Plans Move Ahead For New Stops On CTA Yellow, Green/Pink Lines
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The Chicago Transit Authority is moving forward with plans for a new stop on the Yellow Line in Skokie, as well as on the Orange and Pink lines along Lake Street on the Near West Side.
The transit agency announced names for the new stops on Wednesday.
The Yellow Line will see a new station in downtown Skokie, which will be called the Oakton-Skokie station, the CTA announced Wednesday. The station will have an at-grade, accessible entrance at Oakton Avenue and Skokie Boulevard, the CTA said.
It is set to be complete by the end of next year.
The new stop on the Green and Pink lines will be the Morgan station, at Morgan and Lake streets. It is set to be completed in 2012.
Meanwhile, the Yellow Line terminal at Dempster Street has been renamed "Dempster-Skokie." It had been called just "Skokie," as the only CTA station in the near northern suburb, although prior to 1995 it was called "Dempster."
"CTA rail stations are typically identified by the nearest cross street to accurately describe the location of the station," CTA President Forrest Claypool said in a news release. "The names announced today are in line with those guidelines to make it easy for riders to navigate the system."
The Skokie Swift began existence as the Niles Center Line, and originally had stops at Ridge, Asbury and Dodge avenues in Evanston, and at Crawford Avenue-East Prairie Road, Kostner Avenue, Oakton Street and Main Street in Skokie, the Web site Chicago-L.org recalls.
The CTA discontinued service on the line was discontinued in the late 1940s, although it was still used by another line, the North Shore Line interurban, until 1963. When the CTA rehabbed and reopened the line as the Skokie Swift in 1964, it ran only Howard Street terminal in Rogers Park – where it met the Red and Purple lines – to the terminal at Dempster Street.
Residents of Evanston want an additional Yellow Line stop built in their city, TribLocal reported. Under discussion is a possible new station at one of the three old sites – Dodge, Asbury or Ridge, according to TribLocal.
The new Green and Pink line stop at Morgan Street also has a predecessor. The line had a stop at Morgan Street from 1893 to 1948, Chicago-L.org recalls.
Plans for a station at Morgan Street date back to the mid-1990s, when the Green Line closed for two years and underwent a massive renovation. But the plans were put on hold because of budget limitations, the Web site says.
The CTA also announced plans Wednesday for new retail concession stands at three stations – the Cottage Grove stop on the Green Line, the Central Park stop on the Pink Line, and the UIC-Halsted stop on the Blue Line.
The agency also approved an ordinance calling for the use of online reverse auctioning to procure service contracts. In a reverse auction, prospective vendors submit all requirements for their bids except the price, which is finalized during the auction rather than as part of the bid.
