Mayor Rahm Emanuel affirmed his intent for two new CTA stations this morning from the belly of the newly-remodeled Grand Ave Red Line station. The much talked about stations, a Green Line stop at Cermak and a new Loop stop at Washington/Wabash will enter the design process in March and May, respectively, according to today's press release. The Loop stop is conceptually further along, but still has much to finalize. It will replace the two 100-year-old stations at Randolph/Wabash and Madison/Wabash by plunking itself down in between. The Cermak Green Line station will cater to the burgeoning McCormick Place and its hotel agglomeration. Construction of both stations is to begin in winter/spring of 2013 and will take roughly 18 months to complete. In the meantime, if all goes according to plan, the new Morgan Green station will have opened and the $86M Clark/Division Red Line station renovation will be well underway.
Let's not forget the event of the day— the grand opening of the new and improved Grand/State station. After three years of construction annoyance, the upgrades are complete. Along with bettering access and beautifying, the main public areas were expanded by 40%, with more turnstiles and machines to keep all the extra people moving. The city's Central Area Plan 2020 forecast anticipates another 5,000 residential units, 4,000 hotel rooms, and 3 million square feet of office space in the area served by the station. The announcement triggered a lovefest from other elected officials at the state and federal level, who didn't neglect to mention the 4,000 jobs tied to the projects.
·Mayor Announces new CTA stops [ABC]
·Mayor Emanuel Opens Newly-Renovated Grand Avenue Red Line Station [City of Chicago]
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