Chicago CTA construction - advice please! (also moving questions)

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So, we're moving to Chicago in a few months. I'm going to be working in Evanston, so we were planning on living in Lakeview, where I could take the purple/red lines up to Northwestern and Colette could commute down to the Loop. However, from what we've read there seems to be massive construction on these lines at the moment and for the forseeable future. We're reading contradictory things about how much of an impact this would make.

If we lived within walking distance of Belmont station, what kind of commute are we talking, considering the construction, to the Loop and to Evanston?

Also, we've had some people suggest the Metra as an alternative. This would probably rule out living in Lakeview, but could maybe mean somewhere in the general Wicker Park area (apologies for fuzzy knowledge of neighborhood names) so we can get the Clybourne Metra and maybe also catch the Damen blue line? Also, Ravenswood seems to be an option, especially if we tried to live between the Metra and Red Line (colette is reluctant to rely only on Metra, can you tell?)

advice, thoughts, opinions welcome. colette might be flying over to look at places in a month or so, or we might turn up for our wedding and apartment shop at the same time. either way, the more information we've got, the better!

― toby, Thursday, 15 March 2007 20:51 (eighteen years ago)

From what I understand, if you get on the train at Belmont in the morning and go north, you should have no trouble, because the major construction is south of there, and and also you're going the "wrong" way.

― kenan, Thursday, 15 March 2007 20:54 (eighteen years ago)

advice, thoughts, opinions welcome.

my opinion is the cta will fuck you over hard. my advice is to get used to it because it's always like that. sorry.

where in lakeview will you be? i would imagine it wouldn't be that difficult to get to the clybourn metra stop. i'd say you have the right idea with your original plan of the red line. trust me, even with the construction there will be a negliable difference in the trains.

― chicago kevin, Thursday, 15 March 2007 20:57 (eighteen years ago)

that ride, from the Belmont CTA up to Evanston is pretty quick, actually. maybe half an hour?

― horseshoe, Thursday, 15 March 2007 20:59 (eighteen years ago)

getting to the loop will be a problem for the reason kenan stated. maybe jenny or jeff will come around and shed some light as they live in "lakeview".

― chicago kevin, Thursday, 15 March 2007 21:01 (eighteen years ago)

I'm guessing from belmont it would take about 40 minutes. The purple line used to take, i think, 26 mins or something from evanston at howard to belmont? I honestly don't know what construction has been like.

the metra costs a bit more but will def. save you time. you wouldn't really be living in wicker park though if you wanted it - you'd be living in that weird neighborhood by the river, near webster. Its not a bad place actually; movie theater, shopping, not far from green dolphin street.

there's also a metra stop in ravenswood, which is where blagojevich used to live, and in rogers park, but i imagine that would be too far north for you

probably a lot of xps as i forgot i had left this window open and not finished the message

― deej, Thursday, 15 March 2007 21:02 (eighteen years ago)

oh if thats the case and there's no construction heading north from belmont, yeah it'll only take you about a half hour. During rush hour. during normal times, more like 45 mins

― deej, Thursday, 15 March 2007 21:03 (eighteen years ago)

(that neighborhood by the metra isn't TOO far from wicker park though, really.)

― deej, Thursday, 15 March 2007 21:04 (eighteen years ago)

Also, Ravenswood seems to be an option, especially if we tried to live between the Metra and Red Line (colette is reluctant to rely only on Metra, can you tell?)

This is not a bad idea. I live in Ravenswood and take the Brown Line to the Loop, while my girlfriend takes Metra up to Evanston. We're five blocks from the el stop (which is still a little further than I'd maybe like, but only insufferable in the dead of winter -- a 10- to 15-minute walk) and three blocks from the Metra stop.

From what I understand about the construction, commute times are going to be at their worst in the evening rather than in the morning, and only between 4 and 6. I tend to work late, so I'm hoping this won't affect me too much.

The other thing you should know if you decide to live in Ravenswood, or anywhere along the Brown Line, is that they're in the midst of renovating the entire line, which means that for the next few years, two stations at a time are being closed for several months each. Right now it's Addison and Montrose, but I suspect next to close will be Irving Park and either Paulina or Western.

― jaymc, Thursday, 15 March 2007 21:05 (eighteen years ago)

you wouldn't really be living in wicker park though if you wanted it - you'd be living in that weird neighborhood by the river, near webster. Its not a bad place actually; movie theater, shopping, not far from green dolphin street.

The Clybourn stop is actually a bit south of Webster, along Armitage, which I'd consider Bucktown proper.

― jaymc, Thursday, 15 March 2007 21:07 (eighteen years ago)

is that the one on ashland? it would be bucktown if it's on the west side of the street and i guess west lincoln park if it's on the east.

― chicago kevin, Thursday, 15 March 2007 21:08 (eighteen years ago)

Yup.

― jaymc, Thursday, 15 March 2007 21:10 (eighteen years ago)

Currently I have to be at work in the Loop (Lake St.) at 10:45. I board the Red Line farther north, but as long as my train is at Belmont by 10:25 I know I will be on time or early. So about 15 minutes currently, and that includes numerous delays and slow zones.

Isn't the Purple Line pretty fast? I mean it runs express to Howard, then it's only 2 or 3 more stops to Evanston.

― Jesse, Thursday, 15 March 2007 21:16 (eighteen years ago)

the purple line is pretty awesome, yeah. it only runs during rush hour morning and evening, but it sounds like that's pretty much when you'd need it?

― horseshoe, Thursday, 15 March 2007 21:16 (eighteen years ago)

Isn't the Purple Line pretty fast? I mean it runs express to Howard, then it's only 2 or 3 more stops to Evanston.

Howard is evanston! Its 4 more stops to downtown.

― deej, Thursday, 15 March 2007 21:17 (eighteen years ago)

Isn't Howard the official dividing line btwn Chi/Evanston?

― kenan, Thursday, 15 March 2007 21:20 (eighteen years ago)

Kenan's right, and the station is on the south side of the street, so it's technically in Chicago. But everything past that is Evanston.

― jaymc, Thursday, 15 March 2007 21:33 (eighteen years ago)

well yes but i think people can cross the street without taking the train
semantic eyeroll

― deej, Thursday, 15 March 2007 21:38 (eighteen years ago)

from the map, it looks like toby will need to get to david or foster on the purple line.

kevin, while i can sympathise with the hate for transport, transport here in london is basically way worse in my opinion than it was when i was living in chicago (5 years ago). at the moment, toby's commute is about 40 minutes on a good day, and that's going about 5 miles.

we're both big walkers, and will hopefully have bikes as well, so that should add to the options.

not sure where we'd live in lakeview, basically anywhere that's a 10 minute walk from belmont station. i lived in boystown before and enjoyed it, but know that there's a stretch in southport that would be cool in terms of good food options.

jaymc, thanks for the info on ravenswood, is there anywhere that's like equidistant between the metra and the red line, considering that the brown line may shut at a moments' notice? or is it a huge walk between the two? do you like it as a neighborhood? i really like having stuff around rather than having to get in the car to go find a decent grocery store or dry cleaners (although i never actually go, i like to know they're there) or library or whatever.

i looked at a map of the clyborne metra station, and am having real problems equating map scales and real life... what's the distance between that stop and the damen blue line stop (is that the one at north and damen and milwaukee?). is that whole green dolphin st and movie place also near the target?

jesse, what kind of job do you have that you can go to work so late? i want it! has the construction already affected your commute, or is that normal? i used to commute from addison to lake and it was like 20 mins or something...but i'm just worried it would be an hour or something stupid.

oh crap, why is moving so stressful? wherever we move, i'm buying a beer for everyone that posts a relevant answer on this thread. (i added the relevant bit to avoid owing LJ a beer)

― colette, Thursday, 15 March 2007 22:03 (eighteen years ago)

yeah, the Damen blue line stop is at North and Milwaukee. I think it's about a mile from the Clybourn Metra? I think the Green Dolphin is also maybe a mile from the Target?

― horseshoe, Thursday, 15 March 2007 22:19 (eighteen years ago)

is there anywhere that's like equidistant between the metra and the red line

If you were at Lawrence/Clark, I think you'd be about equidistant between the Ravenswood Metra and the Lawrence Red Line stop. Ravenswood is kind of a weird neighborhood inasmuch as there's not really a main drag (closest you'd probably get is the strip along Montrose between Ravenswood and Damen) -- but at Lawrence/Clark, you're just a walkable half-mile south of Andersonville, which does have most of the stuff you'd want. (In fact, I know of a corner grocery and dry cleaners before you even get up that far.)

(The thing that's nice about where I live in Ravenswood is that while there's not a whole lot to do when I immediately step outside my apartment, my block is nice and safe and residential, and I'm a short walk away from both Andersonville and Lincoln Square.)

From the Clybourne Metra (at Ashland/Armitage), the Damen Blue Line (North/Damen) is a half-mile to the south and a half-mile to the west.

― jaymc, Thursday, 15 March 2007 22:22 (eighteen years ago)

Green Dolphin (Webster/Ashland) is about a half-mile south and a mile east of the Target (Clybourn/Logan/Western).

― jaymc, Thursday, 15 March 2007 22:24 (eighteen years ago)

oh God I am like the gabbneb of Chicago geography

― jaymc, Thursday, 15 March 2007 22:25 (eighteen years ago)

I might also add that somewhere around Clybourn/Cortland would be equidistant between the Clybourn Metra stop and the North/Clybourn Red Line stop. I would guess that rent in this area would be a lot more expensive than in Ravenswood, however.

― jaymc, Thursday, 15 March 2007 22:30 (eighteen years ago)

but it's so useful! i didn't have my car when i lived in chocago, so only have weird abstract memories from either cab rides or riding in friends cars anywhere that wasn't along the red line, basically. so it's useful to link up random landmarks.

hmm. so ravenswood could be an option. i guess the trouble is that i have NO IDEA how to decide where to live! and am worried that there's a non-zero chance that i'll be coming over to pick out our new home on my own, while toby is doing math(s) in canada. do they do math or maths in canada?

― colette, Thursday, 15 March 2007 22:31 (eighteen years ago)

Also, Morse/Ashland would be equidistant between the Rogers Park Metra stop and the Morse Red Line stop. It doesn't sound like you're interested in living that far north, though.

In all of these cases, the equidistant point is no more than a half-mile in either direction from public transportation.

― jaymc, Thursday, 15 March 2007 22:33 (eighteen years ago)

i feel like a half mile isn't too bad to walk (i say that having had mild english winters for the last five years), so that's useful.

yeah, i kind of think rogers park is further north than i'd like. i know there's bars that i like that are down west of the loop, in what i think of as wicker park. is there a better generic label for that area? but that being all the way up in rogers park might mean we never ever go out, or something.

― colette, Thursday, 15 March 2007 22:37 (eighteen years ago)

I live by the Addison stop (that's one north from Belmont), and when I take the train at rush hour to Roosevelt, it takes about 30 minutes flat, including the obligatory three minute stop between stations in the middle of a dark tunnel.

I've only been in Chicago a year, but from what I've gathered, it's pretty silly to move or not move somewhere to avoid CTA construction. It's up there with death and taxes.

― en i see kay, Thursday, 15 March 2007 22:39 (eighteen years ago)

West of the Loop is often called ... wait for it ... West Loop.

― jaymc, Thursday, 15 March 2007 22:41 (eighteen years ago)

does west loop include all the 'cool' neighborhoods like wicker park and ukranian village and whatever else people think is cool these days? like where my friends used to live where there was a drug-dealing dwarf on their block and they were sure it was going to be a hip neighborhood any second?

holy crap, we just looked at a metra schedule, and it looks like there's only one train PER HOUR. is that actually true? we have crappy suburban trains here but they run every 30 minutes even on sundays, and every 15 minutes otherwise...

― colette, Thursday, 15 March 2007 22:44 (eighteen years ago)

yeah the metra runs once an hour, although they usually have an express train or two during rush hour.

― deej, Thursday, 15 March 2007 22:48 (eighteen years ago)

its also like 3-4 bucks a ride vs. CTA's 2 dollars (or 75$ a month)

― deej, Thursday, 15 March 2007 22:48 (eighteen years ago)

Yep, one train per hour on Metra is true ;_;

West Loop is a discrete neighborhood, not an umbrella term encompassing Wicker Park or Ukrainian Village. It's to the south and west of those neighborhoods. This is from a realty website:

http://www.vp-realty.com/Images/westlooprealestate.JPG

There's been a lot of development in that area lately, including trendy restaurants/bars and condos. I don't really ever hang out there, though.

― jaymc, Thursday, 15 March 2007 22:52 (eighteen years ago)

Metra is more a commuter line than a city transit line. Also, I'd wager to guess there are less trains because you'd be going against the main flow of traffic? Not sure. (I ride the Metra electric to the South Side, and that's how it is on that line.)

Ever think of living in the Roscoe Village area? I'll add my usual plug for Logan Square, too, though it sounds like it'd be quite inconvenient given your requirements...

― dan m, Thursday, 15 March 2007 22:52 (eighteen years ago)

west loop I'd imagine would be more expensive than ukrainian village and probably even than wicker park.

― horseshoe, Thursday, 15 March 2007 22:53 (eighteen years ago)

There are discounted monthly passes for Metra, too, though. If you were using it every weekday, I bet it would be worth it.

― jaymc, Thursday, 15 March 2007 22:54 (eighteen years ago)

Yeah, my roommate works there, it's always seemed to be pretty high-end condo-centric to me.

― dan m, Thursday, 15 March 2007 22:54 (eighteen years ago)

Metra monthly ~ $58 through my work

― dan m, Thursday, 15 March 2007 22:55 (eighteen years ago)

I don't have anything to add on where to live, but remember the bus lines! Having the 135, 145, and 146 within 2 blocks has been a godsend.

― Jeff, Thursday, 15 March 2007 23:24 (eighteen years ago)

^^^^^^^^this man speaks the truth

― dan m, Thursday, 15 March 2007 23:29 (eighteen years ago)

i take two buses and a train to get to work.

every day.

i think i made it in 30 mins once

― deej, Thursday, 15 March 2007 23:31 (eighteen years ago)

Yeah, West Loop is crazy with high-end condo prices. I'm guessing that if it isn't yet, it soon will surpass average prices in Wicker Park. You can still find some decent deals in Wicker Park/Bucktown if you spend some time walking around the neighborhoods.

Unfortunately I can't help you with the train thing, since I rarely get a chance to take Metra to my job in the north burbs.

― jon /via/ chi 2.0, Friday, 16 March 2007 00:00 (eighteen years ago)

Hello. I have another, slightly similar, question about moving to chicago. My girlfriend is planning on going to grad school for early childhood education this fall, and, so far, she seems to be leaning towards going to the Erikson Institute in Chicago. Neither of us has ever been to Chicago, so it is a bit hard to make this decision (I would not be moving to chicago w/ her, at least not for another year).
So is anyone familiar with the Erikson Institute, especially its early childhood masters program? I guess it's a really small school, so this may be a long shot. But if anyone has any knowledge of it all, I'd be interested in hearing anything about it -- pluses, minuses, types of students, etc.
My second question is, inevitably, about where to live. Erikson is, according to its website, in the "river north district". I gather this is "downtown" i.e. centrally located. I guess it's near a lot of train lines...does this mean she can live anywhere? Does chicago have any affordable yet still nice neighborhoods (this is its reputation, but we are from the east coast so this seems sort of unimaginable)? Thanks.

― askance johnson, Monday, 19 March 2007 15:58 (eighteen years ago)

I've lived in Chicago for over six years and grew up in the suburbs, and I've never even heard of the Erikson Institute! (Which you shouldn't take one way or the other, but I'd wager that other folks are not likely to have heard of it, either ... although maybe I'll be surprised.)

River North is more or less downtown, you're right. Looking at Erikson's website, it appears that it's only actually super-close to the Red Line stop at Grand. But since it's only a few blocks away from the Loop, where most of the city's train lines converge, she'll be well-served by public transportation, even if she has to transfer trains, or take a bus somewhere along the way.

That said, it would be marginally more convenient for her to move to a neighborhood somewhere along the Red Line. Lucky for her, this is the longest train line in the city, and covers a diverse stretch of neighborhoods, from wealthy to bohemian. As one might expect, the more inexpensive places are likely to be the furthest away from downtown (like in Rogers Park or Uptown), but these are still relatively nice neighborhoods.

― jaymc, Monday, 19 March 2007 16:15 (eighteen years ago)

jaymc = my hero. apparently erikson is "up and coming" and so you may hear of it at some time in the future.

― askance johnson, Monday, 19 March 2007 17:04 (eighteen years ago)

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