I know it’s a shot in the dark, but a brown line extension to Jefferson Park would be a dream come true.

The Green Line re-extending to Stony Island should be seriously considered. It will not just connect to Jackson Park but to the future Obama Presidential Library that will be in the same area.

There's so many no brainer extensions that CTA could do which CMAP frustratingly holds back funding on. Very modest but solid proposals here

The Pink Line actually original extended at grade to Harlem, so those parking lots are actually the former right of way! It would be nice to see it extend back to its original length

tbh I think the most important new thing the system needs is a north/south line along ashland or western

I was originally going to make a joke here but instead I just want to express my appreciation for the beautiful graphics in this one. Really illustrates the talking points extremely well.

All of these extensions with additional high density mixed used developments would make Chicago a even bigger and prosperous world class city!

Brown line extension YEEESSSSS

Nice video! And now for _my_ opinions. I think CTA should use the incredibly wide right of way on the Blue line Forest Park branch to build express tracks, then restore service to some of the closed stations with locals and extend the line back out to the pre-CTA Metropolitan Railroad terminus in Westchester. I'd also like to see an east-west line on North Ave or Fullerton Ave connecting Hermosa/Cragin/Humboldt Park with the high employment neighborhoods along Milwaukee and east of the river. Too many people have a lousy choice between slow bus rides or driving right now.

Imo, CTA should focus exclusively on connecting lines (eg blue and brown) and underserved parts of the city rather than providing service to the suburbs. Increasing ridership for the dense urban areas should be our first priority.

There was a proposal to extend the Pink North to the Brown Line - creating a sort of ring line. That would be a 2nd Phase of a larger Loop Line.

if the yellow line doesnt get a crawford station, I would at least hope theyd add a flag stop near the skokie shops. it seems ridiculous to me that they dont serve their own rail facility well. just a bus from the next stop down the line. brown line extension to jeff park would be lovely. one issue though is kimball yard is already at storage capacity, and the service level requested is about as high as we can serve with the yard capacity we have. so if the brown line gets longer we would need to add more yard tracks, upgrade to 5000s, or reduce frequency. regarding train length, the cars have a maximum length limited by the electronic couplers of 14 cars. however, you cant take a 14 car train into a station which is 8 cars long. 6 of your cars wont have a platform to step onto. so you would need to upgrade every platform on the line, which is incredibly costly. also the train length reminders in the cab only go up to 8.

For the brown line: the buses from Jefferson Park going east are the Foster and Lawrence buses. The Lawrence bus is especially busy, and based on my experiences, a lot of people do in fact use it as an extension of the brown line to get to the North Side near the Lake and to the red line. So much crowding could be relieved, and connections to the blue line and O'Hare would be improved tremendously. The purple:I'd like to see the line call at a few more station on the Far North Side, namely Loyola and either Bryn Mawr or Berwyn. South of Belmont, it would only call at Fullerton and then should follow the red line into the subway and turn around after serving Roosevelt station south of the Loop. It presently follows the brown line on a slow, twisty alignment and calls at all stops between the Loop and Belmont, thus kind of undoing the point of an express line to the north. I think my suggestion would make for a much faster trip from the norther suburbs and the North Side of Chicago to the Loop. There is a ton of demand already, and the purple line could be doing so much more. I'd also like to see it run all day as an express to the Loop and not just during rush hour. Yellow: definitely should stop at Crawford, Doge, and Asbury. Also, bring the damn thing up to the mall! There are plenty of shoppers and employees who would appreciate and easier trip from Howard to get there. Blue: the stop at Clinton St. for the OTC is a no-brainer. I'm amazed it doesn't already exist! Frankly, Chicago has too many rail termini. I"d love to see some consolidation so regional transfers would be easier.

The CTA definitely needs more investment.

When I lived in Chicago I always thought it was a huge missed opportunity for a North/South line further west than the Redline that would offer almost and outer loop. It would alleviate so much car traffic, push development beyond just the lakeside and Loop.

The extensions I want to see are an extension of the Pink Line past 54th/Cermak, an extension of the Green Line past Cottage Grove/63rd, and an extension of the Green Line past Ashland/63rd. For infills (of those not already planned), I was thinking 26th and on the Red Line, Canfield and Nagle on the Blue Line, Madison on the Pink Line, Western along with the restoration of Racine/63rd on the Green Line, and Division on the Brown Line,

Fun fact; the pink line's predecessor once ran out to oak park avenue, but it was axed in the late 40's iirc

A west radial would be such an interesting and helpful addition to the metro

Old Orchard is getting like 1,000 more apts right, the yellow line extension would be great. Literally ANY extension before 2050 would a win for the City, but *heavy sigh* nothing will happen until leadership at CTA changes. :(

How about extending the Yellow Line all the way to the South Side and give it one of the Green Line's terminuses? It can run express with the Purple Line, go with the Red down State St, and then link with the Green Line going south, either via rush hour express in peak direction, or local.

great to see you show the yellow some love. I grew up taking it to get downtown from the suburbs, but always had to park and ride. I think extending it farther into the suburbs would be great to get suburban kids/teens introduced to public transit and get them excited about their tax dollars being spent on it. would be great for the future of the city and its surroundings.

Your graphic design is absolutely stunning. The line closest to my heart is definitely the yellow line. Pace 626 does sort of provide rapid transit further north, but the ROW from the North Shore line is still nearly in tact from skokie-northbrook. Maybe when the population density increases along there a re-instatement of a sort may happen, at least part of the way. They would also have to figure out what to do about the third rail at grade crossings. Maybe, in my wildest foamer dreams, they could overhead electrify the thing again? I know the equipment would be non standard, but it's just a thought. Thanks!

Two things combined would be game changing: 1) all the proposed extensions that would link lines outside the loop (like the Green line to Midway and the Brown line to Jefferson Park), and 2) running all the lines 24/7. Combining these would make getting around town incredibly easy. As it is, so many connections can only be made in the loop, and even that isn't an option at all times of the day.

3:33 The WLTC proposal included a tunnel under Canal St. to create an underground loop, splitting the blue line branches and finally directly connecting OTC and CUS with the L. Along with the HSR platforms that would be built below.

Resurrect all of the lost lines/branches especially re-extending the ➡️ 63rd Branch of the Green Line from Cottage Grove to Jackson Park especially for the Obama 📚, also being the Forest Park 🔙 to Westchester, Green Line from Harlem/Lake 🔙 to Forest Park, Orange from Midway to Ford City, & all the other extensions u proposed

Nice video! All these extensions look great. However, I think the CTA should consider running the Purple Line down to the Loop and back to Linden more frequently like the Red and Brown lines. I understand that those two have the better ridership, but I think providing a one-seat ride between Evanston/Wilmette and the Loop during off-peak hours and weekends would be a feasible study that the CTA should consider. Plus, I think it would free up congestion at the Howard terminal, where terminating and originating Yellow and Purple line trains at those stations can cause some traffic for arriving and departing Red Line trains.

Ahh, the sweet sounds of discussing Chicago transit 😊

Green line extensions would be huge for south side and provide great connections. Could also build track from King Drive to Halsted for a 2-4 car shuttle that connects the ends of both “new” green line branches and with the red line at 63rd. would offer a much faster option than the 63 bus

Definitely love the orange line extension, should definitely be considered.

i really hope they reconsider that blue line extension to Woodfield mall, that'd be sick.

I keep wondering if a north-south line west of the loop would be good. It'd require fewer riders pass through the loop, and would increase resilience. I don't know where exactly, but for example, an elevated line over Western running from Brown @ Western to Western and 63rd, with a short extension of Green from Ashland to connect. You'd get two Greens, two Blues, Brown, Pink and Orange without entering the loop.

My idea for the Forest Park branch of the blue line is to extend it to Mannheim in Hillside on 290 and have it connect there to future lines west to Yorktown Center mall and another line northwest to Schaumburg using the ROWs of I-88 and I-290 respectfully. In order to allow capacity for frequent service on the blue line two more tracks would be added, as was originally planned for when the highway was built, these would allow for express trains that would skip most stops between Hillside and the Loop. The pink line did go as far west as Oak Park ave at it's zenith and it probably was intended for it to continue west, I'm not sure offhand when it was cut back to where it is today but that is why there is a straight line of parking lot from its terminus. I'd like to see it extended not only to Harlem but along Cermak to Oakbrook Terrace. Overall some real solid ideas here, well done.

My Proposal: the south end of the Green Line is reconstructed to allow for the first phase of an outer loop line that runs on/parallel to 63rd and connects to midway. The idea is that the second phase would run north on Cicero. A third phase would run east on Irving Park (or another major avenue) to connect to the blue and red/purple on the north side near Wrigley. Finally, a fourth phase would add a new spur to O’hare (not on the Blue line). The full outer loop line would provide three services: the full semicircle loop, the north side to O’hare, and the south side to O’hare via Midway and the west side. But, the whole grand vision begins with the southside to Midway line along 63rd.

The pink line used to extend where those parking lots are and they demolished it. Obe if many unfortunate corrections made in the past.

I know it’s not an extension per se, but if purple line express trains ran all day I’d be much more likely to head downtown more than I do now. Plus some redundancy of the red and brown lines would probably be nice.

I kinda like the idea of the blue line to Schaumburg I used to go to Woodfield mall ALL THE TIME but don’t anymore because I don’t have a car

I'd like to see a CTA line from Midway Airport north to O'Hare Airport. Would intersect with a number of current westbound CTA lines. It would avoid anyone living out in that area that wants to go north or south to not have to travel thorough the Loop to reach their destination. Could be part of the Orange Line extension south of Midway discussed in your video.

I personally would see the expansion of the blue line from ohare. I feel that it would lead to the improvement of the walkability of the nearby neighborhoods particularly around woodfield.

To leave a more constructive comment, what if the forest park branch got a ramp going east from Illinois medical district to the Paulina connector so forest park trains would be routed around the loop, and O'Hare-Subway trains would end at Racine. Alternatively, Forest Park and O'Hare trains would both use the downtown subway so FP trains would terminate at Clark/Lake (using the grand interlocking to turn around) and O'Hare trains would turn around at UIC or Racine or whatever.

The yellow line north extension my be viable now since the Ild orchard mall is being redeveloped with 400 living units comming by 2027

blue line should go to aurora..

I'm still new to Chicago, but passionate about the L--videos like this are the perfect synthesis of info and topic to help me learn more about my new home, as well as the transit-history here, and how that might inform activism for a better transit-oriented future :3 thank you for your hard work!

Actually up until the mid-1950s the what we now know is the pink line did go almost to Harlem and cermak. I think it ended it somewhere like 7,000 West cermak? But that would be bringing service back and I think that would be a neat thing to have.

I wish they could bring back the Humboldt Park branch

All of these make so much sense. Excellent video!

Pink Line went to Oak Park Avebe in Berwyn until the mid 1950's

It's frustrating that some of these extensions used to exist, or exist in part, and now we have to build them all over again. The Forest Park line, for example, used to run all the way to Mannheim & Cermak. There used to be a Humboldt Park line that ran parallel to North Avenue between Lawndale and Damen. As you note, what's now the Green line used to run to Jackson Park. And, of course, there used to be the interurbans. You could hop on a train on the Loop and go north to Milwaukee or west to Elgin, Geneva, and St. Charles. We used to have this capacity, and we threw it away because everybody needed two cars to poison the air.

Great video as always! Always remember the #1 rule: train good. My philosophy is even if a train only serves one person, that still warrants it being built. I don't feel transit projects should be scrapped because the costs outweigh the benefits, since any form of rail transit still connects countless communities no matter how expensive it may be to build the line.

Love this kinda video, would love to see more public transport hypotheticals for Chicago

This video was so well researched! I love all your ideas. Pink to the United Center. Green to Jackson Park (also, the Obama Library is there). Brown to Jackson Park or Montrose (this I want so much for when I go to O'Hare and Rosemont). Yellow to Old Orchard (beats driving there all the time!), and Blue to Arlington Heights (just in case the Bears move there). The Red Line extension further south is my favorite because no one is served there, and it's about time (despite me not needing to go there). I'm also hoping for a Circle line (so we don't always have to transfer in the Loop) or maybe a line parallel to the Red Line somewhere to the west. And, yes, I'm greedy when I say this... some line or extension to the Museum Campus! Getting to the trains from a Bears game can get annoying. Thanks for this amazing video!

I also think that a circle line needs to be built to connect all the lines that radiate from downtown, thereby providing an easier transfer between the lines so you don’t have to go all the way downtown to transfer to another line. I also think a rush hour express service to the loop for the yellow line similar to the purple line could also be beneficial. That way it’s a one seat ride from Skokie all the way to downtown Chicago

I know these are extensions but we really need a new north/south line up and down Kedzie or so that mirrors the red line.

This was such an awesome analysis of the dream extensions of the L, great job.

North South along Western Avenue. It would be a pre-metro line as in Brussels Belgium. It would be called The Checker Line.

If there was ever a CTA train line that should’ve been built was the route up and down Cicero Ave., originally pitched by J. Daley back in the 1960s. That’s one reason why the street is so wide to begin with, but nothing ever came of it. It would’ve connected all the Blue routes that crossed over that street, and the Orange too. It would’ve made the Orange Line extension redundant too if it kept going south of Midway. It would’ve also made that consideration for a WB Brown Line extension a lot more viable too! (This is the 1st video I ever watched on this channel, so without knowing any other topics already covered, doing some research on this would make another great video.)

Make it bigger make it so I can go to normal IL

Sorry that you didn't do your homework on the yellow/Nothshore line. Stations torn down include Ridge, Asbury Dodge, Crawford,. Emerson Old Orchard all that way to the Chain of Lake, across to Waukegan and up to Milwaukee. The rail right of way that you see from Oakton going south was discontinued after the Union Pacific bought the C&NW RR.

The Pink Line, when it was still known as the Douglas Line, once went all the way to Harlem as you suggest in your video. It was sliced bank in the 1950's and replaced with an "extension bus." I'm sure there were reasons.

The CTA should reconsider opening stations like California and Central and possibly Kostner on the Blue Line considering how much that would benefit those areas. They should also consider reopening Racine on the Green Line, which has already been voted on.

For the United Center, they’re bragging like the new Green Line station at Damen is gonna open up access to the UC for the first time. However what I don’t get is why do more people not take the Blue Line there and get off at the Medical District? When I took my wife to the Olivia Rodrigo concert last March that’s how we went, but we were part of only a small handful of people doing that. The Green Line station won’t be that much closer (maybe a few feet…..), so I don’t get how it will change anything. A Pink Line station actually would be closer and I don’t know why it doesn’t already exist.

4:16 The Pink line (or Douglas Branch before it was the 54/Cermak branch of Blue Line) used to extend all the way to Harlem. That's why you say it is a "perfect right of way of parking lots" -- because all of that used to be train tracks for the CTA. CTA closed it all down in 1952 shortly after they took over the Douglas line. Used to take the Blue Line downtown to DePaul, and back to Forest Park, but can't tell you how many times I accidentally got on the "B" train to 54/Cermak instead, fell asleep, and woke up at the end of the wrong line.

Extend the yellow line north to Highland Park by the old Toys R Us with stations at Northbrook (Lake Cook, Dundee), Northfield/New Trier, Lake And Loyola, and of course, Old Orchard.

Perhaps it is just because I have used this route and I'm self aware of the areas it serves, but the 54A that goes to the Skokie Swift should be, at the very least, having daily service from early morning to late evening. I would LOVE a train connection from Skokie to Mayfair, and that and an extension north of Dempster should both be relatively viable to do at the same time, it's just that the CTA doesn't care enough for the northwest neighborhoods and less for Skokie, I mean you look all the bus routes they've cut fully or reduced in service the past 10 years in the northwest, and then recently for 7 weeks they shut down the Yellow Line, what does that tell you? Sure everywhere else seems decaying but there are real sacrifical lambs for the CTA out there.

Look what's happening out in Los Angeles!!? Lines have been resurrected like the trolley line from Los Angeles to Long Beach! Now the A Line that runs on the approximate alignment of the Old Pacific Electric and now light rail trolley lines to Santa Monica and several miles east of Pasadena Cal. Also a trolley line to Redondo Beach Cal. and Norwalk Cal.!!! Also a line to Culver City California.

How are the old stations and metal structures gonna transition into modern, what I assume must be concrete ones?

how did you make that map expanding shot in the beginning? editing on this is great

should we probably put a hell a lot of trains back to the CTA… The frequency is abysmal for a rapid transit this size.

They will need to loop to send some train back or a b service

Terminating so many L lines at malls just doesn’t seem to make sense to me given that malls are becoming economically unviable. Brown line seems very truncated. It could either go in the direction you’re talking about or maybe further north toward Lincolnwood or one of the other suburbs on that side of the city.

rebuild if need be and reopen the humboldt park branch

The pink line used that extenion years ago

Great points I agree with them all

Replace the yellow line with the silver line because Silver is good for a shuttle train the new yellow line stops the blue line from having branches 3:42 .

8 cars are dangerous enough. My mother was a car maintenance supervisor. Trust me

nice video but as someone who isnt really familiar with chicago id really appreciate it if it was more obvious what is where. keep up the good work tho

as someone who recently moved to the nw suburbs, it’s so upsetting knowing there were plans for an extension to the blue line that fell through 😭 i’m so tired of the lack of transit here, and the md west metra line isn’t very helpful with where i wanna go

We need lines for navy pier and new statiums

Chicago needs to implement the Ashland BRT system ASAP!

This can happen if we get rid of Dorval Carter

I feel the 3 branches of Metra electric should become CTA lines instead. Let the Metra electric go to the southern most point and maybe extend, but the two lines to blue island should be CTA lines, one of them maybe a south purple line (like the red). The line that ens near the IN border could be the third line. construct the "purple line" to go into the loop, and the there two into millennium station.

Wonderful speculation and maps!

Here's some Ideas I have A line that uses The Belt Railway of Chicago (Includes the UP Cragin Sub) and it should be called the Lime Line. Brown line extension to Jefferson Park (and potentially Norwood Park), I'd prefer Grade Separation by an Elevated ROW over Lawerence Avenue because it would be much cheaper to build than a Subway and Plus most of the Brown Line is already Elevated so it should be no problem to grade separate the existing at grade sections. A Blue line Express (Indigo), a restoration of the Humbolt Park branch using an EL over North Avenue, a Blue local (Cyan) that runs from Humbolt Park to UIC-Halsted. The Silver (Gray) Line which would provide a direct connection to OTC, Union Station, LaSalle Street Station and the Blue and Red lines. A Foster/Elston Ave EL from Devon Ave in Norwood Park to Kimball and an Ashland EL from Paulina Brown line to Lake Street, then goes counter-clockwise in the Loop and the Ashland/Lake station would replaced with an Ogden Avenue station and this would be the Gold line. Brown line sidings from Willow street to Illinois street on the North side main line with restored Halsted and Oak street street stations. Yellow line Extension to Old Orchard Road. A Red line branch to Navy Pier. A Green line branch to 69th/Halsted. A Michigan Avenue Subway which would be the Maroon line. Expanded O'Hare and Midway stations as well a Terminal 5 Blue line station. An Ogden Avenue and Blvd system LRT. And Finally a spur off the Southwest corner of the Loop to a station on Roosevelt Road (where the Former Chicago Grand Central Station was) to act as an Alternative Terminus for the Brown and Orange lines to ease congestion in the Loop.

8:04 in addition to that, I wanna see rush hour service to the Loop à la the Purple Line on the Yellow Line as well

Not exactly for a specific line, but an L extension to the pier would be a logical eastward conclusion. I’m thinking continuing from Lake Street to Columbus Drive then making a mini loop out of Illinois Street, Ohio Street and Grand Avenue back to Columbus Drive and then back to main loop. Which line would traffic that line?

The J-park and Pink extensions existed and were removed when the CTA took over. The CTA completely removed some lines, like Humboldt Park, Stock Yards, Kenwood & 69th. Lots of stations were also removed. The North Shore line and Chicago Aurora and Elgin disappeared. They covered some of your proposed extensions. Past government administrations were stupid and shortsighted.

I wish the Schaumburg blue line extension existed because I love by there

The current pink line used to go exactly to where you suggest, so rebuilding it to the past. The near west suburbs there are the most densely populated areas in all Illinois (Chicago is #5 most densely populated behind 4 near west suburbs). On the blue line, if it made one more stop past Forest Park it would connect to a Cook County courthouse, which currently requires a bus transfer. That line used to go to Westchester years ago.

The c a e went to Wheaton, Batavia Aurora, Elgin, st charlies, geneva

I support the ideas of adding stations, now for extension of lines green line the revival extension past cottage Grove would be good but the other branch, if you're going to extend the branch to midway would be done separate and conflict with the orange line if you're going to extend the route south of midway. The brown line extension to connect with the blue line but that's going to be difficult as it requires to continue the line as an El or subway and reconfiguring the Kimball area. The southern end, I say have the brown line replace the pink line and terminate at 54 cenmark while the pink line can be use to supplement the blue line. The pink line, construct express tracks on the congress line and extend to Yorkville, make use of the stub tunnels and construct a new subway parallel to the blue line to Chicago avenue and then construct a express line along chicago avenue, Humboldt Blvd, Belmont avenue, Milwaukee avenue, foster avenue, Higgins avenue and under Eisenhower expressway. If it's going to serve Schaumburg, the line would split before Rosemont along Jane Addams memorial tollway and then Higgins Rd. It would intersect the blue at chicago, belmont, Jefferson park and Cumberland. Yellow line, do the Cicero El between Dempster and 87 street/ Dan Ryan via cicero, create an El at stokie and have the red line end at that point instead of Howard in addition to create extra tracks on the existing open cut to the yard that the yellow line use. The purple line, have it follow the red line and split it to create a Clinton street subway south of north/clybourn and reconnect with the red line before cermak Chinatown, south of 95 st/ Dan Ryan the line was supposed to split into two branches, one towards 127 near blue island parallel to the metra and the other one to 130 by following the freeway. The orange line, supplement it along the brown line to Kimball while the south extension can go as far to 95 but without conflicting with the green line and emerge the yellow line before midway and split before 87. That leaves the loop subway which should be labeled as the grey line

Going back to that southbound yellow line branch, i think that should become a new line Think about it, there's a right of way between Midway and Montrose that isn't used often, i think CTA can use that, plus the Right of way from Montrose to Oakton to finally build thay "loop line" everyone has always asked for, thus eliminating the need for people to go downtown just to get another line to go somewhere else

I know the south end of the red and green lines are in bad areas. How would that affect BRT. And how bad is the area where the Red extension will end?

The Brown line needs to extend past Kimble to reach the Blue line.

This is great! Were you at the MFF transit panel?

if the pink line gets extedeed ti the malll its new terminal shoulg get a new transit center connected to it. and probably b morwe exoesive be undergroud or at least an tunnel to the mall

Street cars back for ciceros, 63 rd street, western equiped to change signals

Drawing the lines is the fun and easy part. Now do a video where you show options for dedicated tax increases that can fund regular transit extensions, as well as the political coalitions that can be assembled to help overcome do-nothing inertia of both institutions and the general public.

Let's build the circle line

Regarding the Washington metro, it’d be interesting to know how many miles they added with that silver line to Dulles.

Great video! Another YTer had an excellent video on the Brown Line Jefferson Park extension that I’m in favor of (with an added stop at Pulaski) but I’d also like to suggest a forking extension of the Brown Line in the opposite direction to connect with the Red line either at either Wilson or Argyle. Also, on the topic of additional stations on the existing lines, there needs to be stations where the lines overlap but have no connection. So where the Pink Line and the Blue Line cross (medical district), where the Red Line and the Brown Line cross (west of Clark and Division), where the Red Line and the Orange Line cross (north of Chinatown), and where the Green Line and the Red Line cross (north of 63rd street)

Cicle line and Clinton street subway