Washington/Wabash station
Chicago "L" station
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Washington/Wabash is an 'L' station on the CTA's Brown, Green, Orange, Pink, and Purple Lines. The station opened on August 31, 2017.[3] It serves as a consolidation and replacement of the Randolph/Wabash and Madison/Wabash stations. The project was undertaken by the Chicago Department of Transportation. Construction of the $75 million station began in 2015, following the closure of Madison/Wabash in March 2015 and was completed in August 2017. The station is located between Washington and Madison Streets on Wabash Avenue in the Loop.
Chicago, Illinois 60602
Washington/Wabash 100N 44E | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Inner Loop platform | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| General information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Location | 29 North Wabash Avenue Chicago, Illinois 60602 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 41.882900°N 87.626205°W | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Owner | City of Chicago | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Line | Loop Elevated | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Platforms | 2 side platforms | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tracks | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Connections | Red at Lake (temporarily, during the closure of State/Lake until 2029)  and  at Millennium Station | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Construction | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Structure type | Elevated | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Accessible | Yes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Opened | August 31, 2017[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Passengers | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2025 | 2,255,225 [2]  7.2% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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In 2018, the new station was recognized with an award of excellence by the American Institute of Architects, Chicago chapter.[4]
History
Before the construction of Washington/Wabash station, two stations were taking the place of the current station: Madison/Wabash station and Randolph/Wabash station. Both stations opened on November 8, 1896, as part of construction on the Wabash portion of the Loop Elevated.[5]
The CTA had proposed consolidating the two stations since November 1981.[6][5] A similar consolidation project occurred in July 1995, with the opening of Washington/Wells station, a replacement station of both Madison/Wells station and Randolph/Wells station.[7] In September 1998, the CTA proposed a $29 million superstation replacing both Madison/Wabash station and State/Lake station; this plan never happened.[6][8]
In April 2003, the CTA worked with and gave $1 million to the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) to start preliminary work on a future consolidated station between Madison/Wabash and Randolph/Wabash stations. Ten years later on September 30, 2013, the final design of the new station was unveiled. The station was priced at $75 million, which was funded by the federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) program.[6][9] The new station was planned to be ADA-accessible unlike its predecessor stations. With the removal of the two original stations, travel time and maintenance cost on the Wabash section would be reduced.[10] Although construction on the new station was planned to begin in fall 2014, it was delayed to March 2015. On March 16, 2015, as part of construction, Madison/Wabash station was closed permanently.[11][6] The new consolidated station opened on August 31, 2017.[8] Randolph/Wabash station then closed three days later on September 3 in favor of the newly opened station.[12]
