CTA Track Work Going On Throughout June: Closures In Montrose/Broadway Area

"Temporary Service Impacts to CTA Red and Purple Line Service

In case you missed it: We will start Red and Purple Modernization (RPM) Phase One project track improvement work on Friday, June 5.

This work is necessary to proceed with the RPM project but will have impacts on the local community and on CTA service.

Here is information about what to expect.

CTA Red/Purple Line Track Interlocking Construction at Montrose June 5-29

We are getting closer to starting construction of four new stations and tracks between Lawrence and Bryn Mawr, expected to begin by early 2021.

Ahead of that work, we need to build new track interlockings at Montrose and at Thorndale on the Red and Purple lines this summer that will allow us to provide Red and Purple Line service during new station and track construction (2021-2024) – and some of this work will have temporary impacts to CTA Red and Purple Line service in 2020.

This work was originally planned to be performed over many weekends this year, but will instead be performed over two three-week periods to lessen the overall impacts of the work and to complete this initial trackwork before Labor Day.

June 5-29:

• Starting June 5, We will reroute trains to combine Red and Purple services onto two tracks to build the new interlocking – which allows trains to safely switch tracks at Montrose.
• During this period, there will be no southbound service at Lawrence and Argyle on nine non-contiguous days.
• There will be additional skipped station stops on the weekends.
• During these periods, weekday Purple Line Express trains will run on the same tracks as the Red Line.
• All reroute information by day is available here. 

Community Impacts

• Condensing the work into a three-week period reduces some impacts on the community, rather than stretching the work out over dozens of weekends throughout the year.
• There will be fewer days of large equipment being moved in and out of the neighborhood
• This approach increases our flexibility to perform noisiest work during daytime hours and not in overnight hours
• There will be street and alley closures, noise, nighttime lights at street and track level, parking lane and sidewalk closures, dust, and truck traffic.
• There will be crane lifts on June 7, June 19 and June 28 that will require closure of Ardmore Ave between N Broadway and N Winthrop. More information can be found here. 
• More construction information can be found here:

• Montrose closure 

• Kenmore alley -- partial closure 

• Alley west of 4400-4466 N Broadway – partial closure 

• We will provide alternative parking for affected residents."