[Declanomous]

BRT would actually be amazingly useful in Chicago because a massive number of people commute to central business district (The Loop).

Chicago owned all of the land used for the Loop link and it still cost $41 million, and has little of the benefits of actual BRT.

People here get incredibly upset when any road diet is discussed. Our politicians rarely ride public transit, and laws and engineering guidelines prevent projects which would reduce the volume of traffic carried. It's absurd.

[bobthepanda]

It costs a lot to modify an existing street vs build a brand new road, mostly because you have to modify drainage (Loop Link had concrete boarding platforms in the middle of the street that certainly would've disrupted existing drainage), bring the street up to modern standards, and keep the existing street open during the work for all the buildings that front it. It's really not all that simple.

In fact, the fact that it was on an existing street would make it very expensive to modify; look at a picture of the O-Bahn and there's plenty of space for construction vehicles and staging to set up, no one to get in the way of, etc.