WRIGLEYVILLE — Cubs fans are often packed like sardines on the Addison Red Line platform after games at Wrigley Field, but that could change thanks to a CTA project.
At a public meeting earlier this month, CTA officials outlined preliminary plans to widen the platform at the Red Line’s Addison stop near Wrigley Field. The CTA is also looking to add more accessible entrances and exits at the station as well as lengthen the platform to accommodate 10-car trains, according to a slideshow from the meeting.
“Currently, there’s limited entrances and a narrow platform that present challenges when there’s large crowds during Cubs games,” CTA project planner Christina Bader said at the meeting. “Expanding and widening platforms will increase accessibility and create more room for the crush of customers.”
The renovations would be done as part of the multibillion-dollar Red and Purple Modernization project underway in Uptown and Edgewater.
After the work in Uptown and Edgewater wraps up next year, CTA officials will turn their attention to other portions of the Red Line’s north branch, including Addison. Similar renovations are being considered for the Red Line’s Sheridan, Loyola and Howard stops, and Purple Line stations could also get an overhaul.
In a statement, CTA spokesperson Stephanie Cavazos said the agency will try to “minimize property acquisition” that could be needed to expand platforms surrounding Addison and other stops.
“Any acquisition needs will be identified after additional engineering and environmental work is complete,” Cavazos said in the statement. “That work will be conducted after the current planning study is complete and is still several years away.”
The CTA deploys at least one extra Red Line train to arrive at Addison after Cubs games and concerts at Wrigley Field, Cavazos said.
Cubs fan and Wrigleyville neighbor Matt Lindner expressed some concern with the bigger platforms displacing nearby businesses, but he called the agency’s plans a “W” for Cubs fans.
“It does get overcrowded, even though the station has been there working for generations,” Lindner said. “There’s just something different about pulling into Addison and seeing the ballpark. The first time gave me chills. It’s an experience every Cubs fan should be able to have.”
Cubs fan Grant Culp said taking the Red Line can be “a bit hazardous,” especially as people jockey for position right after games.
“You have hordes of people trying to get on, elbowing each other and fighting their way onto the trains. I’ve seen people standing on the steps going up to the tracks,” Culp said. “With the delays we’ve been seeing between trains, it might only get worse for now.”
The Red Line Sheridan station, a few blocks north of the Addison stop, will also be rebuilt to include accessibility features and more commuter amenities, another project that could require the CTA to buy property surrounding the station, CTA officials previously said.
Those plans are subject to a “planning study,” with work set to begin after the completion of the Red and Purple Modernization’s first phase. As part of the first phase, new stations and rail infrastructure at the Lawrence, Argyle, Berwyn and Bryn Mawr stops are slated to come online in 2025.
Future phases of the project still need to be funded, officials said previously.
Other improvements to the north branch of the Red Line are already in service.
The Belmont Overpass, built as part of the project in an effort to reduce Red and Brown line bottlenecks, was completed in 2021. A new Wilson station in Uptown was completed in 2017.
The Red and Purple Modernization project is a separate project from CTA’s plans for a southward extension of the Red Line.
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