Chicago's bustling Loop is bracing for a significant change as the historic State and Lake CTA station, a central hub in the city's transit system, closes its gates on Monday for an extensive, three-year reconstruction project, confirmed by a NBC Chicago report. The overhaul includes a complete overhaul with a fresh open-air design and ADA-compliant features, but commuters who depend on the convenient stop are faced with the reality of detours and extended commutes.
Despite the announced improvements such as a glass canopy, widened platform, expanded sidewalks, and ADA-accessible elevators set to transform the 130-year-old station into a more navigable and welcoming space for all the project's duration has left some users, including Janita Colline, feeling disrupted, as she pointed out to NBC Chicago, "Maybe they could do better with rebuilding, but three whole years? No…That means I go to find another route to get home in because I ride the green line." Additionally, trains will continue to operate, but without stopping at the station under construction, redirecting passengers to nearby stations such as Washington-Wabash and Clark and Lake.
The project, which aims to bring the station up to modern standards, comes as part of a broader push for accessibility and improved infrastructure across the city's aging transit system. CDOT Deputy Commissioner Anne Zhang highlighted the necessity of the work for wheelchair users in her statement to ABC 7 Chicago, "The station isn't accessible to folks in wheelchairs, and we're trying to make it accessible for all of our transit riders." Renderings released show substantial upgrades aiming to not only enhance aesthetics but also to significantly overhaul the station's functionality.
While some commuters, like April Siruno, welcomed the improvements telling ABC 7 Chicago, "It'll be worth the wait when everything is interconnected, that makes more sense," others express concerns over other pressing issues like public safety, echoed by Chris Gonzalez's statement to ABC 7 Chicago, "They should have more security if they got the money to upgrade this, why don't they have the money for security? I heard they're putting more security, but I haven't seen it." As the station closure unfolds, drivers should anticipate some congestion as Lake Street will be accessible only to local traffic between Dearborn and Wabash starting Monday.
