If you use the Blue Line to commute from the Illinois Medical District, you won’t be able to enter at Damen Avenue until later this spring. The Chicago Transit Authority announced on Monday that the Damen Avenue entrance to the Medical District Blue Line station will be temporarily closed until mid-May, as part of interior and exterior work to the entrance’s stationhouse and concourse.
The work, which includes improvements to the station-to-platform ramp, is part of a $23 million renovation project at the Medical District station. As part of the project, crews will install new security cameras, improve station and platform lighting, add new CTA bus and train tracker displays, and set up new fare-payment equipment and customer assistant kiosks.
Customers who use the station will still have access to the to the Blue Line through the main entrance on Ogden Avenue, as well as an auxiliary, ramp-accessible entrance on Paulina Avenue. Riders using the No. 50 Damen bus to access the station can transfer to the No. 7 Harrison on weekdays or the No. 126 Jackson on weekends and late evenings to gain access to the Paulina entrance.
“The improvements being made as part of this project will benefit the thousands of riders who currently travel through the station each day with a safer, cleaner and more modern facility,” CTA President Dorval Carter said in a news release. “More importantly, as a result of this project work, everyone will have equal and affordable access to this vital transit connection serving nearby medical services, schools and entertainment.”
According to the CTA, the Illinois Medical District station is the third busiest on the Blue Line, serving more than 1 million commuters last year.
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