Chicago requests bids for $150 million in transit improvements

The Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) is soliciting bids for $150 million in construction contracts to improve the Loop's transportation infrastructure, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced yesterday.

The projects include modernizing the Washington-Wabash Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) station and the Union Station Transit Center. Combined, the projects represent a major redevelopment and modernization of transportation in downtown Chicago – from Union Station to Millennium Park, Emanuel said in a press release.

CDOT will manage construction of the projects. The city intends to award the construction contracts by year's end so that work can begin in first-quarter 2015.

Also included in the bids is the Central Loop bus rapid transit project (BRT) that would designate bus-priority lanes on two miles of streets, including Madison, Washington, Canal and Clinton. The transit corridor serves Union Station, Ogilvie Transportation Center, CTA subways and Navy Pier.

"There has been a need for these critical investments for many years to reduce congestion, improve service and provide more transportation options for Chicagoans," said CDOT Commissioner Rebekah Scheinfeld.

The Washington-Wabash station project calls for replacing two century-old stations at Madison and Randolph with one modern, fully accessible station with wider platforms.

The Union Station Transit Center, a new off-street bus boarding center just south of Union Station, will provide key connections with other transport modes. The transit center will be located south of Jackson between Canal and Clinton, and will provide sheltered staging areas for CTA buses and a vertical connection to an existing Amtrak underground passageway.

Responses for the Union Station Transit Center are due October 21, the Central Loop BRT on October 28 and Washington Wabash Station on November 4.