The Chicago Transit Board approved the award of a design-build contract for the rehabilitation and upgrade of two major Blue Line transit terminals, the Jefferson Park and Belmont stations, as part of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s historic Your New Blue project to improve and upgrade the O’Hare branch of the Blue Line. Walsh Construction Company II, LLC was awarded the USD 30.8 million contract following a competitive procurement process.
Improvements for both locations includes new signage, interior and exterior painting, new LED lighting, electrical work, and replacement of the bus terminal concrete and rail station platform surfaces.
The $25 million rehabilitation of Jefferson Park will be the largest renovation project since the terminal was reconstructed in 2001 to make it wheelchair accessible. Customers can look forward to newly redesigned canopies for the bus terminal and rail station entryway, and improved reconfiguration of the bus bays to accommodate those with disabilities. Other rail station improvements include rehabbing platform canopies, repair and repainting exterior station walls, plus new benches, windbreaks and trash bins along the platform.
Upgrades to the Belmont Blue Line terminal will include the infusion of a new and unique architectural canopy for the terminal designed by the Chicago architecture firm Carol Ross Barney, which will serve as a community gateway while visually enhancing the street-level entrance to the subway station. The $17 million project will also include improvements to the bus arrival/departure areas such as new LED lighting, repaved surfaces and new signage to speed bus boarding and provide a safer, more comfortable environment for pedestrians.
Project work for both stations is expected to begin early next year, with work completing at Belmont in late 2018, followed by the completion of work at Jefferson Park in 2019.
Providing valuable transit connections for the northwest side of Chicago, the Jefferson Park and Belmont stations are the fourth and seventh-busiest stations along the O’Hare branch, respectively. The CTA Blue Line provides 24-hour rapid transit train service between Chicago-O’Hare International Airport and the Forest Park terminal, via downtown Chicago.
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