Recent Streetsblog CHICAGO posts about Rahm Emanuel

The Final Segment of the Chicago Riverwalk Set to Open This Weekend

By John Greenfield and Steven Vance | Oct 19, 2016 | 7 Comments

If all goes well, starting this weekend you’ll be able to walk most of the way from the Ogilvie Center to Michigan Avenue on a car-free, if somewhat circuitous, route. At a media preview of the final section of the Chicago Riverwalk expansion this afternoon, Mayor Emanuel said he’s confident that the new recreational space, […]

Bicycling Gives Chicago the Award for Best Biking City – Do We Deserve It?

By John Greenfield | Sep 19, 2016 | 24 Comments

This morning’s announcement that Bicycling magazine has ranked Chicago as the best cycling city in the U.S. in its biennial ratings, up from second place to New York in 2014, was surely a head-scratcher for many people who ride bikes in our city on a regular basis. As of 2015, our bike mode share was […]

Union Station Transit Center Will Open Sunday, Easing Train/Bus Transfers

By John Greenfield | Aug 30, 2016 | 17 Comments

This afternoon officials cut the ribbon on the Union Station Transit Center, a new facility across the street from the Amtrak and Metra hub that will make it easier to make transfers and will better organize West Loop traffic. The transit center opens to the public this Sunday. It’s the latest step in the development […]

City Announces Extended Routes, Service for South Side Bus and Rail Lines

By John Greenfield | May 12, 2016 | 7 Comments

For all his warts, Mayor Emanuel has a strong record on improving public transportation, including initiatives like the South Red Line reconstruction, the Loop Link bus rapid transit corridor, the Your New Blue rehab, and several completed and in-progress station construction projects. Today’s announcement that several South Side bus and rail lines will have more […]

City Begins Work on Next 50 Miles of Bikeways, Funds Bikes N’ Roses

By John Greenfield | Apr 11, 2016 | 17 Comments

Today at a ribbon cutting for curb-protected bike lanes on 31st Street by the Illinois Institute of Technology, Mayor Emanuel and transportation commissioner Rebekah Scheinfeld elaborated on the city’s previously announced plan to build 50 more miles of bikeways by 2019. This represents a slower pace of installation than the city’s previous achievement of installing […]

Express Train to O’Hare? We Already Have One and It’s Called The Blue Line

By Steven Vance | Jul 1, 2015 | 118 Comments

Mayor Rahm Emanuel and recently appointed aviation commissioner Ginger Evans have been calling for new, faster, premium train service from O’Hare to downtown in a bid to improve the airport’s standing among its domestic and international peers. They argue that the airport is causing the city to lose business. However, while O’Hare is a low-performing […]

Eyes on the Street: The Bloomingdale Trail Is Almost Ready for Its Close-Up

By John Greenfield | Jun 2, 2015 | 5 Comments

Chicagoans are in for a treat this Saturday, when the Bloomingdale Trail, aka The 606, finally opens to the public. For roughly two decades, residents have been pushing to turn the 2.7-mile railroad right-of-way into a multiuse path and linear park. While the initiative slowly moved forward under the Richard M. Daley administration, Rahm Emanuel deserves […]

Welcome Back Carter: New Transit Chief Has CTA, USDOT Experience

By John Greenfield | May 6, 2015 | 18 Comments

Several of the last few Chicago Transit Authority presidents have had little or no background running a public transportation agency. However, Mayor Emanuel’s new pick to run the agency, Dorval R. Carter, Jr. has over 30 years of experience in transit at the city and federal levels. In 2009, he spent a few months as […]

More Steps Emanuel Should Take to Reform Chicago’s Traffic Cam Program

By John Greenfield | Apr 15, 2015 | 47 Comments

Even if you voted for Chuy García, if you know how effective automated enforcement has been for preventing serious crashes in other cities, you may be relieved he didn’t get a chance to shut down all of Chicago’s traffic cameras. However, García and the other challengers did residents a service by drawing attention to ways that the Emanuel […]

Union Station Study Will Look at Ways to Increase Capacity, Fight Congestion

By John Greenfield | Apr 10, 2015 | 1 Comment

This morning, local politicians heralded $7 million in new funding for a terminal planning study and service development plan that will help increase capacity at Chicago’s 90-year-old Union Station and on the rail lines that lead to it. This comes in addition to the $12 million that Amtrak pledged back in January for rehabbing the […]

Other Issues Aside, It Was a Good Election for Transportation

By John Greenfield | Apr 8, 2015 | 6 Comments

Whether you were rooting for Mayor Rahm Emanuel or Cook County Commissioner Jesús “Chuy” García, I think most Streetsblog readers will agree that there were some positive outcomes for sustainable transportation in yesterday’s municipal runoff election. Regardless of how you feel about Emanuel in terms of the economy, education, crime, transparency, ethics, and other issues, […]

John Discusses Active Trans’ Candidates Survey on WBEZ’s Morning Shift

By John Greenfield | Feb 11, 2015 | 4 Comments

This morning I pedaled down the Lakefront Trail to WBEZ’s studios at the end of Navy Pier to talk with “Morning Shift” host Tony Sarabia about a questionnaire the Active Transportation Alliance sent to all of the mayoral and aldermanic candidates. Listen to the full recording of our on-air conversation here. The survey asked the […]

Load more stories