Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) launched the Wilson Red Line station reconstruction project, the final major phase of construction. Already more than 75 percent complete, the USD 203 million project is on track to deliver a modern, fully accessible station and improvements to century-old tracks by the end of this year.
“When this project is completed, CTA customers will have a modern, accessible station in the heart of Chicago’s Uptown that will provide better service and also help generate economic development in the historic neighborhood,” CTA President Dorval Carter, Jr said.
Announced by Mayor Rahm Emanuel in 2012, the project is building a brand new Wilson stationhouse with an elevator and restoring the historic Gerber Building, built in 1923 at Broadway and Wilson. It is also replacing more than a half mile of what was more than 100-year-old elevated track structure. Once the project is completed, the station will also function as a new Red-Purple Line transfer station for customers.
To date, the CTA has completed the reconstruction of two southbound tracks that carry Red and Purple Line Express trains as well as the northbound Red Line track. Work crews have completed one of the two new, modern island platforms that replaced platforms and infrastructure that were nearly 100 years old.
Wilson is just the latest in a series of major modernization projects undertaken by Mayor Emanuel on the Red Line, the CTA’s busiest rail line that forms the backbone of Chicago. Other Red Line projects since 2011 include the Red and Purple Modernization Program, the new 95th Street Terminal, and the extension of the Red Line south to 130th Street.
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