RE: (rshsdepot) South Loop Metra Station - Chicago, IL

["Paul Luchter" <luckyshow_@_mindspring.com>]

It's a shame that most of Chicago's railroad terminals are demolished and
mostly demolished...Even here, I recall how they didn't save the big old
wooden Victorian IC station just south of this South Shore terminal
complex, which I, of course, love for its dinky rusticness, decades of high
density commuters still using virtually the same 1920s accoutrements,
windows, gates, ramps, odd angled walled interiors. But the IC's Central
terminal was Gilded Age or Gay 90s elegant on the neglected slope towards
demolition...What is left? The facade of Polk/Dearborn, half of Union
Station, a partial interior of Northwestern terminal, is that it? And this
combo remnant of the interurban age

> [Original Message]
> From: <I95BERNIEW_@_aol.com>
> To: <rshsdepot_@_lists.railfan.net>
> Date: 2/8/2007 5:17:13 PM
> Subject: (rshsdepot) South Loop Metra Station - Chicago, IL
>
> 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)  
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>  
> 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  
>
>
> =================================
> The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
> railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org
> To Unsubscribe: http://lists.railfan.net/rshsdepot-photo/unsub.html
>
>
> -- 
> No virus found in this incoming message.
> Checked by AVG Free Edition.
> Version: 7.1.411 / Virus Database: 268.17.21/665 - Release Date: 2/2/2007


=================================
The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org
To Unsubscribe: http://lists.railfan.net/rshsdepot-photo/unsub.html

------------------------------

End of RSHSDepot Digest V1 #1496
********************************

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