Reality bites for suburb to suburb commuters seeking to save the world
Ditch that car and change the world.
That's my suggested slogan for the inaugural Chicagoland Car-Free Day Tuesday.
Sponsored by the Active Transportation Alliance and area transit agencies, the event is one big, feel-good, green-house-gas-slaying effort to encourage the use of bikes, walking, CTA, Pace or Metra instead of our favorite means of transportation to work.
The carrot is $1 off a Caribou Coffee drink if you take the pledge at www.chicagolandcarfree.org.
Glen Ellyn resident Andy Callaway is one suburbanite who will happily Metra to his job at USG Corp. in Chicago.
He specifically chose a home near the train station, following a pattern he established at his last abode in Arlington Heights.
"When I moved, part of the choice was to be close to the train so I could walk," Callaway said. "Living in Arlington Heights, I got used to living close to the train station, so when we moved I didn't want to extend my commute any more."
By taking the train, Calloway avoids the pleasures of creeping along the not-fixed Hillside Strangler and crawling on the Eisenhower in rush hour.
"I think I drove to work one time in the last year. It's a nightmare, there's always some kind of construction. And, when I want to get there and leave - everyone else does. It's so brutal. When you have trains running express - it seems a no-brainer," Callaway concluded.
Here's the pitch from the World Carfree Network.
"We do not want just one day of celebration and then a return to 'normal' life. When people get out of their cars, they should stay out of their cars. It is up to us, it is up to our cities, and our governments to help create permanent change to benefit pedestrians, cyclists, and other people who do not drive cars."
Of course, while the region has a pretty good suburb-to-Chicago system, getting from suburb to suburb is a little more challenging. But I am ready. I am ready to take the pledge!
My commute is from Downers Grove to Arlington Heights. The RTA's helpful trip planner at www.rtachicago.org calculated that it would take - drumroll - 21/2 hours and cost $8.05 traveling on Pace buses and one Metra line to reach the office. So if I left home at 8:30 a.m., I'd get to work around 11 a.m. On the way home, however, it would only be 2 hours.
Hmmm. This is where I'm supposed to extol the joys of public transit.
I suppose it would make good column material. Stay tuned for a firsthand report.
Odds and ends
• As of Oct. 1, you can now pay tolls electronically from here to the Atlantic Ocean using an I-PASS. Up until recently, it was a seamless electronic cruise through Maine using the E-ZPass with the exception of Ohio, where you had to break the momentum and pay tolls. Well, the Buckeyes finally are up to speed with electronic tolling on the Ohio Turnpike. Happy trails.
• Speaking of toll roads, the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority is seeking $300 million in federal funds to build an interchange between the south Tri-State (I-294) and I-57. The interchange has a lot of backing in the South suburbs and it's certainly a missing link on the expressway system. Interestingly, this was one of the projects on the tollway's infamous $1.8 billion Congestion Relief 2 program, now forever linked with former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who the feds say was using CR2 to squeeze campaign cash from contractors. Congestion Relief 2 was put on hold after Blagojevich's arrest but obviously it's not dead.
• People are still steamed about red-light cameras. The latest comment comes from J. Henderson, who writes "as a resident of Cary who works and conducts business east of the intersection of Routes 22 and 14, I must pass through the intersection several times each week, sometimes more than once a day. Considering this is a T-intersection at which probably 80 percent or more of westbound vehicles on Route 22 turn right at Route 14, the red-light camera is ludicrous. It is nothing more than a method to raise money. Every vehicle that turns right on red, a legal maneuver in this state, is photographed. After dark, the flash of the camera's bulb is enough to cause an accident with the distraction it causes. In the seven years I have traveled the route, I have never seen or read about an accident involving a car turning right off of Route 22; I have not read of any vehicle/pedestrian accidents. How in the world, then, can you justify the existence of this camera? The time alone to review the pictures is a waste of human resources.
• Bears Station? The CTA is considering building a new stop on the Green Line at Cermak Road or 18th Street, which is just a short punt from Soldier Field. It's part of a CTA study of three other possible stations on the system, officials told the RTA this week. Let's just hope the plans don't suffer a season-ending injury or get intercepted.
• The CTA and Metra are combining to offer express bus service from Union Station and the Ogilvie Transportation Center to Soldier Field and back on Bears game days. For information, visit metrarail.com.