Did You Know?
Extend Blue Line at both ends to connect job centers
The most opportunities to increase the number of people who ride transit to work in Cook County lies in the outer ring suburbs, where interchanges and disconnected towns leave residents with no choice but to spend hours each day stuck in traffic on the way to and from work.
Extending the Blue Line northwest through the I-90 Corridor to Schaumburg and west along I-88 to Oak Brook would go a long way toward solving that problem.
Both extensions are part of our Transit Future vision for a better-connected Chicagoland. They would be in a much better position to be funded if, as we hope, the Cook County Board establishes a dedicated revenue stream to fund transit expansion in the 2016 county budget.
The Northwest Extension would run from O’Hare through Elk Grove, Des Plaines, Mount Prospect and Arlington Heights, ending at the Schaumburg Convention Center near Woodfield Mall.
The West Extension would stretch through the Illinois Technology and Research Corridor from the current end point in Forest Park to Oak Brook and finish in Yorktown Center Mall in Lombard.
Schaumburg Mayor Al Larson has long been a proponent of extending mass transit into the suburbs. He recognizes the benefits it would bring for residents, students, visitors and employers throughout the region.
Last year the Schaumburg Business Association signed on to support Transit Future in hopes the campaign could help make the long-discussed extension happen.
Check out the Blue Line Extensions page on the Transit Future website for more details about the benefits of the project.
This is the fourth post in our 10 lines, 5 weeks blog series. Each week from now until Labor Day, we’ll take a look at two lines in the Transit Future vision and make the case for why the county board should take action to expand the rapid transit network in Cook County.
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