An official opening date of August 5th has been announced for the new CTA Green Line Damen stop at 2001 W Lake Street in the Near West Side. The announcement comes after years of planning and delays to the project and which saw its cost rise due to this. Efforts for the station were led by the CTA with Perkins & Will working on its design.
Rising on the southwest corner of the intersection, the new $80.2 million station replaces a vacant lot across the street from the upcoming Westhaven Park Phase IID. Originally announced in 2017, the station officially started work in 2022 with F.H. Paschen serving as the general contractor.
The station itself will have its main entrance to the south, this will be a soaring multi-story space with a large piece by local artist Folayemi Wilson. This will be complemented by large green steel-tube bridges and elements clad in frosted glass. Exposed concrete and wood tone ceilings will round out the overall design.
Opening just in time for the Democratic National Convention this August, the station fills a 1.5 mile long gap in the line near public housing and the United Center. The work also included a partial reconstruction of tracks leading up to the station itself. The opening marks the end of a 76-year period since the original Damen station was demolished.
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I drove by this yesterday. without a doubt, it’s a transformational project for this neighborhood.
School ๐ซ Year ๐ Starts โจ Back ๐ on Monday, August 26th; Before: Labor ๐งช Day ๐, Student, Parents and Guardians Should Able to Ride Trains ๐ and Buses ๐ for Free ๐ at Any CTA Train ๐ Station ๐ on First ๐ฅ day of New ๐ School ๐ Year ๐.
CTA, Metra and Pace Is Expected to Increase Service ๐โ๐ฆบ; Capacity ๐งข; and Train ๐ Speed ๐ on Trains ๐; Buses ๐ and Rail ๐ Stations ๐ Between August 12th and August 30th, Due to D.N.C at U.C; and McCormick place.
Beautiful just Beautiful! The 1998 public cry for a new station at Damen Ave was heard. This is indeed wonderful! Brings hope across the Chicago who seek more transit Access! Wonderful news! Thanks CTA!
It was such a pleasure to work with some of the best Ironworkers and trades people on this job. The project looks amazing and what a great asset to the community/city.
Great design CTA, this is a significant station at a significant location. Can you teach CDOTโs bridge engineers how to design a quality bridge? Excellent CTA infrastructure added to the city.
I’m not sure I share your enthusiasm. Lots of the CTA’s architecture looks nice when new but looks shabby pretty quickly when it gets dirty. With all of that glass, and the CTA’s lackluster cleaning regimen, I can imagine that it will look dirty pretty quickly.
I agree with you, the CTA has to step up on their maintenance. Maybe this needs to be privatized or have companies sponsor stations. The CTA needs to be creative.
I wonder if the area will see a similar change in business development like after the Morgan Green Line stop was built.
Great work but takes entirely WAY to long to plan, approve, and build just ONE station. other countries can built entire LINES with multiple stations in 1/3 of the time or less. Chicago please speed up the process and built more L stops and lines.
I have been riding what now is known as the green line for about S5 years. Getting of at state & lake st. Stop to go down stairs with a free transfer to catch a redline subway train so I could get to school( haven elementary). From lake & Pulaski to roosevelt & State Street, catch any bus at that sub station and get off at 14th & state st. Walk over to 14th & walbash, get to school from Pulaski & lake st. To 14th & Wabash in 30 minutes. Now, it takes more than a hour. I guess that’s c. T. A. Idea’s of progress, from 1972 till now. Wow.do you like this new way of being moved to your job, schools,shopping centers,and getting back home? Can’t we get faster now that it’s the 21st century?