1.
South Shore Line
–
The name refers to both the physical line and the service operated over that route. The line was built in 1901–08 by predecessors of the Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad, passenger operation was assumed by the NICTD in 1989. The public Monday-Friday timetable shows 20 eastbound trains operating,18 of those operate out of Millennium Station. Of those, five terminate at Gary Metro Center, seven at South Bend Airport, two daily trains begin at Carroll Avenue and continue to South Bend Airport. The South Shore Line was constructed between 1901–08 by the Chicago and Indiana Air Line Railway, revenue service between Michigan City and South Bend began on July 1,1908. The CLS&SB leased the Kensington and Eastern Railroad on April 4,1909 and that year the full line to Kensington on the Illinois Central was completed, and beginning on June 2,1912, the electric cars were coupled to IC steam locomotives and run to downtown Chicago. The Chicago, Lake Shore and South Bend entered bankruptcy in 1925 and was bought by Samuel Insulls Chicago South Shore, the line continued to handle both freight and passengers. Under Insull, the CSS&SB embarked on a rehabilitation program. This included new ballast and ties, 100-pound rail in place of 70-pound rail, brush clearance, in 1946 the company acquired three Little Joe electric locomotives for freight service. These locomotives had originally constructed for the Soviet Union. These locomotives continued in service on the CSS&SB until 1983. 803, is preserved in operating condition at the Illinois Railway Museum, trains began running to Chicago on August 29. That same year, the line between East Chicago and Indiana Harbor was abandoned. The Chicago South Shore and South Bend turned a profit during World War II due to the nature of Northern Indiana. However, highway competition and suburban growth led to ridership declines, by the 1950s all interurban lines were seeing a decline in rail travel as automobile use increased. On September 16,1956, a street running section in East Chicago was removed with the building of a new alignment alongside the Indiana Toll Road, a truncation to west of downtown South Bend removed street trackage in that city from July 1,1970. The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway acquired the CSS&SB on January 3,1967, the ICC gave the state of Indiana a chance to reply and subsequently, the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District was formed in 1977 to subsidize service. When the railway went bankrupt, passenger service was assumed by NICTD on December 29,1989
2.
Millennium Station
–
Located under Millennium Park, the terminal was established in the 1800s by the Illinois Central Railroad. It was rebuilt in the early 21st century and is now owned by the Northeast Illinois Regional Commuter Railroad Corporation, not counting commuters on the South Shore Line, over 18,000 people board Metra trains at Millennium Station each day. During peak periods, trains leave the terminal as frequently as twice a minute and it still received many trains thereafter, but was of secondary importance. Its importance increased dramatically in 1926 with the electrification of services on ICs main line and its Blue Island. Commuter trains from all three branches were now routed into the Randolph Street terminal, while intercity traffic continued to terminate at Central Station, originally, the station platforms were exposed and the ticketing facilities and the waiting room were located in the attached facility. The construction of Millennium Park gradually placed the station underground. Skidmore, Owings and Merrill was the architect for the station redesign, the pedway itself hosts a number of shops, eateries and services. Smurfit–Stone Building Chicago Cultural Center The Heritage at Millennium Park Randolph/Wabash L station Macys Lake/State L station Block 37 Washington/Dearborn L station Richard J
3.
Interstate 94 in Illinois
–
Interstate 94 generally runs north–south through the northeastern portion of the U. S. state of Illinois, in Lake and Cook counties. It is marked east–west in Illinois in accordance with its general alignment across the country, I-94 in Illinois is 78.00 miles long. The William G. Edens Expressway is the major expressway north from the city of Chicago to Northbrook. Only the short portion from the ramp to the expressways end in Highland Park does not carry I-94. It was the first expressway in Chicago and was opened on December 20,1951 and it has three lanes in each direction. The original name of the expressway was the Edens Parkway, named after William G. Edens and he was a sponsor of Illinois first highway bond issue in 1918. The control cities for I-94 generally are Wisconsin or Milwaukee to the north and west, Chicago or Chicago Loop for those heading to the central portion, and Indiana to the south and east. This is where three lanes for the Tri-State Tollway branch off and begin I-294 while two lanes for I-94 head east onto the Edens Spur which only has four lanes total. The highway turns south and widens back to six lanes as it merges with U. S. Route 41 and becomes the Edens Expressway, and then widens to ten lanes along the Kennedy Expressway. At Ohio Street, the reversible lanes terminate and the highway has 10 lanes to the Jane Byrne Interchange, where the lane ends. In 2010, the markers have been renumbered to indicate mileage of I-94 traveled in Illinois. I-94 has ten lanes from the ramps of the Jane Byrne Interchange to the Stevenson Expressway. It then splits into a 14-lane freeway on the Dan Ryan, at the Chicago Skyway, a two-lane ramp carries traffic to I-90, leaving ten lanes running south to the I-57/I-94 junction. From I-57, where I-94 is called the Bishop Ford Freeway, to Cottage Grove Avenue, the freeway connection ramp to Stony Island Avenue has four lanes. I-94 then has six lanes south to I-80, where it departs the Bishop Ford Freeway for the Kingerly Expressway, on these ramps to and from I-80, I-94 has two lanes in each direction. On the Kingerly itself, the combined I-80/I-94 route widens to eight lanes to the Indiana state line, the configuration of I-80 and I-94 is discussed in connection with the Kingery Expressway. I-494 was originally planned to serve as a loop in Chicago, after local opposition prevented I-494 and I-694 from being completed, both numbers were completely dropped. Portions of the old I-494/I-694 exist as US41 and the Ohio Street connector, in addition, I-494 was also planned at one point to be a western bypass of Chicago, as the Crosstown Expressway
4.
Calumet River
–
The Calumet River /ˌkæljuːˈmɛt/ is a system of heavily industrialized rivers and canals in the region between the neighborhood of South Chicago in Chicago, Illinois, and the city of Gary, Indiana. The area is flat and the course and even the direction of the river system has changed repeatedly. The low gradient gives the only a very small current. Industry continued to spread along the reach of the river between 1890 and 1910, with similar results. These decades of unrestricted pollution have left the river sediments highly contaminated to this day, in September 2008, areas of Lake and Porter County, Indiana, were declared national disaster areas. The Little Calumet River breached its levee and flooded portions of the towns of Munster and Highland, the Calumet River, on the south side of Chicago, originally simply drained Lake Calumet to Lake Michigan. The Grand Calumet River, originating in Miller Beach, flows 16.0 miles through the cities of Gary, East Chicago and Hammond, as well as Calumet City and Burnham on the Illinois side. The majority of the rivers flow drains into Lake Michigan via the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal, today, a large portion of the rivers flow originates as municipal and industrial effluent, cooling and process water and storm water overflows. Although discharges have been reduced, a number of contaminants continue to impair the area and this arm of the river is 41 miles long. The Little Calumet has 109 miles of river and tributaries and drains 213 square miles and it has a total length of 22 miles. It used to continue westward to Illinois as the Little Calumet River, until sometime in the late 1940s or early 1950s, the Little Calumet River was heavily polluted with sewage, and the only fish living in the river were carp. During heavy spring rains, the river would flood areas adjacent to the river. The Little Calumet River has been undergoing construction of a $200 million flood control, the project was expected to be complete in 2013. The project includes construction of 22 miles of levees and floodwalls, a structure at Hart Ditch. Additionally, seven miles of the channel is being relocated to allow better water flow. A flood warning system is also being implemented, when complete, the project will protect over 9,500 homes and businesses in the towns of Gary, Griffith, Hammond, and Munster in Indiana, and prevent nearly $11 million in flood damage annually. On September 15,2008, the remnants of Hurricane Ike released heavy rain flooded the banks of the Little Calumet River. Houses and strip malls in northern Munster and southern Hammond were evacuated, hundreds of homes were damaged due to flooding
5.
Hegewisch station
–
The Hegewisch station recently introduced two new high-level platforms, as part of NICTDs continuing effort to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Hegewisch is the South Shore Lines easternmost stop in Chicago and the last one in Illinois outbound and it is the only Illinois station on the South Shore Line not shared with the Metra Electric Line. Thus, when the South Shore Line adjusts its fares, the fares for Hegewisch do not change, but if Metra adjusts its fares, the station is just west of an at-grade junction with a former Pennsylvania Railroad branch line. The line began at the line near the Illinois–Indiana state line and continued to a connection with the line to Logansport. As of 2011, the tracks only exist to the former New York Central Railroad line, the Chicago and Western Indiana Railroad main line ran parallel to the South Shore. The Nickel Plate Railroad also had its main line to the west of the C&WI, CTA30 South Chicago Pace 355 Wentworth Limited 358 Torrence 364 159th Street South Shore Line - Stations Hegewisch Station South Shore Schedule Station House from Google Maps Street View
6.
Illinois
–
Illinois is a state in the midwestern region of the United States, achieving statehood in 1818. It is the 6th most populous state and 25th largest state in terms of land area, the word Illinois comes from a French rendering of a native Algonquin word. For decades, OHare International Airport has been ranked as one of the worlds busiest airports, Illinois has long had a reputation as a bellwether both in social and cultural terms and politics. With the War of 1812 Illinois growth slowed as both Native Americans and Canadian forces often raided the American Frontier, mineral finds and timber stands also had spurred immigration—by the 1810s, the Eastern U. S. Railroads arose and matured in the 1840s, and soon carried immigrants to new homes in Illinois, as well as being a resource to ship their commodity crops out to markets. Railroads freed most of the land of Illinois and other states from the tyranny of water transport. By 1900, the growth of jobs in the northern cities and coal mining in the central and southern areas attracted a new group of immigrants. Illinois was an important manufacturing center during both world wars, the Great Migration from the South established a large community of African Americans in Chicago, who created the citys famous jazz and blues cultures. Three U. S. presidents have been elected while living in Illinois, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, additionally, Ronald Reagan, whose political career was based in California, was the only U. S. president born and raised in Illinois. Today, Illinois honors Lincoln with its official slogan, Land of Lincoln. The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is located in the capital of Springfield. Illinois is the spelling for the early French Catholic missionaries and explorers name for the Illinois Native Americans. American scholars previously thought the name Illinois meant man or men in the Miami-Illinois language and this etymology is not supported by the Illinois language, as the word for man is ireniwa and plural men is ireniwaki. The name Illiniwek has also said to mean tribe of superior men. The name Illinois derives from the Miami-Illinois verb irenwe·wa he speaks the regular way and this was taken into the Ojibwe language, perhaps in the Ottawa dialect, and modified into ilinwe·. The French borrowed these forms, changing the ending to spell it as -ois. The current spelling form, Illinois, began to appear in the early 1670s, the Illinois name for themselves, as attested in all three of the French missionary-period dictionaries of Illinois, was Inoka, of unknown meaning and unrelated to the other terms. American Indians of successive cultures lived along the waterways of the Illinois area for thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans, the Koster Site has been excavated and demonstrates 7,000 years of continuous habitation
7.
Indiana
–
Indiana /ɪndiˈænə/ is a U. S. state located in the midwestern and Great Lakes regions of North America. Indiana is the 38th largest by area and the 16th most populous of the 50 United States and its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th U. S. state on December 11,1816, before becoming a territory, varying cultures of indigenous peoples and historic Native Americans inhabited Indiana for thousands of years. Indiana has an economy with a gross state product of $298 billion in 2012. Indiana has several areas with populations greater than 100,000. The states name means Land of the Indians, or simply Indian Land and it also stems from Indianas territorial history. On May 7,1800, the United States Congress passed legislation to divide the Northwest Territory into two areas and named the section the Indiana Territory. In 1816, when Congress passed an Enabling Act to begin the process of establishing statehood for Indiana, a resident of Indiana is officially known as a Hoosier. The first inhabitants in what is now Indiana were the Paleo-Indians, divided into small groups, the Paleo-Indians were nomads who hunted large game such as mastodons. They created stone tools made out of chert by chipping, knapping and flaking, the Archaic period, which began between 5000 and 4000 BC, covered the next phase of indigenous culture. The people developed new tools as well as techniques to cook food, such new tools included different types of spear points and knives, with various forms of notches. They made ground-stone tools such as axes, woodworking tools. During the latter part of the period, they built mounds and middens. The Archaic period ended at about 1500 BC, although some Archaic people lived until 700 BC, afterward, the Woodland period took place in Indiana, where various new cultural attributes appeared. During this period, the people created ceramics and pottery, an early Woodland period group named the Adena people had elegant burial rituals, featuring log tombs beneath earth mounds. In the middle portion of the Woodland period, the Hopewell people began developing long-range trade of goods, nearing the end of the stage, the people developed highly productive cultivation and adaptation of agriculture, growing such crops as corn and squash. The Woodland period ended around 1000 AD, the Mississippian culture emerged, lasting from 1000 until the 15th century, shortly before the arrival of Europeans. During this stage, the people created large urban settlements designed according to their cosmology, with mounds and plazas defining ceremonial
8.
South Bend Airport station
–
South Bend Airport is a commuter train station on, and the eastern terminus of, the South Shore Line. Servicing South Bend International Airport, the station is 3 miles northwest of the business district of South Bend. In November 1992, this replaced the South Shore Lines former terminus at the South Bend Amtrak Station. The station has an office and a waiting room. Because the station is incorporated into the South Bend International Airport building, riders can take advantage of its extensive lounging areas, shops. Until November 27,2009, most eastbound weekend South Shore Line trains terminated at this station, thus, if the westbound train got delayed, the eastbound train got delayed even more because it needed to wait for the westbound train to clear the track. Paul United Express Chicago OHare Airport Newark South Bend International Airport South Shore Line - Stations South Bend Regional Airport
9.
Grand Calumet River
–
The Grand Calumet River is a 13. 0-mile-long river that flows primarily into Lake Michigan. Originating in Miller Beach in Gary, it flows through the cities of Gary, East Chicago and Hammond, as well as Calumet City and Burnham on the Illinois side. The majority of the rivers flow drains into Lake Michigan via the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal, a smaller part of the flow, at the rivers western end, enters the Calumet River and ultimately drains into the Illinois and ultimately the Mississippi River. Today, a portion of the rivers flow originates as municipal and industrial effluent, cooling and process water. Although discharges have been reduced, a number of contaminants continue to impair the area, the Grand Calumet is divided into an East and West branch, on the respective sides of the Indiana Harbor Canal. It leaves Gary by passing under Cline Avenue, and then defines the boundary between East Chicago and Hammond until reaching the Indiana Harbor Canal near Kennedy Avenue. The West Branch drains partly into the Indiana Harbor Canal and partly into the Calumet River, the divide between the part of the West Branch flowing into the Illinois River and the part flowing to Lake Michigan is in Hammond, Indiana, near the Illinois-Indiana state line. The West Branch joins the Little Calumet at Burnham, Illinois, in addition, the Indiana Harbor Canal itself is sometimes treated as a part of the Grand Calumet, which brings the rivers total length to 16.0 miles. The Grand Calumet flows through the Calumet Lacustrine Plain, a region of low, Groundwater contributions to the river, which account for less than 10% of total flow, come from the Calumet Aquifer, an unconfined water-table aquifer. The Calumet Aquifer is less than 10 feet below the surface in most areas, in this original configuration, the Grand Calumet included much of what is now the Little Calumet River, while the original Little Calumet was just a minor stream draining out into Lake Calumet. This original river is called by the older name Konomick or Kennomick to distinguishing it from the Grand Calumet of today. This created the basic definitions of the rivers as they exist today, the Grand Calumet at this point still flowed from west to east, emptying into the lake at Miller Beach. In 1848, the Calumet Feeder Canal was constructed to carry water from the Calumet system at Blue Island to the Illinois and Michigan Canal, which was suffering from low water levels. This reversed the flow of the Grand Calumet, so that it now flowed from east to west, by 1872, the rivers original mouth at Miller had been completely blocked by sandbars. Industrial development on the banks of the Grand Calumet began in the late 19th century, the accumulation of industrial sediment in the river had become problematic by 1885. The construction of the Gary Works in 1905 involved diverting and channelizing a considerable part of the East Branch to make way for the new steel mill. Previously, the Grand Calumet had flowed across a part of the present-day mill site. Continuing industrialization along the Grand Calumet led to increasing levels of pollution
10.
Interstate 80 in Illinois
–
Interstate 80 is a part of the Interstate Highway System that runs from San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey. I-80 enters Illinois from Iowa in the west, southwest of Rapids City and runs eastward through East Moline, LaSalle and Joliet. The interstate runs for approximately 163.41 miles through the state, in the 1920s, two state highways followed the general alignment that I-80 takes. In 1932 US6 was extended through Illinois, paralleling the alignment that I-80 in Illinois, construction started in 1957 and I-80 was completed in 1968. In the early 1990s Illinois wanted to reroute I-80 in the Quad Cities area, at the same time the section of I-80 that is concurrent with I-294, reconstructed. The partition of I-80 that is concurrent with the Kingery Expressway was rebuilt in the mid-2000s, Interstate 80 extends from west to east across the northern portion of the state through the population centers of Quad Cities and the south Chicago suburbs. The freeway is maintained by Illinois Department of Transportation, with Illinois State Toll Highway Authority maintaining the section of I-80 that is concurrent with the Tri-State Tollway. I-80 contains between a minimum of four lanes and a maximum of ten lanes total, the majority of the highway runs through farmland and urban areas. I-80 enters Illinois on the Fred Schwengel Memorial Bridge over the Mississippi River, after leaving the bridge the interstate has a folded diamond interchange with IL84. The highway heads south, as an interstate, passing on the east side of Quad Cities. Eastbound I-80 traffic has access to an Illinois Welcome Center, the road has a clover leaf interchange with the western terminus of I-88. After the interchange with I-88 the highway crosses over Rock River, the interstate has a diamond interchange with U. S. Route 6, before having an interchange with I-74 in East Moline. At this interchange I-80 turns easterly paralleling US6 and leaving the Quad Cities area, East of Quad Cities the interstate passes through rural farmland as a four-lane interstate. The road passes south of Geneseo, with the city having one interchange at IL82, the road passes south of Atkinson, before passing over US6 and a railroad track. After crossing over the tracks the interstate has an interchange with IL78. The interstate continues towards the east having a diamond interchange with IL40. The highway passes on the side of Princeton, having an interchange with IL26. I-80 passes over US34, before leaving Princeton and having an interchange with northern terminus of I-180, the interstate has a rural interchange with IL89, before entering LaSalle
