In fact, the Washington Park site of the Obama Presidential Center is dynamically positioned in one of America’s most transit-rich corridors.  The CTA Green Line, discussed previously, provides interconnectivity within the Catena of Institutes, but also immediate access to the South Side communities of Woodlawn, Englewood, Bronzeville, the South Loop, and the rest of the CTA elevated network.

More than the C.T.A. Green Line alone, however, within walking distance one also finds the CTA Red Line, with rapid connectivity to downtown Chicago and a future southward extension to the Pullman National Monument, itself designated by President Barack Obama.  By linking the Obama family home, historic Bronzeville, the Presidential Center, and the Pullman Monument, a vast and immersive educational program of civil rights on the South Side is easily within reach.

Also here is the Metra Rock Island Line, where a new station can be added, providing even quicker access to downtown Chicago.  This straightforward improvement would bring the city neighborhoods of Beverly, Morgan Park, and the southwest suburbs directly to this specific locale, further establishing a new hub of vitality and purpose on the mid-South Side.

Joining all of these incredible prospects together, a magnificent opportunity exists on Garfield Boulevard to provide a new and vital east-west transit connection, tying together the disparate transit options.  This improvement will make use of the unusual width of the boulevard to easily and safely accommodate mixed modes of transportation.  The BRT connector would run from the lakefront and Metra Illinois Central trains west to Midway Airport and the CTA Orange Line.

By interconnecting what today are independent routes on the legacy hub-and-spoke model, the South Side can become more interconnected and more convenient, bolstering its revitalization.  Residents would no longer need to transfer to slow east-west busses, nor need to go downtown, for interconnectivity.  Furthermore, the very nucleus of this activity will take place at the Barack Obama Presidential Center, a new nexus of activity.