CTA gears up for $23 million renovation of medical district station

Artist's rendering of the renovated Ogden Avenue entrance. Source: CTA

The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) next month will begin a $23 million project to renovate and modernize the Illinois Medical District Blue Line Station, CTA President Dorval Carter Jr. announced last week.

The project will be the largest renovation to the station since it opened in 1958, CTA officials said in a press release.

The project will begin in September and is expected to wrap up in late 2017. CTA will rebuild the station's main stationhouse on Ogden Avenue and improve passengers' accessibility. The station connects locals to four major hospitals and other health institutions in the medical district.

In addition to improving all three station entrances, the project will upgrade two station-to-platform ramps at the entrances at Damen Avenue and Paulian Street.

"By investing in CTA stations like this one that provides access to health care and jobs for thousands of Chicagoans, we are creating a world-class transit system that better serves our city and those who come here," said Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

The project also calls for better lighting in the station and platform; installation of new security cameras; new CTA bus and train tracker displays; and improvements to the station platform canopy.

At more than 1 million entries in 2015, the station is the third busiest on the Blue Line Forest Park branch.