Chicago Central Area Circulator
A few years after the demise of the Chicago Central Area Transit Plan, the city was working on plans for new and less expensive transit alternatives for downtown Chicago. The Central Area had grown well beyond the expectations of the 1968 Transit Planning Study in terms of building development and employment growth. There were still concerns among Chicago's civic leaders that this growth would seriously outpace the mass transit system. Replacement subways were deemed too expensive and extensions to the existing CTA system were considered too limited in their benefits. Additional or expanded bus service on overcrowded and badly congested streets was considered impractical.
The City opted for a light rail plan to enhance connectivity to a larger area of downtown by commuter railroad and rapid transit systems. The proposed system was dubbed the "Central Area Circulator Project", an eight-mile (13 km) light-rail transit network linking the North Western, Union and Randolph Metra suburban railroad stations to North Michigan Avenue, Streeterville, Navy Pier, the museums, and McCormick Place. The system was to include east-west routes north and south of the Chicago River as well as north-south links on portions of Michigan Avenue and Columbus Drive.
Construction was scheduled to begin after a preliminary engineering phase of the Project in 1993, with operations expected to begin by 1998. The Circulator Project was estimated at $689.4 million when it too was cancelled in 1995 after the federal government failed to appropriate money for it.
Read more about this topic: Chicago Central Area Transit Plan
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