Mayor Emanuel, CTA Move Forward with South Side Transit Investment

Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Deputy Mayor Andrea Zopp and Chicago Transit Authority President Dorval R. Carter, Jr. have announced the CTA has finalized a bold, vibrant design for the new 95th Street Terminal—a $280M project to completely rebuild the Red Line South’s busiest station to create a safer, more-efficient environment for transit riders while creating a signature statement for the South Side.

The CTA also said it is preparing to launch the first of several bus and rail enhancements that will be rolled out this summer and fall to improve transit service on the South Side, a plan announced by Mayor Emanuel and CTA last month.

"With these improvements and this investment in local transit, we are connecting more South Side residents with jobs, education and opportunity,” said Mayor Rahm Emanuel. “Improving rail and bus transit service in Chicago – including 95th Street, one of the CTA’s busiest bus and rail terminals – benefits customers, grows our regional economy and helps our neighborhoods prosper.”

“In building a new, state-of-the-art CTA transit hub for the South Side, Mayor Emanuel and I strongly believe that form and function are both very important to this project,” said CTA President Carter. “This terminal will provide a safer, more convenient and pleasant commuting environment for the 20,000-plus customers who pass through 95th each day, complementing the additional South Side rail and bus improvements we plan to roll out starting next week through the fall months.”

“With CTA’s vibrant new design for the 95th Street Terminal, and the extension of the #26 South Shore Express – we see another example of what the future holds for South Side residents,” said Deputy Mayor Andrea Zopp. “The new terminal is a $280 million investment, but it is less about the size of the numbers and more about the size of the statement that this makes about the city’s commitment to helping our neighborhoods thrive.” 

95th Street Terminal

The new 95th Street Terminal design is a refinement of previous designs for the bus and rail terminal. The new designs present a much bolder architectural statement, befitting what will be the signature station of the CTA system.

The 95th Street project will expand and greatly improve the terminal, which is one of CTA’s busiest, with 24-hour Red Line service and more than 1,000 CTA and Pace bus trips on a typical weekday. This work will help improve the movement of train traffic in and out of the 98th yard and through the 95th Terminal which services the Red Line, which is the CTA’s busiest rail line.

The design, developed with the project’s general contractor Paschen Milhouse Joint Venture IV and architectural firm exp US services, keeps all of the terminal’s primary design elements, including covered bus bays and pedestrian walkways to provide protection from the weather as well as the pedestrian bridge that will connect the two terminal buildings to be located on the north and south sides of 95th Street.

The design has been refined to include the distinct red color of the station exterior, which will serve as an iconic identifier to CTA’s busiest rail line, and other modifications to the design throughout the station.

Customers will begin to enjoy the new station beginning in 2017. CTA began the construction on the foundation of the new terminal in 2014, which will be located along the Dan Ryan Expressway at 95th Street, where the current 95th station is located. Construction of the new south terminal building begins this summer. The new south terminal will be completed in 2017 and the new north terminal building will open in 2018.

South Side Bus and Rail Enhancements

The first of CTA planned improvements to bus and rail service on the South Side and Far South Side will begin Monday, June 20, when service on the #26 South Shore Express is extended into the weekday morning and evening hours. Northbound morning service will begin earlier at 4:20 a.m. Southbound service will begin more than an hour earlier with the first trip leaving Chicago/Michigan at 1:10 p.m. and the last southbound trip will depart downtown at 9:20 p.m., a total of an additional three hours of evening service for customers.

The #26 South Shore provides more than 3,200 daily rides and is just the first of several bus routes that will see improvements:

• The 95th Street bus, which will combine separate east and west segments to create a continuous route
• The #4 Cottage Grove bus, which will extend south from 95th Street to 115th Street
• The #71 71st Street bus, which will extend all trips from 73rd to 112th and Torrence, and see increased frequency
• The #26 South Shore Express, which will see earlier and later service
• The #34 Michigan and #119 Michigan/119th bus routes, which will see increased frequency during midday and evening hours
• These improvements will begin in early September

Additionally, the CTA this fall will increase the frequency of Green Line service on the Cottage Grove and Ashland/63rd branches during the morning and evening rush periods.

These improvements are the latest among several enhancements over the past year designed to improve bus and rail service. In December 2015, the Mayor and President Carter reintroduced express service on the #9 Ashland and #49 Western bus routes, two of CTA’s busiest bus routes. Also in December, the CTA and Chicago Department of Transportation launched Loop Link, a first-of-its-kind corridor connecting the West Loop commuter rail stations with the heart of the Loop and Michigan Avenue.  Featuring dedicated bus lanes, bus-only traffic signals and raised-platform stations along Washington and Madison Streets, Loop Link was designed to provide faster, more reliable travel times and an improved customer experience. In March, the Mayor and CTA unveiled the first-ever Bus Tracker arrival-time displays at 51 rail stations, an expansion of CTA’s most-popular technology for customers. CTA also announced it will soon begin pilot bus routes on the #11 Lincoln and #31 31st routes.