1.
Chicago Transit Authority
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Chicago Transit Authority, also known as CTA, is the operator of mass transit in Chicago, Illinois and some of its surrounding suburbs, including the trains of the Chicago L and CTA bus service. In 1952, CTA purchased the assets of the Chicago Motor Coach Company, today, the CTA is one of the three service boards financially supported by the Regional Transportation Authority. The Chicago Transit Authority provides service to Chicago and 40 surrounding suburbs, the CTA provided a total of 532 million rides in 2011, a 3 percent increase over 2010 with ridership rising to levels not seen for 20 years. CTA operates 24 hours each day and on an average weekday provides 1.7 million rides on buses and it has approximately 1,800 buses that operate over 140 routes traveling along 2,230 route miles. Buses provide about one million trips a day and serve more than 12,000 posted bus stops in 10 suburbs. The Chicago Transit Authoritys 1,450 train cars operate eight routes and 222 miles of track. Its trains provide about 750,000 customer trips each weekday and serve 144 stations in Chicago and seven suburbs. Currently, the CTA operates within Chicago and the suburbs of Forest Park, Evanston, Skokie, Oak Park, Summit, Cicero, Berwyn, North Riverside, Rosemont. The CTA accepts payment with a Ventra card, a single-ride or 1-day Ventra disposable ticket, contactless credit or debit card, children under seven can ride free with a fare-paying rider, 3-child limit. Only buses allow riders to pay with cash, the bus fare is $2, the L fare is $2.25, and no cash transfers are available. The CTA no longer sells Transit Cards, all remaining Transit Cards must have been used by July 1,2014. In its place CTA has adopted the Ventra Card system, the Ventra Card can be purchased online, at any Ventra machine at CTA stations, and at authorized retailers. Ventra is a fare payment system for the Chicago Transit Authority and Pace that replaced the Chicago Card. Ventra launched in August 2013, with a full system transition slated for July 1,2014, Ventra is operated by Cubic Transportation Systems. Riders can pay a quarter for up to two transfers within two hours, the Chicago Transit Authority produced a monthly television show, Connections, from May 2003 through December 2011. The show was hosted by Dale Rivera, Jeanne Sparrow, Connections was broadcast on City of Chicago Public-access television cable TV channels 23 &49, as well as on Comcasts CN100 in the Chicago media market, including areas of Michigan and Indiana. Connections featured news and information about the CTA and services it provides, individual segments from Connections are available on CTAs YouTube channel. The majority of train stations CTA operates have elevators or ramps to access for customers with disabilities
2.
Pink Line (CTA)
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The Pink Line is an 11.2 mi rapid transit line in Chicago, run by the Chicago Transit Authority as part of the Chicago L system. It is CTAs newest rail line and began operation for a 180-day trial period on June 25,2006, the route to the Loop follows tracks shared with Green Line trains on Lake Street, connected by the previously non-revenue Paulina Connector. In September 2012, the average weekday boardings on the Pink Line was 33,737, the Pink Line does not make any L train transfers on the Douglas Branch. The Pink Line operates between 54th/Cermak and the Loop, weekdays from 4,05 a. m. to 1,25 a. m. and Saturdays and Sundays from 5,05 a. m. to 1,25 a. m. This would allow a doubling of Blue Line trains to Forest Park on the Congress Line, the CTA has also promised that service to/from 54th/Cermak would be increased 100% during weekday rush hours. On February 15,2006, the CTA approved the separate plan, non-rush hour trains would be routed via the Loop, Green Line tracks and Paulina Connector. During weekday rush hours, service would be available on this routing as well as the route via the Dearborn Street Subway every half hour. These changes went into effect beginning June 25,2006, with the trial scheduled to end 180 days later on December 22,2006. Originally, Douglas trains were operated by the Metropolitan West Side Elevated directly into the Loop by means of the Metropolitans main line, the entire Douglas Branch is ADA accessible. The Pink Line began operation on June 25,2006, using the rebuilt Paulina Connector which had not been used in revenue service for 48 years. The service, which was set up as a temporary service to be run for a trial period of 180 days. Pink Line trains operate clockwise on the Inner Loop track via Lake-Wabash-Van Buren-Wells before returning to 54th/Cermak, on December 4,2008, CTA announced its decision to make the Pink Line permanent. On the Pink Line, what was once the Blue Lines Douglas branch begins at 54th Avenue, the line turns north near Paulina Street stopping at 18th and Polk stations, then crosses over the Eisenhower Expressway. Here, a two track non-revenue branch diverges that descends to the expressway to provide a track connection to the Blue Line. It continues on the Paulina Connector to share tracks with the Green Line on Lake Street with stops at Ashland, Morgan and Clinton, the Pink Line is operated with the Bombardier-built 5000-series railcars. Trains operate using four cars on weekdays and weekends, occasionally, the Pink and Green Lines borrow each others cars when either line is short on cars. The 5000-series cars returned to the Pink Line on May 7,2012, at the time of their reintroduction, all Pink Line consists using 5000-series cars were six cars long. The last 2600-series cars were removed from service from the Pink Line on June 8,2012, most of the Pink Lines 2600-series cars were reassigned to the Blue Line to replace its 2200-series cars
3.
Side platform
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A side platform is a platform positioned to the side of a pair of tracks at a railway station, tram stop, or transitway. Dual side platform stations, one for direction of travel, is the basic station design used for double-track railway lines. Side platforms may result in a wider overall footprint for the station compared with a platform where a single width of platform can be shared by riders using either track. In some stations, the two platforms are connected by a footbridge running above and over the tracks. While a pair of platforms is often provided on a dual-track line. Where the station is close to a crossing the platforms may either be on the same side of the crossing road or alternatively may be staggered in one of two ways. With the near-side platforms configuration, each platform appears before the intersection, in some situations a single side platform can be served by multiple vehicles simultaneously with a scissors crossing provided to allow access mid-way along its length. Normally, the facilities of the station are located on the Up platform with the other platform accessed from a footbridge. However, in cases the stations main buildings are located on whichever side faces the town or village the station serves. Larger stations may have two platforms with several island platforms in between. Some are in a Spanish solution format, with two platforms and an island platform in between, serving two tracks
4.
Chicago "L"
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The Chicago L is the rapid transit system serving the city of Chicago and some of its surrounding suburbs in the U. S. state of Illinois. It is operated by the Chicago Transit Authority, Chicagos L provides 24-hour service on some portions of its network, being one of only five rapid transit systems in the United States to do so. The oldest sections of the Chicago L started operations in 1892, making it the second oldest rapid transit system in the Americas, the L has been credited with fostering the growth of Chicagos dense city core that is one of the citys distinguishing features. The L consists of eight rapid transit lines laid out in a spoke–hub distribution paradigm focusing transit towards the Loop. Although the L gained its name because large parts of the system are elevated, portions of the network are also in subway tunnels, at grade level, or open cut. In 2014, the L had an average of 752,734 passenger boardings each weekday,486,267 each Saturday, over the next year service was extended to 63rd Street and Stony Island Avenue, then the Transportation Building of the Worlds Columbian Exposition in Jackson Park. In 1893, trains running on the Lake Street Elevated Railroad and in 1895 on the Metropolitan West Side Elevated, which had lines to Douglas Park, Garfield Park, Humboldt Park. Two years later the South Side L introduced multiple-unit control, in which the operator can control all the cars in a train. Electrification and MU control remain standard features of most of the rapid transit systems. A drawback of early L service was none of the lines entered the central business district. The Union Loop opened in 1897 and greatly increased the rapid transit systems convenience, insull instituted many improvements, including free transfers and through routing, although he did not formally combine the original firms into the Chicago Rapid Transit Company until 1924. The construction of the Subway created the necessity to tunnel under the Chicago River, the State Street Subway opened on October 17,1943, the Dearborn Subway, on which work had been suspended during World War II, opened on February 25,1951. The subways were constructed with a purpose of serving as bomb shelters. The subways bypassed a number of curves and circuitous routings on the original elevated lines. In 1947, the Chicago Transit Authority acquired the assets of the Chicago Rapid Transit Company and the Chicago Surface Lines, operator of the citys streetcars. Over the next few years CTA modernized the L, replacing wooden cars with new ones and closing lightly used branch lines and stations. Later, after assuming control of the L, the CTA introduced a service known as the A/B skip-stop service. Under this service, trains were designated as either A or B trains, a trains would only stop at A or AB stations, and B trains would only stop at B or AB stations
5.
Douglas branch
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As of February 2013, it serves an average of 17,474 passengers every weekday. The branch serves the Near West Side, Pilsen, Lower West Side, South Lawndale, and North Lawndale neighborhoods of Chicago, and the west suburb Cicero, Illinois. The branch operates from 4,05 a. m. to 1,25 a. m. weekdays, initially known as the Douglas Park branch, construction began in June 1893 and the line was inaugurated on April 28,1896 between Marshfield Avenue and 18th Street. The branch started off with four stations and was the shortest of the Metropolitan West Side Elevated, construction time was longer than in other sections. On August 7,1896, the Douglas Park branch was extended to Western Avenue, on June 29,1900, the City of Chicago approved an extension of the branch to 40th Avenue and construction took place in mid-June 1901. On March 10,1902, the Douglas Park branch was extended to Lawndale Avenue, which allowed the opening of four new stations, California, Kedzie, Homan, and Clifton Park. On May 22,1907, the Douglas Park branch was extended to 46th Avenue, the station was a few meters from the Hawthorne plant of the Western Electric which was one of the largest employers in the area of Chicago at the time. On December 16,1907, the Douglas Park branch was extended to 48th Avenue, extending service to the town of Cicero, on August 20,1910, the Douglas Park branch was extended to 52nd Avenue. On August 1,1912, service was extended to 56th Avenue, the final stretch on the branch was to Oak Park Avenue, in Berwyn, Illinois, which opened on March 16,1924. On February 3,1952, service on the Douglas line was suspended to all stations west of 54th Avenue, service to these areas was replaced by a bus route. The stations at Roosevelt and Douglas Park were closed three months later, the new system changed the service and it was decided that all stations on the Douglas branch would now be B and the Congress branch would now be A. In 1973, due to cuts, the 50th Avenue station closed. In 1983, Polk and Cicero were rebuilt to make them ADA accessible for passengers with disabilities, the poorly utilized Laramie station was closed to accelerate service the following year. In 1993, 18th Street was rebuilt to provide access for passengers with disabilities, in 1995, the A/B service was abandoned and all trains stop at every station, does not affect the service of the stations on the Douglas branch. In 1996, the CTA changed the name of the branch to the Cermak branch, in 1998, the branch lost its 24-hour service, along with the Purple and Green lines. On September 10,2001, the CTA began a $363 million renovation project of the branch which was completed on January 8,2005, as of today, all eleven stations on the branch are ADA accessible. The current Pink Line route was assigned to the Douglas branch on June 25,2006, the CTA ended Blue Line service on the Douglas branch on April 25,2008. Metropolitan West Side Elevated Railroad Douglas branch at Chicago-l. org
6.
Damen station (CTA Pink Line)
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Damen is a station on the Chicago Transit Authoritys L system, serving the Pink Line and the Pilsen neighborhood. Damen station opened in 1896 as part of the Metropolitan West Side Elevateds Douglas Park branch, at the time the entrance was on Hoyne Avenue. Like the Kostner station to the west, during reconstruction of the Douglas branch in 2003, at this time the name of the station was changed to Damen and Hoyne became an auxiliary entrance. CTA21 Cermak 50 Damen Damen Station Page Damen Avenue entrance from Google Maps Street View Hoyne Avenue entrance from Google Maps Street View
7.
54th/Cermak station
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54th/Cermak is a station on the Chicago Transit Authoritys L system, serving the Pink Line, and is the western terminus of this line. It is at Cermak Road between 54th and Laramie Avenues in Cicero, Illinois and it is the only terminal with only one track used for service. Trains board on the half of 54th/Cermak station and unload on the western half
8.
Polk station
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Polk is an L station on the Pink Line of the Chicago Transit Authority. It is adjacent to Rush University Medical Center within the Illinois Medical District in the Near West Side community area, Polk Station opened on April 28,1896, as part of the Metropolitan West Side Elevated Railroads Douglas Park branch. In 1983 the original station was demolished and rebuilt, a Dunkin Donuts was added to the station in September 2004. CTA7 Harrison 157 Streeterville/Taylor Pace 755 Plainfield/IMD Express Media related to Polk at Wikimedia Commons Polk Street entrance from Google Maps Street View
9.
The Loop (CTA)
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The Loop is the 1. 79-mile long circuit of elevated railroad that forms the hub of the Chicago L system in Chicago, Illinois. As of 2012, the branch has served 74,651 passengers every weekday, the Loop is so named because the railroad loops around a rectangle formed by Lake Street, Wabash Avenue, Van Buren Street, and Wells Street. The railroad loop has given its name to Chicagos downtown, which is known as the Loop, however, transportation historian Bruce Moffat has concluded that The Loop was not used as a proper noun until after Charles Yerkes 1895–97 construction of the elevated structure. In 201120,896,612 passengers entered the L via these stations, five of the eight L lines use the Loop tracks. Two of the three lines, Blue Line and Red Line, run underground through the center of the loop. The Yellow Line is the only CTA line that does not run on or connect to the loop, the Purple Line Express and the Brown Line enter from the north at the northwestern corner. The Purple Line Express makes a circuit in the clockwise direction while the Brown Line makes a full circuit traveling counterclockwise. The Orange Line enters from the south at the southeastern corner, following the completion of a full circuit in their directions, trains of these four lines return to their terminals making stops in the reverse order they made when heading to the Loop. The Green Line runs in both directions but does not make a circuit, using only the north and eastern sides of the Loop to move between the Lake Street branch and the South Side Elevated. Two towers control entry to and exit from the Loop, Tower 12 stands at the southeastern corner. Tower 18 stands watch over the three-quarter union located at the northwestern corner, the current Tower 18 was placed into service on September 7,1969 after being relocated diagonally across the junction from the original 19th century tower. Charles Tyson Yerkes masterminded the linking of these railroads, originally there were 12 stations, with three stations on each side. The construction of the west-leg of the Union Loop over Wells Street required the removal of the platform of the Fifth/Lake station. The addition of the Northwestern Elevated Railroad caused the removal of the rest of the station as the remaining platform sat across the new entry point. This left 11 stations, two on the leg of the loop and three on each other leg. 1977 Chicago Loop derailment Chicago Central Area Transit Plan Wells Street Terminal Historic American Engineering Record No, iL-1, Union Elevated Railroad, Union Loop Loop Elevated at Chicago-L. org
10.
Clark/Lake station
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Clark/Lake is a Chicago L station located at 100/124 West Lake Street in Chicagos Loop district, and is accessed from the James R. Thompson Center and 203 North LaSalle building. It is one of the most complex stations on the L system, comprising an elevated station, the elevated station is serviced by the Brown, Green, Orange, Pink, and Purple Lines, while the subway platform is serviced by the Blue Line. In December 2014 it had an average of 17,644 weekday passenger entrances, the Richard J. Daley Center, Chicago City Hall, and Chicago Title and Trust Center are also served by the station. It is the busiest station on the Loop Elevated, and the second busiest station on the L system as of December 2014, clark/Lake is a super station consisting of two stations that have been merged into one. The original elevated station opened on September 22,1895 as one of three stations on the Lake Street Elevated Railroads Wabash extension and this extension became the Lake Street leg of the Union Loop when it was completed in 1897. The subway station opened as Lake Transfer on February 25,1951, from 1988 to 1992, the elevated station was reconstructed, with its main entrance in the James R. Thompson Center. This allows transfers between the station and the subway station without leaving the paid area, and so the stations were combined into a single station. Due to this, it is the one station that serves six of the eight lines, the Blue Line serve the subway station while the Green, Orange, Brown, Pink and Purple Lines serve the elevated station
11.
Lower West Side, Chicago
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Lower West Side is a community area on the West Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is three miles southwest of the Chicago Loop, and its neighborhood is Pilsen. The Heart of Chicago is a neighborhood in the southwest corner of the Lower West Side, in the late 19th century, Pilsen was inhabited by Czech immigrants who named the district after Plzeň, the fourth largest city in what is now the Czech Republic. They replaced the Germans and Irish who had settled there before them, many of the immigrants worked in the stockyards and surrounding factories. Although there was increase in the Hispanic presence in the late 1950s. This was due to the displacement of Latinos from the neighborhood UIC currently occupies, south of Hull House, and from other urban revitalization projects. In 1970, Latinos became the majority population in Pilsen, with about 25,000 people out of the communitys 43,341 people surpassing the population of people of Eastern European descent, in particular, Mexicans made up about 36% of the residents of Pilsen in 1973. In the 1980s, the Mexican-origin population grew, during that decade 95% of the people in Pilsen had some Mexican descent, and 80% of the overall population of Pilsen were first or second generation immigrants from Mexico and Mexican-Americans. Mexican growth continued into the 1990s, during that decade 40% of the Mexican-origin population in Pilsen had migrated directly there from Mexico, and about 33% of the Mexican-origin population in the Chicago area lived in Pilsen. As of 2005 many of the residents of the neighborhood were not Latino. The non-Latino population in Pilsen is still a minority as of the 2010 Census, some local advocacy groups, including one led by Michael A. Martone, have formed urging the neighborhoods alderman to curtail gentrification to preserve the Mexican-American culture. In 2006, Pilsen Historic District became a National Historic Register District, south Water Market has been added to the National Register of Historic Places. The east side of the neighborhood along Halsted Street is one of Chicagos largest art districts, st. Adalberts dominates the skyline with the opulence typical of churches in the Polish Cathedral style. Pilsen is home to a multitude of murals and other forms of street art, the United States Postal Service operates the Pilsen Post Office on 1859 S Ashland Avenue. The National Museum of Mexican Art is located in the Pilsen neighborhood, podmajersky incorporated is a major property owner in the Pilsen area. Robb Walsh of the Houston Press wrote that the Mexican restaurants in Pilsen are unconsciously authentic to original Mexican cuisine, the community area is connected to the rest of the city by both Chicago Transit Authority and Metra transportation services. There are also bikeways on Blue Island Avenue, 18th, residents are zoned to Chicago Public Schools. Benito Juarez Community Academy, located in the Lower West Side, other parts are zoned to Thomas Kelly High School
12.
Chicago
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Chicago, officially the City of Chicago, is the third-most populous city in the United States. With over 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the state of Illinois, and it is the county seat of Cook County. In 2012, Chicago was listed as a global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. Chicago has the third-largest gross metropolitan product in the United States—about $640 billion according to 2015 estimates, the city has one of the worlds largest and most diversified economies with no single industry employing more than 14% of the workforce. In 2016, Chicago hosted over 54 million domestic and international visitors, landmarks in the city include Millennium Park, Navy Pier, the Magnificent Mile, Art Institute of Chicago, Museum Campus, the Willis Tower, Museum of Science and Industry, and Lincoln Park Zoo. Chicagos culture includes the arts, novels, film, theater, especially improvisational comedy. Chicago also has sports teams in each of the major professional leagues. The city has many nicknames, the best-known being the Windy City, the name Chicago is derived from a French rendering of the Native American word shikaakwa, known to botanists as Allium tricoccum, from the Miami-Illinois language. The first known reference to the site of the current city of Chicago as Checagou was by Robert de LaSalle around 1679 in a memoir, henri Joutel, in his journal of 1688, noted that the wild garlic, called chicagoua, grew abundantly in the area. In the mid-18th century, the area was inhabited by a Native American tribe known as the Potawatomi, the first known non-indigenous permanent settler in Chicago was Jean Baptiste Point du Sable. Du Sable was of African and French descent and arrived in the 1780s and he is commonly known as the Founder of Chicago. In 1803, the United States Army built Fort Dearborn, which was destroyed in 1812 in the Battle of Fort Dearborn, the Ottawa, Ojibwe, and Potawatomi tribes had ceded additional land to the United States in the 1816 Treaty of St. Louis. The Potawatomi were forcibly removed from their land after the Treaty of Chicago in 1833, on August 12,1833, the Town of Chicago was organized with a population of about 200. Within seven years it grew to more than 4,000 people, on June 15,1835, the first public land sales began with Edmund Dick Taylor as U. S. The City of Chicago was incorporated on Saturday, March 4,1837, as the site of the Chicago Portage, the city became an important transportation hub between the eastern and western United States. Chicagos first railway, Galena and Chicago Union Railroad, and the Illinois, the canal allowed steamboats and sailing ships on the Great Lakes to connect to the Mississippi River. A flourishing economy brought residents from rural communities and immigrants from abroad, manufacturing and retail and finance sectors became dominant, influencing the American economy. The Chicago Board of Trade listed the first ever standardized exchange traded forward contracts and these issues also helped propel another Illinoisan, Abraham Lincoln, to the national stage
13.
Mural
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A mural is any piece of artwork painted or applied directly on a wall, ceiling or other permanent surface. A distinguishing characteristic of painting is that the architectural elements of the given space are harmoniously incorporated into the picture. Some wall paintings are painted on canvases, which are then attached to the wall. Whether these works can be accurately called murals is a subject of controversy in the art world. Murals of sorts date to Upper Paleolithic times such as the paintings in the Chauvet Cave in Ardèche department of southern France, many ancient murals have been found within ancient Egyptian tombs, the Minoan palaces and in Pompeii. During the Middle Ages murals were executed on dry plaster. The huge collection of Kerala mural painting dating from the 14th century are examples of fresco secco, in Italy, circa 1300, the technique of painting of frescos on wet plaster was reintroduced and led to a significant increase in the quality of mural painting. In modern times, the became more well-known with the Mexican muralism art movement. There are many different styles and techniques, the best-known is probably fresco, which uses water-soluble paints with a damp lime wash, a rapid use of the resulting mixture over a large surface, and often in parts. The colors lighten as they dry, the marouflage method has also been used for millennia. Murals today are painted in a variety of ways, using oil or water-based media, the styles can vary from abstract to trompe-lœil. Initiated by the works of artists like Graham Rust or Rainer Maria Latzke in the 1980s, trompe-loeil painting has experienced a renaissance in private. The buon fresco technique consists of painting in pigment mixed with water on a layer of wet, fresh. The pigment is absorbed by the wet plaster, after a number of hours. After this the painting stays for a time up to centuries in fresh. Fresco-secco painting is done on dry plaster, the pigments thus require a binding medium, such as egg, glue or oil to attach the pigment to the wall. By the end of the century this had largely displaced the buon fresco method. This technique had, in reduced form, the advantages of a secco work, in Greco-Roman times, mostly encaustic colors applied in a cold state were used
14.
Metropolitan West Side Elevated Railroad
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The Metropolitan West Side Elevated Railroad was the third elevated rapid transit line to be built in Chicago, Illinois and was the first of Chicago’s elevated lines to be electrically powered. The line ran from downtown Chicago to Marshfield Avenue with branches to Logan Square, Humboldt Park, Garfield Park, portions of the line survive as the Blue and Pink lines of the Chicago L system. At 6 oclock AM on May 7,1895, the first train of the Metropolitan West Side Elevated left the Robey Street station bound for the terminal at Canal. The Chicago Transit Authority took over the assets of the CRT in 1947, in 1952, the Douglas branch was shortened to its present terminal at 54th/Cermak and the Humboldt Park branch was closed. In 1958, Garfield Service was replaced by the new Congress Line, Metropolitan West Side Elevated Company System Map
15.
O'Hare station
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OHare is the L station at the northwestern terminus of the CTAs Blue Line. It is a station with two island platforms serving three tracks, located at OHare International Airport,17 miles northwest of the Chicago Loop. The station is located underneath the OHare parking garage, trains are scheduled to depart from OHare roughly every 2–7 minutes during rush-hour periods and take about 40 minutes to travel to the Loop. It is the westernmost station of the L system and it is also the only CTA station without coordinates in Chicagos grid system, as OHare lines up with no street in the city. It is the only CTA terminal located in a subway and also is the terminal where a premium fare applies and is the only terminal that does not directly connect to any CTA or Pace buses. It is also one of two terminals that does not have a yard assigned to it, OHare station opened on September 3,1984, as the terminus of an extension of the West-Northwest route from its former terminal at River Road. It was built to a design by the architectural firm Murphy/Jahn, for the first 28 years of OHare stations operations, the fare passengers paid the same fare to enter it as they would at any other L station. On March 24,2014, a train approaching the station on the track collided with the bumper, then jumped the tracks and crashed into the escalators. The station reopened on March 30,2014, at 2,00 p. m
16.
Green Line (CTA)
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The Green Line is a rapid transit line on the Chicago Transit Authoritys L system. It is the only completely elevated route in the entire system, as of September 2012, the average number weekday boardings on the Green Line is 70,554. Here the Green Line tracks leaves the railroad embankment and continues east on an elevated structure directly above Lake Street. The L bridges a couple of tracks before entering downtown Chicago at Clinton Street. East of Clinton Street, the route bridges Metras Union Pacific railroad tracks, in downtown Chicago, the Green Line operates over the famous Union Loop L structure along with Brown Line, Orange Line, Pink Line and Purple Line Express trains. However, Green Line trains operate both ways over the Lake Street and Wabash Avenue sides only, and does not use the Wells Street and Van Buren Street sides of the Loop. The Green Line is the line in the L system that has two entry/exit points to the elevated Loop, the only route that does not use the Loop to terminate. Its route uses the Wabash and Lake sides of the Loop, which are used by the Orange, Pink, Purple and Brown Lines. Leaving the Loop at Tower 12, the tracks continue along Wabash Avenue and follows an S curve to the west and this 3.8 mile section is the oldest part of Chicagos L system. On this segment, the Green Line shares tracks with the Orange Line between the Loop and 17th Street, passengers can transfer between the two lines at Roosevelt/Wabash station. The other stations on this section are at Cermak–McCormick Place and 35th–Bronzeville–IIT, adjacent the Illinois Institute of Technology campus, prior to 1994 the East 63rd branch extended as far east as Stony Island Avenue. It was shortened to University in 1982 and Cottage Grove in 1996, the Ashland branch continues south and west following 59th Street, Princeton Avenue and 63rd Street to the Ashland terminal in Englewood. The yard and inspection shop lie to the south between the old Racine station and the Ashland/63rd terminal. The L tracks continues west to an end at Hermitage Avenue, a prediction for a future extension of the route westward, however. Prior to 1992, the Englewood branch had two stops at Wentworth and Harvard, closed by the CTA for service cuts. Halsted/63rd is the only remaining stop on the 3.1 miles route, the Englewood branch was permanently renamed the Ashland branch as of March 2013 according to the CTA. The Jackson Park branch continues south from the mainline between Calumet and Prairie Avenues, passing the old yard and inspection facilities at 61st Street in Washington Park. South of here, the route curves east over 63rd Street, prior to 1994, the Jackson Park branch of the Green Line once terminated at University/63rd and before that, at Stony Island/63rd from 1893 until 1982
17.
Ashland station (CTA Green and Pink Lines)
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Ashland is an L station on the CTAs Green and Pink Lines. It is a station with two side platforms, located in Chicagos Near West Side neighborhood at 1601 West Lake Street. Just to the west of the station the Pink Line branches off from the Lake Street branch to follow the Paulina Connector to the Cermak branch. The adjacent stations are California, which is located about 1 1⁄2 miles to the west, Polk, which is located about 1 mile to the south, and Morgan station, approximately 3⁄4 mile to the east. Ashland Station opened on November 6,1893 as part of the Lake Street Elevated Railroads initial route, and it is one of the oldest standing stations on the L. The station closed on April 4,1948, along with nine stations on the Lake Street branch, but later reopened on February 25,1951. During the two-year closure of the Green Line from 1994–1996, the station was restored, ashland is the closest L station to the United Center home of the Chicago Bulls NBA team and the Chicago Blackhawks NHL team. It is also adjacent to Union Park, venue for the Intonation Music Festival
18.
Chicago Loop
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The Loop is the central business district of Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the citys 77 designated community areas, the Loop is home to Chicagos commercial core, City Hall, and the seat of Cook County. In the late century, cable car turnarounds and prominent elevated railway encircled the area. In what is now the Loop, on the bank of the Chicago River, near todays Michigan Avenue Bridge. It was the first settlement in the sponsored by the United States. Other research has concluded that the Loop was not used as a proper noun until after the 1895–97 construction of the Union elevated railway loop, Loop architecture has been dominated by skyscrapers and high-rises since early in its history. Some of the buildings in this district were instrumental in the development of towers. Chicagos street numbering system – dividing addresses into North, South, East, Chicago is still the nations rail transportation hub and passenger lines once reached seven Loop-area stations by the 1890s. Transfers from one to the other was a business for taxi drivers until the long-distance lines gave way to Amtrak in the 1970s with the majority of trains concentrated at Chicago Union Station. This area abounds in shopping opportunities, including the Loop Retail Historic District and it includes Chicagos former Marshall Fields department store location in the Marshall Field and Company Building, the original Sullivan Center Carson Pirie Scott store location. Chicagos Downtown Theatre District is also found within this area, along with numerous restaurants, Chicago has a famous skyline which features many of the tallest buildings in the world as well as the Chicago Landmark Historic Michigan Boulevard District. Chicagos skyline is spaced out throughout the area, giving it a graceful beautiful appearance. Chicagos third tallest building, the Aon Center, is located just south of Illinois Center, the complex is at the east end of the Loop, east of Michigan Avenue. Two Prudential Plaza is also located here, just to the west of the Aon Center, the Loop contains a wealth of outdoor sculpture, including works by Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró, Henry Moore, Marc Chagall, Magdalena Abakanowicz, Alexander Calder, and Jean Dubuffet. Chicagos waterfront, which is almost exclusively recreational beach and park areas from north to south, the area also hosts the annual music festival Lollapalooza which features popular alternative rock, heavy metal, EDM, hop hop and punk rock artists. Trips down the Chicago River, including tours, by commercial boat operators are great favorites with both locals and tourists alike. The Loop is the seat of Chicagos government and it is also the government seat of Cook County, Illinois and houses an office for the governor of the State of Illinois. The century old City Hall/County Building houses the chambers of the Mayor, City Council, across the street, the Richard J. Daley Center accommodates a famous Picasso sculpture and the state law courts
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Western station (CTA Pink Line)
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Western is a station on the Chicago Transit Authoritys L system, serving the Pink Line. It is located in the Heart of Chicago and Heart of Italy neighborhoods in the Lower West Side community area, the station was originally built in 1896 as part of the Metropolitan West Side Elevated Railroads Douglas Park branch. It was rebuilt around 1935, and again between 2002 and 2004 and it is located near Metras Western Avenue & 18th Place station on the BNSF Railway Line. CTA21 Cermak 49 Western X49 Western Express Media related to Western at Wikimedia Commons Western Station Page Western Avenue entrance from Google Maps Street View
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Morgan station
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Morgan/Lake is a station on the Chicago Transit Authoritys Green and Pink Lines in the Near West Side neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. The new station opened on May 18,2012, the first Morgan station was one of the 29 stations along the Lake Street Elevated Railroad when the line opened in 1893. Service to Morgan operated continuously until April 4,1948, when the newly created CTA closed the station, due to low ridership, soon afterward, the station was demolished. The neighborhood continued to receive elevated service at the Halsted Street station, Halsted continued to serve the neighborhood until January 9,1994, when the CTA closed the Green Line for an rehabilitation and renovation project. This project included the closure of six stations, and among them was the Halsted station, with the closure of Halsted, no Green Line stations remained in the West Loop or Fulton Market areas, leaving a gap of 1.3 miles between stations at Ashland and Clinton. The closure of Halsted was unpopular, and since that date, community residents, businesses, and local organizations have argued that this area needs a new infill station to restore rail service. Morgan was a location for a new station, as it is located halfway between Ashland and Clinton, and the intersection of Morgan/Lake is close to much of the new development in the area. It also sits near many art galleries that have opened recently, as well as Oprah Winfreys Harpo Studios, in the early 2000s, the CTA began to work with local groups and city officials to plan and identify funding sources for the new station. Initially, the neighborhood planned to cover the entire cost with funding from a tax increment financing district. The final cost of building the station was $38 million, tranSystems led the design team, in conjunction with Ross Barney Architects. Like most currently active Green Line and Pink Line stations, Morgan is ADA-accessible, the station will also have bike storage. The new Morgan station officially opened on May 18,2012, and grand opening ceremonies were held on May 24
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Clinton station (CTA Green and Pink Lines)
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Clinton is a station on the Chicago Transit Authoritys L system, serving the Green Line and Pink Line. It opened on October 16,1909, and was rebuilt during the Green Line rehabilitation project in 1996. It is the closest L station to the Ogilvie Transportation Center, the stations were connected in 1970 with a passageway, called the Northwest Passage, linking it to the Chicago and North Western Terminal. The passageway closed in 1990 when the C&NW Terminal was rebuilt as Ogilvie Transportation Center, CTA J14 Jeffery Jump 56 Milwaukee 125 Water Tower Express Media related to Clinton/Lake at Wikimedia Commons Garfield, Graham. Clinton Street entrance from Google Maps Street View
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State/Lake station
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State/Lake is an L station serving the CTAs Brown, Green, Orange, Pink, and Purple Lines. It is a station with two side platforms, located in the Chicago Loop at 200 North State Street. The CTA offers farecard transfers between this station and the Lake subway station on the Red Line, State/Lake station opened on September 22,1895, as part on the Lake Street Elevated Railroads extension into the Chicago Loop that later became the north side of the Union Loop. State/Lake is the last station on this section of the Loop to retain many of its original features, one of a series of videos shot on iPhone 6 to feature in a 2015 Apple advertising campaign features the short journey between Randolph/Wabash and State/Lake shot in time lapse. CTA2 Hyde Park Express 6 Jackson Park Express 10 Museum of Science, iL-1-H, Union Elevated Railroad, State-Lake Station State Street entrance from Google Maps Street View
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Washington/Wabash station
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Washington/Wabash is a Chicago L rapid transit station scheduled to open in early 2017. It will serve as a consolidation and replacement of the Randolph/Wabash and Madison/Wabash stations, the project is being undertaken by the Chicago Department of Transportation. Construction of the $75 million station will begin in 2016 following the closure of Madison/Wabash in March 2015, the station will be located between Washington and Madison Streets on Wabash Avenue in the Chicago Loop. It will be one of three new stations in the Loop with Washington/Wells being the first and Harold Washington Library – State/Van Buren being the second
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LaSalle/Van Buren station
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LaSalle/Van Buren is an L station in downtown Chicago serving the CTAs Brown, Orange, Pink, and Purple Lines. LaSalle/Van Buren is one of the nine stations on the Loop, the station opened on October 3,1897. LaSalle Street Station, terminal for Metras Rock Island District trains, is less than a block from the station and it was seen in the 1986 film Running Scared with Gregory Hines and Billy Crystal. All of the surroundings including the platforms and the station are still the same now as they were in the movie and it was also a location in one of the final scenes of the 1987 film Planes, Trains and Automobiles with Steve Martin and John Candy. The Chicago Board of Trade Building is one block to the north
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Quincy station (CTA)
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Quincy is a rapid transit station on the Chicago Transit Authoritys L system. It is located between the Washington/Wells and LaSalle/Van Buren stations in the Loop, the station is located above the intersection of Quincy Street and Wells Street in Downtown Chicago, Illinois. Having opened in 1897, it is one of the oldest surviving stations on the L system, the station is located in the South Loop Financial District and is the closest CTA rail station to the Willis Tower, approximately one block west. It is also close to Union Station, the terminal for several Metra and Amtrak routes, Quincy is an elevated station, located above Quincy Street between Adams Street and Jackson Boulevard. It features two platforms and station houses, one on the west to serve the Outer Loop track. Turnstiles for fare payment are located in the houses on the platform level. The station once had a bridge, but this was removed in the 1980s. This means it is not possible to change from one platform to the other without paying another fare or asking for employee assistance, there are auxiliary exits to both Adams and Jackson on the Inner Loop platform, while the Outer Loop only has an auxiliary exit to Adams. Both platforms are designed to handle eight-car trains, the longest the CTA L system can run, prior to September 1953, the station also featured a walkway to the Wells Street Terminal for convenient transfers to interurban trains of the Chicago Aurora and Elgin Railroad. From 1985 to 1988, Quincy was restored to a much as it would have looked when it opened. Some materials, such as signage, were changed several of the stations features are original to its 1897 opening. Project Began on march 16,2017, a renovation project will begin at the station in 2016 and will continue through the end of 2017. The renovation will add two new elevators to the station to make it accessible for people with disabilities, and other improvements include new stairs, the station will remain open during the project. In normal operation, the station is serviced by the Brown, Orange, during weekday rush hours, the Purple Line also stops here. Brown Line trains stop at the Outer Loop platform, while all other lines stop at the Inner Loop platform, iL-1-A, Union Elevated Railroad, Quincy Street Station Quincy/Wells Station Page at Chicago-L
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Washington/Wells station
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Washington/Wells is a station on the Chicago Transit Authoritys L system, located in downtown Chicago, Illinois on the Chicago Loop elevated at 100 North Wells Street. The station opened on July 17,1995, Washington/Wells is located a few blocks from several major attractions and business centers, such as Chicago City Hall, the Civic Opera House, and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The station is three blocks east of Ogilvie Transportation Center, terminal for the Union Pacific North, Northwest. The station is located between Washington and Madison on Wells Street in downtown Chicago, the Washington/Wells station replaced two former Loop stations, Randolph/Wells and Madison/Wells. The CTA is now intent on doing the same on the side of the loop on Wabash Avenue. The station is located between Washington and Madison Streets and is constructed of steel and concrete, with wooden platforms, a large mezzanine is accessible by stairs just south of Washington on either side of Wells, and the station is also accessible via elevators. Just past several turnstiles are stairwells leading to the platform level, both platforms are also serviced by elevators. It is possible to go from one platform to the other without leaving the paid area, the platforms are from Washington to Madison, the platforms continues over Madison. There are auxiliary exits on both ends of platforms to the east sides of Washington and Madison. Both platforms can handle eight-car trains, the longest on the CTA system, Washington/Wells serves the Brown Line, and the Orange Line, Purple Line Express, and Pink Line
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Media related to 18th (CTA) at Wikimedia Commons
