Articles filed under Pyke, Marni

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How $2 billion in campaign cash could have been spent on Illinois roads Nov 12, 2012 12:00 AM
President Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney had spent about a collective $2 billion on their campaigns. What would that kind of money buy if it wasn’t spent on negative ads? For starters: A bunch of railway grade separations to protect drivers and pedestrians from trains and relieve freight congestion in the Chicago region or new buses and train cars for Pace, Metra and the CTA or a completed Elgin-O’Hare Expressway and western bypass around the airport.
Do you know your driving IQ? Nov 5, 2012 12:00 AM
Columnist Marni Pyke can't believe she almost flunked the written test when renewing driver's license. There were 805,682 written driving tests given in 2011. Of those, 737,568 were passes, 68,114 were failures. You’re allowed to get six of the 35 questions wrong. Any more, and you flunk.
Paratransit advocates still seething over 'limo' commentOct 29, 2012 12:00 AM
Thanks to the binders full of emails I received on paratransit, I'm turning the column over to you today. But that's not the only hot transportation topic this week. We've also got some feisty comments on red-light cameras, plus IDOT explains why work on Butterfield Road is taking soooooo long. To recap, Regional Transportation Authority Chairman John Gates apologized Wednesday for comments he made to the Daily Herald Oct. 4 about paratransit, the pickup service for riders with disabilities. Gates had compared paratransit to a “federally mandated limousine service.”
Limo service? RTA chairman laments cost of paratransitOct 15, 2012 12:00 AM
Regional Transportation Authority Chairman John S. Gates Jr. says paratransit loses "a ton of money" each year. And as ridership goes up for what he says is like a "limousine service," the agency will lose even more. "It's hugely expensive, but it's something we have to do. It's the law. It's a civil right,” he said.
Funding feud could lead to transit 'Armageddon,' RTA chief saysOct 8, 2012 12:00 AM
There's hope the feud between the Chicago Transit Authority, Pace suburban bus division and Metra commuter rail over about $184.8 million in discretionary sales tax funds plus a $17 million surplus from 2011 will be resolved, but you never really know. ”Now you have a deal, but the next day — you may not have a deal,” said RTA Chairman John Gates.
Chicago, suburbs at impasse over transit fundingOct 1, 2012 12:00 AM
Are the CTA, Metra and Pace on a collision course? Is the Chicago versus suburbs feud alive again? And, what fab transportation events can I go to this week? Columnist Marni Pyke answers these and other transportation questions.
Tollway growth leaves homeowners in bad spot Sep 17, 2012 12:00 AM
It's bad to live in a neighborhood targeted for a construction project. It's even worse when you have to negotiate prices at a time when the housing market's shot. There's a sadness around the neighborhood where the Illinois tollway is building an interchange with the Tri-State and I-57. ”I don't know what I'm going to do or where I'm going to go,” said resident Sara Emerson.
Transit writer takes ride on wild side — almost Sep 10, 2012 12:00 AM
I get my kicks on Route 855. It’s my kind of maverick, stick-it-to-the-man Pace bus. Now, if you’ve ever sat stupefied in a Pace bus as it bumbles through suburban traffic, going rogue is the last thing you associate with a Pace commute. But Route 855 is special. Why? Shoulder-riding. On the Stevenson Expressway (I-55).
Tollway oases still have vacancies, but not weeds Sep 3, 2012 12:00 AM
Fried chicken. Jewelry. Cappuccino. Tacos. Burgers. Gyros. Vacancies. But not as many weeds. Columnist Marni Pyke hits the road for a trip of a lifetime to seven tollway oases. Notorious for insipid revenues and patronage contracts during the era of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, the seven oases have kept a lower profile with a new regime at the agency. Here's what she found.
‘Waste’ or want? Readers split on high-speed rail Aug 27, 2012 12:00 AM
High speed rail in Illinois? Not so fast, you say. The idea of spending from $1.4 billion to $4 billion to allow trains to travel at 110 mph from Chicago to St. Louis made some readers’ apoplectic, peeved others and pleased a few.
Can our roads weather the storm? Aug 20, 2012 12:00 AM
Record-breaking heat buckles a railway track July 4, causing a derailment, bridge collapse and the death of a Glenview couple. A freak blizzard Feb. 1, 2011, engulfs Lake Shore Drive in snow. Unprecedented rainfall July 23, 2011, floods the suburbs, shutting down major roadways and intersections. July was the third hottest on record in Illinois. Uncommon weather is becoming common.Can our roads handle it?
Love high-speed rail? Hate it? Here’s your chance to opine Aug 13, 2012 12:00 AM
Are five more daily trips and a shorter time to get from Chicago to St. Louis worth $3 billion? Is 110 mph really “high-speed” compared to the 200 mph bullet trains of Asia? What suburb will serve as a stop along the route? Plus, readers bash early train station closings, a big bike tour with prizes and traffic hotspots.
Solving your pressing transit mysteries Aug 6, 2012 12:00 AM
Pace Cubs bus quirks, incorrect stamps on Metra passes, tollway oasis beefs - this week's In Transit column looks at your questions on transportation. Batting first is Cubs fan Richard Bauer of Wheaton, who says Pace’s Wrigley Field Express bus is a home run on the way to the game, but the route home is a curve ball. The round-trip bus picks up suburbanites in Lombard and Schaumburg.
What’s being done to prevent rail hazmat releases?Jul 30, 2012 12:00 AM
Freight trains are part of life in Chicago and the suburbs, carrying cars, coal and chemicals. About 29.4 million carloads of freight a year travel through the U.S. and nearly 6 percent — or 1.8 million carloads — contain hazardous materials. Although hazardous materials accidents rarely happen, when they do it can be a disaster. So what's in place to prevent them?
Most derailments are harmless. But what about the one that isn't? Jul 23, 2012 12:00 AM
Railroads in Illinois carried 437.1 million tons of freight in 2009, of which 7 percent or 30.6 million tons were classified as hazardous materials. Most of it makes the trip safely, but what happens when trains containing hazardous materials derail? “Bad things can leak out and go into the groundwater. These are real issues if a tanker car catches fire,” said Northwestern University railroad safety researcher Ian Savage.
What do you want? Tell Metra about itJul 16, 2012 12:00 AM
What's your wish list for Metra? A station in your town, an express train during the morning rush or more night runs from the city to the suburbs? This is your chance to comment either online or in a series of open houses this month.
Driving ode wins poetry prize for Palatine woman Jul 9, 2012 12:00 AM
It was a crazy election but we finally have a selection. Eleven poems, now down to one. Read on to see who won. Yes, we have a Transportation Poetry Slam winner, plus tell Metra what to prioritize and the latest gridlock. It was a salient reflection on the times and a hotly contested race with 11 poets channeling their inner Shakespeares to win immortality and a free T-shirt. But the readers have spoken, and the laurels go to Palatine’s Nancy Smearman.
They make cents, but do toll rates make sense?Jun 25, 2012 12:00 AM
Why is one toll road cheaper than another? Why is one exit free and another 55 cents? Agency spokeswoman Wendy Abrams said the tollway sets rates at a level necessary to maintain and operate the system while retiring its bond debt. “Rates for new roadways are established based on estimated construction costs and the costs to acquire land needed for a project in the year in which the new roadway will be built,” she noted.
Tri-State is toll system’s top breadwinner Jun 18, 2012 12:00 AM
From the industrial sprawl at the Indiana border to the bucolic Lake County greenery that signals the approach of Wisconsin, the busy Tri-State Tollway (I-94/I-294/I-80) produces $297.6 million in tolls or 46 percent of the state's total. Does that mean the Tri-State subsidizes the rest of the system?
Transportation poetry slam: Take a minute so someone can win itJun 11, 2012 12:00 AM
Multiple readers channeled their inner Shakespeare to respond to a call for transportation poems this spring. Haikus, blank verse, sonnets ... you name it. So today we announce the first (and maybe annual) In Transit Poetry Slam.