Transit Maps: Chicago

All posts tagged: Chicago

Historical Map: Chicago Plan Commission – Rapid Transit Facilities, 1945

July 23, 2012

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Historical Maps

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1945, cartography, Chicago, Chicago Plan Commission, commuter rail, Illinois, subway, subway map, The L, The Loop, USA

Here’s a gorgeous pre-CTA planning map from Chicago in 1945, outlining all sorts of grandiose ideas for expansion of the subway system, almost none of which have actually come to pass. There appears to be a proposed second Loop, which would have run more east-west than the existing one. There’s also a planned subway line heading out to the northwest, but this doesn’t follow the same alignment as the Blue Line, and a subway line […]

Photo: Loop

June 14, 2012

Fantasy Map: Chicago “L” Overlaid On New York City

January 21, 2012

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Fantasy Maps

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Chicago, CTA, Illinois, MTA, New York, subway, subway map, The L, The Loop, USA

A bit of whimsy for you today from Reddit, brought to my attention by Twitter user @GordonWerner. The “L” has been flipped both horizontally and vertically, then rotated to fit Manhattan’s street grid, but the scaling is accurate. It looks like The Loop is placed in the area directly below Central Park. A few things from this: it’s actually kind of scary how well this fits; and it’s astounding just how dense the New York […]

Official Map: Chicago CTA “L” Commuter Rail, 2011

October 31, 2011

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Official Maps

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3 stars, Chicago, commuter rail, CTA, heavy rail, Illinois, subway, The L, The Loop, USA

Chicago’s street grid is so incredibly regular that this map seems to be a rectilinear diagram. It’s only after observing some odd little twists and turns in the route lines that you realise that this is actually a fairly geographically accurate map – so much so that the downtown Loop is represented in an detail inset because it would otherwise appear too small to decipher. Even the station names pretty much conform to the grid […]