Ford City Mall to Build New Transit Center as Part of Mall Redevelopment
Ford City Mall has announced plans to construct a new CTA transit center to provide shoppers and employees with improved access to bus service. The new transit center will be located next to JCPenney on the east side and will serve to redirect bus stop traffic from the open area near the Carson's entrance to a sheltered structure with multiple bays and improved access for pedestrians and buses. Plans also include renovating the restrooms in a space adjacent to the transitcenter and making them easily accessible to CTA drivers.
Three CTA bus routes – #79 79th, #54B South Cicero and #67 67th/69th/71st -- serve Ford City Mall, providing more than 200 trips. Saturday is the busiest day with more than 220 trips.
"Creating a new transit center at Ford City Mall will provide shoppers and employees with better access to CTA transit service. It also improves the overall traffic flow at Ford City and gives CTA operators a more comfortable environment," says Ford City Mall general manager Tracy Munno. "This project also makes sense in our overall redevelopment strategy to upgrade Ford City into a premier shopping destination on Chicago's south side. The mall's owners are deeply committed to serving the community and its residents, and we have a lot of exciting things in store for 2016."
"The CTA is pleased to work with Ford City Mall to enhance transitservice for mall customers while providing improved access to jobs for employees," says Carole Morey, CTA chief planning officer. "We thank Ford City Mall's owners for building a bus terminal that better serves customers and improves CTA bus operations in and out of the shopping center, and we look forward to continuing to serve the thousands of customers who take CTA buses each day to Ford City." At the mall, there is an average of more than 2,500 weekday rides, more than 3,100 on Saturdays and more than 2,000 on Sundays.
The new transit center project, which is being fully funded by mall ownership, is slated to begin in spring 2016 with a projected completion of summer 2016.
