For more, see the series prologue, part 1, and part 2…
A look at some of the Els that gave Els a bad name:
Chicago: The city’s rapid transit system’s elevated lines are ubiquitous; the system is named for them. In the Loop, the Els run above city streets. In other parts, some Els run above alleyways or private rights of way, away from streets:
Chicago El over an alley. Photo by author.
Under the Chicago El. Photo by the author.
Intersection of Wells and Lake in Chicago. Image from Google Streetview.
Owing to both the size of the structure, the relatively narrow streets, and the enclosure provided by the buildings, the Els loom over Chicago’s streets.
Adams/Wabash Station. Image from Google Streetview.
To be fair, most of these Streetview images are from directly under the structures, while many of the others are views from the side. Part of this is due to the street width, and part due to the buildings fronting the street. If you were looking for examples of suitable elevated viaducts for retrofitting suburbia, or for less dense urban neighborhoods, this isn’t a great example. Nonetheless, as noisy and obstructive as the Els can be, you can still find light and air above the sidewalks:
Intersection of Monroe and Wabash, Chicago IL. Image from Google Streetview.
Philadelphia: The number of American cities with legacy heavy rail transit systems (meaning pre-war) is fairly limited (Boston, New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia). Over the last decade, Philadelphia reconstructed most of the Market St elevated, replacing Chicago-style structures with a single pier supporting a steel structure:
Market St El, prior to reconstruction, CC image from connery.cepeda
Market El, reconstructed:
Finishing work on the reconstructed El. Image from Google Streetview.
On the other side of Center City, the El above Front Street almost reaches from building face to building face along Philadelphia’s narrow streets:
Elevated rail above Front St. Image from Google Streetview.
Boston: Much of the post-war transit investment in Boston focused on re-arranging infrastructure, tearing down Els and replacing those lines with subways. Few elevated sections remain, such as this portion of the Green line near Lechmere Station:
Green Line El near Lechmere Station. Image from Google Streetview.
Perhaps the only reason this portion survives is because it’s directly attached to a river crossing:
Aerial view of Boston from Google Maps.
Table of contents:
The Lechmere viaduct is quite nice other than a few portions. Stonework from 1910. The remainder of the Green Line El was torn down when rebuilding North Station.
The MBTA is planning to extend the elevated portion of the Lechmere section by rebuilding Lechmere station as elevated and sending the tracks over to the other side of the McGrath Highway. So, in a change of pace, we’re going to have the first elevated rail construction here that’s happened in quite a while.