CTA Wilson Station reconstruction at 50-percent complete mark

Written by Kyra Senese, Managing Editor
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The $203 million Wilson Station Reconstruction Project begins phase three this week.
CTA

The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) has announced that its $203 million Wilson Station Reconstruction Project is more than 50 percent complete.

 

The transit agency will begin the third phase of construction for the project this week to bring about a more accessible station and a fully rebuilt track structure adjacent to the station, officials say.

“CTA customers who use the Wilson station are already noticing the changes occurring from this remarkable project, which is creating a modern, accessible station in the heart of Chicago’s Uptown that will better serve them and also help generate economic development in the historic neighborhood,” said CTA President Dorval R. Carter Jr. “The construction continues to make great progress, on time and on budget, and is generating good-paying local jobs.”

Announced in 2012 by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the project is meant to completely reconstruct the Wilson station and its track structure, which officials say is more than a century old. The project will also result in the creation of a new transfer point between the CTA’s Red and Purple Lines.

During the project’s third phase, crews will rebuild the northbound Red Line track—the third of four tracks—as well as a related elevated structure that will be rebuilt for the project. Phase three of the project also calls for demolishing the station platform to replace it with a new east island platform that will eventually serve northbound, or Howard-bound, CTA Red and Purple line trains.

A new, modernized south-bound platform opened in March 2016 following the reconstruction of two southbound tracks that carry Red and Purple Line Express trains.

Representatives say Red and Purple Line Express service at the Wilson station will not be interrupted throughout Phase Three and the station will remain open. Red and Purple Line Express trains will continue operating along a single south-bound track during morning weekday rush periods only, which has occurred since early 2015.

The CTA says phase three of the project is set for completion in early 2017. The entire project is expected to be finished by late 2017, with more than 2,000 feet of elevated tracks, signals and supporting infrastructure having been relocated and rebuilt, eliminating slow zones and improving service reliability.

The transit agency also said the Wilson project is one of the largest station projects in CTA history and is the latest in a series of CTA Red Line modernization projects in the past five years.

The CTA says the following work and temporary changes will take place throughout phase three of the project:

Red Line

  • Service level, frequency and travel times will remain the same

Purple Line Express

  • Service level, frequency and travel times will remain the same
  • South-bound (Loop-bound) trains will continue to stop at the Wilson and Sheridan stations during morning rush only

Wilson station

  • The station will remain open.
  • All customers traveling both north-bound and south-bound will use the new, modern west island platform that opened in March 2016. This island platform offers shelter from the elements and is longer and wider than the previous platform.
  • The old north-bound platform will close permanently. Customers accessing the new platform can now use the existing temporary entrances on the north and south sides of Wilson west of Broadway
  • Customers will no longer use any portion of the old Wilson station. The Gerber entrance and auxiliary entrance and exit that serve the old platform south of Wilson will be permanently closed. Customers will now access the station via temporary entrances while the new stationhouse is under construction.
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