CTA kicks off $23 million Blue Line station rehab project

The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) earlier this week began work on its $23 million renovation of the Illinois Medical District Blue Line station.

The agency on Monday closed the Damen Avenue entrance to the station to allow crews to make exterior and interior improvements to the stationhouse and its concourse.

The project calls for making improvements to all three entrances, including complete reconstruction of the main stationhouse on Ogden Avenue, CTA officials said in a press release. The agency also will add an elevator to the station to make it accessible to riders with disabilities.

Other upgrades include improved lighting, new security cameras and CTA bus and train tracker displays. In addition, both auxiliary entrances will get new flooring, wall and ceiling finishes, fare-payment equipment and customer assistant kiosks.

"The improvements being made as part of this project will benefit the thousands of riders who currently travel through the station each day with a safer, cleaner and more modern facility," said CTA President Dorval Carter Jr. "More importantly, as a result of this project work, everyone will have equal and affordable access to this vital transit connection serving nearby medical services, schools and entertainment."

Opened almost 60 years ago, the Illinois Medical District Station is the third-busiest on the Blue Line's Forest Park branch. There were more than 1 million entries at the station last year, CTA officials said.

The station provides connections to four major hospital systems in the area.