CTA announces major repairs, slowdowns for Chicago mass transit

The next phase of reconstruction on the CTA’s Brown Line will mean major delays throughout the system beginning in April and continuing until the end of 2009, according to a story reported in today’s Chicago Tribune and other media outlets. That’s two years of wedging onto crowded trains that at worst could take twice as long to reach their destinations. Or following the CTA’s advice and walking, biking or waiting for often unreliable buses. Or, worst of all, sitting in traffic (Lake Shore Drive is no picnic during rush hour, either). And there will no doubt be a ripple effect on parking and other neighborhood issues.
CTA head Frank Kruesi argues that the painful slowdowns are a necessary evil to accomodate growing ridership. They’d better be. The CTA Tattler blog is already threatening to round up “a contingent of pissed-off riders” to appear at a February CTA board meeting.