The ‘L’ station of the Chicago Transit Authority at State & Lake, in which the Green, Pink, Orange and Brown lines are served, is planned to be completely rebuilt. The new station will be equipped with wheelchair accessible elevators and will allow easy transfer to the Lake Street Red Line station, which is located underground just below the elevated stop. The original State & Lake Station was built in 1895.
The Metropolitan Planning Agency of Chicago announced earlier this week that it will provide $ 56.9 million for the region for $ 225.7 million to outperform the states in order to reduce congestion and air quality for the project it provides.
In a Chicago press release, it was pointed out today that the station was the second largest station in the elevated loops last year. The Chicago Department of Transportation is responsible for the project, as well as the recently established stations of Cermak (Green Line), Morgan (Green / Pink) and Washington & Wabash.
Like Washington & Wabash, the new State & Lake station will have a wider platform than the facility it replaces. State & Lake is characterized by very narrow platforms near the station house.
This is not the first time that the CTA or CDOT has set itself the goal of redesigning or recreating the station. According to Chicago “L” .org, in 1998, the CTA announced a plan to combine State/Lake, Madison/Wabash and Randolph/Wabash. The last two stations were combined in the new Washington / Wabash station, which opened on August 31 of this year. Later, CDOT expressed interest in the construction of a new station adjacent to the existing one, “L” of Chicago. This would have removed some obstacles to the views of State Street and Down Street.
The CMAQ grant of $ 56.9 million does not cover the total construction cost. The press release states: “The total cost of the new station will not be determined until the design process moves forward, but it is expected to exceed the construction cost of the new $ 75 million Washington/Wabash station.” Previously, the city won a federal grant of $ 5.5 million to finance the state/lake design.
*Credits/Source:
Featured Image: Stephanie Barto
Story: Steven Vance – Streetsblog Chicago
