Mayor Rahm Emanuel, CDOT, and CTA announced that CTA bus service on The Loop Link – a modernization of the downtown transportation network – will begin Sunday, December 20th, with the opening of the red CTA bus lanes and raised boarding platforms on Madison and Washington Streets. In addition, all general traffic lanes will be open for cars on those two major downtown streets. The Loop Link aims to make it easier, safer, and more reliable for commuters to travel the downtown area by providing a balanced separation of CTA bus, bike and regular traffic. The Loop Link will use dedicated lanes on Washington, Madison, Clinton and Canal to move people through downtown, improving reliability and speed for six bus routes in the area and extending. The Loop Link will improve CTA bus service on six routes, which are the J14, 20, 56, 60 124 and 157. A seventh route, the 19, provides service to and from the United Center for Bulls and Blackhawks home games. For more information on the Loop Link, go to www.transitchicago.com/looplink.