CTA board OKs $13 million Green Line track renewal

The Chicago Transit Authority's (CTA) board yesterday approved the award of a $13 million contract to Kiewit Construction Co. for a track improvement project on the Lake branch of the Green Line.

The project calls for upgrading track infrastructure between Chicago's Laramie Station and the Harlem/Lake Station in Forest Park, Ill., CTA officials said in a press release.

CTA's Laramie Station in Chicago
Photo: Chicago Transit Authority

Crews will replace ties on the Green Line west of Laramie Station and perform other track work, including installing new tie plates and fasteners, transposing of running rails at select curves, replacing ballast and doing surfacing work.

The last major track renewal along this 2.5-mile stretch of tracks occurred in the 1980s, and more than 75 percent of the rail ties are approaching or have exceeded their useful life, CTA officials said.

The work is aimed at providing Green Line riders smoother, more reliable commutes and preventing slow zones from developing as infrastructure ages, they said.

This project follows a $20 million track modernization on the Green Line South that was completed in 2013 ahead of the full reconstruction of the Red Line South branch and other CTA projects.

"When infrastructure ages, maintaining safe and reliable service becomes more difficult and costly," said CTA President Dorval Carter Jr. "This investment will allow us to continue to provide affordable, reliable service to the city’s West Side, where Green Line stations on the Lake branch had more than 9 million riders last year."

Work is expected to begin in March 2016 and will occur on weekends and during nights when trains are not in operation. Construction schedule details are still being finalized, CTA officials said.