 22 minutes on one afternoon inbound train. In Metras zone-based fare system, Wilmette is in zone C, the station is located at Green Bay Road and Washington Avenue in Wilmettes central business district. It is also in proximity to the Wilmette Village Hall. Northbound trains stop on the west platform and Chicago-bound trains stop on the east platform, the closest CTA Purple Line station is Linden, about a mile away. The first railroad station in Wilmette opened in 1871 at a cost of $700, in 1875, it took 30 minutes to get to Chicago, and the fare was 11 cents. The former station has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1975, the present Metra station in Wilmette opened in 2001. As of 2004, it was the 29th busiest station in the Metra system, with an average of more than 1,300 weekday boardings
9.
Evanston Davis Street station
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Evanston Davis Street, also called simply Evanston, is a commuter railroad station in downtown Evanston, Illinois, United States. It is served only by Metras Union Pacific/North Line with trains going south to Ogilvie Transportation Center in Chicago and as far north as Kenosha, in Metras zone-based fare system, Davis Street is in zone C. The station is next to the Davis station of the Chicago Transit Authoritys Purple Line, between the two stations is 909 Davis Street, a six-story building, with a kiss-and-ride loop for car drop-off. Davis Street station, at Davis Street and Maple Avenue, has two elevated platforms, northbound trains stop at the west platform and southbound trains stop at the east platform. The ticket agents office is on the east platform, at ground level, there is a restaurant called Chefs Station. Just to the east of the Davis CTA station is the 12-story Sherman Avenue Garage and this is the closest Metra station to most of the buildings on Northwestern Universitys Evanston campus, with the notable exception of Ryan Field, which is closer to the Central Street station
CTA and Pace Buses
Media related to Evanston Central Street station at Wikimedia Commons