We got an update from CTA's representative about the big picture for the Red Line rehab during the next few months. After two and a half years of demolition and track rebuilding, they are moving into the final stages of the project and anticipate meeting the end-of-year projected deadline, with the station houses scheduled to be completed before the end of the baseball season:
"We are taking advantage of the good weather and are full speed ahead with crews working at all three station houses (Sunnyside, Wilson Main, & Wilson Auxiliary); Gerber building; Track 4 structure; and the east platform.
- Wilson Auxiliary (north side of Wilson) will likely be the first of the new station houses to open up, possibly in July, if everything continues to go smoothly.
- Wilson Main and Sunnyside stations are still projected to be completed by mid-September. That is also the time that the elevators and escalators will become operational. [UU Note: Whoo-hoo!]
- After the September station opening, our presence on site will be greatly reduced but we will still be out here finishing up work at the Gerber, and other closeout activities until the end of 2017.
- The air horns that you are hearing are a safety mechanism used by CTA flaggers to alert us when trains are coming through the area so that we can have our equipment & personnel a safe distance away while they pass.
- We have been trying to keep Leland Ave. open as much as possible but do require intermittent closures to complete the foundation work in the area.
- We will be closing Wilson Ave. next Wednesday and Friday to do some work on the track structure. There will also be a full Broadway closure in about 3 weeks, likely at night time, to allow us to erect the track steel where it crosses over Broadway. More details after that work gets solidified."
Any word when all the Evanston Express trains will stop at Wilson, going both directions? (I have long wondered, by the way, why it is that the southbound train is called "Evanston Express." Shouldn't it be called "Loop Express" or something pertaining to downtown?
ReplyDelete