(rshsdepot) South Loop Metra Station - Chicago, IL

[I95BERNIEW_@_aol.com]

From today's Chicago Tribune.
 
Bernie Wagenblast
 
Photo:  _http://www.chicagocarless.com/images/roosevelt%20road%20metra.jpg_ 
(http://www.chicagocarless.com/images/roosevelt%20road%20metra.jpg)  
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Face-Lift Due Soon for Metra  Station

By Richard  Wronski, Tribune staff reporter.  
Work will begin this spring on a new South Loop Metra station that will  
replace a rickety, rusty eyesore with a new beaux-arts structure that will  
complement its Grant Park surroundings and the Museum Campus, officials said  
Wednesday.  
The entrance to the $10 million station will be from the 11th Street  
pedestrian bridge. The project, being done by the City of Chicago and Metra,  
involves constructing new platforms and two elevators, making the station  accessible 
for the disabled, officials said.  
Gone will be the shabby wooden Roosevelt Road station and pedestrian walkway  
serving the Metra Electric and South Shore Lines. The structures are believed 
to  be about 100 years old.  
Grant Park advocates hailed word that the Department of Transportation had  
signed a contract for the new station.  
"We've been getting complaints about the pedestrian bridge and station for  
over 15 years," said Bob O'Neill, president of the Grant Park Advisory Council. 
 
"This is Chicago's front yard. [The old station] looks like something out of  
an old Wild West movie. When you walk on it, it's even in worse shape. People 
 have said to me that it is really an embarrassment."  
The new station is designed to blend with the nearby public architecture of  
Grant Park and Museum Campus, said Brian Steele, a spokesman for the 
Department  of Transportation.  
Construction is expected to take about 18 months and will not affect vehicle  
traffic or Metra users because most work will be done during non-rush-hour  
periods, Steele said.  
The Grant Park Advisory Council and others have pushed for several years to  
replace the old station, but progress was delayed by lack of funding. Finally, 
 in November, the Illinois Department of Transportation came through with a  
long-promised $2.8 million grant.  
The money will be used to relocate Metra tracks to facilitate construction,  
said Judy Pardonnet, a Metra spokeswoman.  
Current ridership figures are unavailable, but the Metra station is well-used 
 by commuters, South Loop residents, Museum Campus visitors and Bears fans,  
Pardonnet said.  
Recent additions to the area include a dog park, skate plaza, and the Agora  
sculptures.  
"There's a lot going on in that area now," O'Neill said. "There needs to be a 
 world-class station for a world-class park. It's elegant. It's one more 
piece to  finish the south end of Grant Park."  
- ----------  
rwronski_@_tribune.com  


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