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The CTA's Red-Purple Bypass May Be Its Most Ambitious Project

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The CTA has been on a major renovation and new development kick lately, and its announcement this afternoon of a plan to build a spacey-looking "Red-Purple Bypass" route for the Red, Brown and Purple line intersection near the Belmont station may have just taken the cake for its most ambitious project yet. The CTA says that the bypass would reduce congestion of the section of track that sees about 150,000 rides each weekday. Currently, trains have to stop on the track and wait for signal clearance to allow trains to make their transition across the lines, however if the new $320 million plan proceeds, the CTA says that the delays would be eliminated. The new bypass would have more than a monetary cost, as 16 buildings would need to be demoed to make way for the new route. An open house to discuss the plan will take place on Thursday, May 22, at the 19th District Police Station in Wrigleyville from 5:30pm to 7:30pm.

· Mayor Emanuel, CTA Announce Next Steps in Modernizing the Red Line, CTA's busiest rail line [Chicago Transit Authority]
· CTA's Belmont Bypass: 16 Existing Buildings Needed for New Flyover [DNAinfo]
· Previous CTA coverage [Curbed Chicago]