LINCOLN SQUARE — The Western Brown Line should get new infrastructure to better protect pedestrians and cyclists, as well as more digital signs and better protection against the weather, riders say.
Commuters shared a wish list of improvements they’d like to see at the Western Brown Line with city officials Wednesday. Neighbors who weren’t able to attend the meeting can still submit their ideas using this online form.
The meeting was the first in a series by Ald. Matt Martin’s (47th) office and CTA officials aimed at soliciting ideas from neighbors on how to use the more than $20 million they’ve secured to upgrade the station.
“Boy, that station needs some TLC, both the exterior and also the interior,” Martin said.
The station is one of the busiest transit hubs in the city and features a piece of the Berlin Wall that was torn down after the end of the Cold War, Martin said.
“There’s a lot more that we can be doing to make this station a better reflection of the importance that it has here,” he said.
The rail line was built in 1907, and the stop’s bus turnaround was added in 1949, officials said. The current station house was built in 1980, and the last major upgrade to the stop was in 2009, when the CTA modified the platforms to accommodate eight-car trains, officials said.
In April, the city’s transit board announced up to $19 million in repairs and improvements for the Western Brown Line station. Last year, City Council approved $8 million in tax increment financing dollars to support the upgrades.
Already planned renovations include improvements to the station’s lighting, added digital signs and better drainage as well as replacement of the elevators, which are frequently out of service, according to city documents.
CTA officials are drafting preliminary designs for these upgrades. As part of that process, they want riders to share their thoughts on how transit hub can be improved, said Steven Mascheri, vice president of capital construction.
“We can start to integrate some options that we believe would fit within the budget and the timeline,” Mascheri said.
The design phase would continue through the spring, and preliminary construction prepping the site would begin next fall, he said.
“We’re going to have another public meeting, sometime in the first quarter of 2024, to provide some options to the community so we can find out what we think makes sense,” Mascheri said.
A third community meeting is scheduled for fall 2024 where city officials will finalize the design; major construction would kick off soon after and is expected to be completed by fall 2025, Mascheri said.
The station’s bus turnaround, walkway entrances, staircases, station house exterior, plaza, mezzanine and platforms will also be renovated, according to planning documents.
In addition to the funds from the Western Avenue North TIF, the project’s funding will come from a combination of federal and state sources, according to city records.
During Wednesday’s meeting, commuters pitched ideas that ranged from putting more heat lamps on the platform to adding an entrance and exit on the western side of Western Avenue, adding murals and other art to the area and moving the piece of the Berlin Wall inside the station to a more prominent area to better display the artifact.
“Since we addressed the plaza reconstruction in reference to make it more pedestrian- [and] bike-friendly, are there any plans to increase the bike parking available within the Western CTA stop to accommodate increased bike traffic?” asked Erik Polkowski, a neighbor who attended the meeting.
Neighbors also asked for the stretch of pedestrian walkways under the tracks between Western and Lincoln Avenues to be better lit and cleaned up.
Mascheri said the team overseeing the upgrades would consider these options with respect to the scope of the project area and budget they have to work with.
But certain ideas, like adding roofing to the entire platform to protect commuters from rain and snow or bathrooms to the station, were nonstarters due to the potentially prohibitive cost of the former and potential headaches of the latter, Mascheri said.
“Right now, our CTA policy is not to have public bathrooms,“ Mascheri said. “We find it’s a maintenance and security challenge for us that, we just feel it’s something that we’re not ready to take on.”
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