(rshsdepot) Roosevelt Road Station (Chicago), IL

[I95BERNIEW_@_aol.com]

From the Chicago Tribune.
 
 
Bernie Wagenblast
Transportation Communications Newsletter 
_http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/transport-communications/_ 
(http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/transport-communications/) 
 
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    Showcase Metra station suffering:  Rebuilding of `ugly' Roosevelt Road 
depot is stopped in its tracks due to  funding delay     
Virginia Groark
 
Jun. 8--As a special treat, Yvonne Martin took her 3-year-old niece  for a 
ride on Metra's Electric Line to the South Loop last week. But when  she left 
the train at the line's Roosevelt Road station, the South Shore  resident was 
surprised at what she found.  
"I've been in Chicago all my life. How come everything else is  modern but 
this?" she asked, gazing at the shabby wooden station where  paint chips hang 
from the ceiling, a wooden bridge sags and rust dapples  the hand railings.  
The station, which resembles a run-down fishing shack, stands in  sharp 
contrast to the manicured lawns and colorful gardens that sit just  east of the 
tracks along a foot path that takes visitors to the popular  Museum Campus. Metra 
had hoped a new depot that would better fit its  environs would be built by 
this year, but the project stalled after the  state failed to give the agency 
grant money it had approved in 2004.  
"We agree today, and we agreed in 2003, that the station absolutely  needs to 
be replaced," said Metra spokeswoman Judy Pardonnet, referring to  the year 
the agency submitted its grant application.  
Illinois Department of Transportation spokesman Mike Claffey said  this week 
that the $2.8 million grant would be given to Metra in the next  few months. 
He attributed the delay to a lack of money for major  infrastructure projects.  
"There's been a number of very worthy projects that have had to be  delayed, 
and this was one of those," he said.  
But Pardonnet said Metra officials have been told several times  that the 
money would arrive "in a week," yet the agency still has not  received the funds. 
Even if the commuter railroad gets the money in the  next few months, the 
earliest it could start the work would be next year,  she said.  
"We would never be able to bid the contract and do the engineering  to get 
the work done in time for this construction season," she said,  noting that 
track work must be done in warm weather.  
Under the plan, Metra would use the money to move the railroad  tracks so the 
city could build a new station at the 11th Street pedestrian  bridge. The 
$8.7 million Chicago Department of Transportation project also  calls for 
constructing new platforms and two elevators between the bridge  and the platforms, 
making them accessible to the handicapped, said Brian  Steele, a city 
Transportation Department spokesman.  
The city was prepared to start construction last year, but Metra  asked city 
officials to wait because the commuter railroad had not  received the state 
funds, Steele said.  
In the meantime, Metra engineers have examined the station and  connecting 
bridges and determined they are structurally sound, even if  they're "not very 
pretty," Pardonnet said.  
The station, which has long served commuter trains, is near the  site of the 
former Illinois Central Station, or 12th Street Station, which  was built in 
1892 for the World's Columbian Exposition. That station used  to handle trains 
that came from as far as Florida. But Amtrak moved the  intercity train 
service to Union Station in 1972, and the 12th Street  Station was demolished in 
1974.  
All that remains of the once-bustling railroad hub is the rickety  Roosevelt 
Road station, which these days is one of the final stops on the  Electric and 
South Shore Lines for inbound trains. In addition to serving  the South Loop, 
the station has become a popular destination for Chicago  Bears fans going to 
Soldier Field, and it's a gateway for visitors to the  Museum Campus. During 
peak summer months, about 800 people board Electric  Line and South Shore Line 
trains there each day, officials said.  
But the station's shoddy condition has prompted complaints from  people who 
question why it hasn't been upgraded, especially when the  surrounding area has 
been renovated and made attractive.  
"It looks like a treehouse," said Hammond resident Ramiro Meza as  he waited 
for a South Shore train on a recent weekday morning.  
South Holland resident Vern Boerman, who has a lifetime membership  to the 
Field Museum, said it's puzzling that the station hasn't been  rebuilt, 
especially because it's the first thing people see when they  disembark from a train 
en route to the city's tourist sites.  
"Our triple museum lakeside campus is surely one of the great  tourist spots 
on Earth," Boerman said. "But what do foreign visitors think  when they 
disembark at the shabbiest Metra station in the entire  Chicagoland area? That 
Roosevelt Road station is an ugly  disgrace."


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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

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End of RSHSDepot Digest V1 #1377
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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org