by Building crews in Downtown Chicago are set to begin building a highly-anticipated stop on Chicago’s train line,the Chicago Transit Authority. The Damen Green Line Stop,a much-needed stop that will service the city’s Near West Side alongside short term rentals,will cost about $50 million to complete,and comes as officials have increasingly called for the city to fix what they say is an old problem.
The project,slated to be finished in 2020,was voted on earlier this month in Chicago by some of the city’s Aldermen. The procedural vote mostly had to do with zoning,but the project is on path to open near West Loop corporate housing in a couple of years.
Ald. Walter Burnett Jr. (27th) is hopeful that the new stop will right a “historic” wrong as the CTA’s train system currently has a mile and a half long gap in service,leaving out thousands of Chicagoans from utilizing the city’s fantastic public transit. “I think they were trying to avoid public housing being able to disrupt folks on the train,” Burnett said. “I see it as discrimination.”
Despite the zoning vote only occurring last week,preparation construction began in Downtown Chicago back in April,with city crews doing some nearby road maintenance to prepare for the upcoming station. Michael Claffey,a spokesman for Chicago’s Department of Transportation,says more serious underground and foundation work is slated to start in 2019 as the construction really gets underway.
Design firm Perkins + Will designed the new stop,and aim to have the state-of-the-art station cater to enormous crowds that routinely pour out of the United Center,home to professional sports teams the Chicago Bulls and the Chicago Blackhawks. Professionals who live in temporary housing near the United Center will also be serviced by the new stop,giving them an easier way to make it to work once they move to Chicago.
