Racine Blue Line station was rebuilt as part of the All Stations Accessibility Program, the CTA’s blueprint for making all of its rail stations vertically accessible
The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) today reopened the Racine Blue Line main station house on Racine Avenue after being completely rebuilt to accommodate an elevator, allowing all riders to access the system.
“Every aspect of this station—from the intention design of the space to the inclusion of the artwork-- now conveys ‘welcome’ to our riders,” said Acting President Nora Leerhsen. “I want to extend an enthusiastic ‘welcome back’ to our riders who rely on this station and welcome all the riders who were previously unable to access this station. This milestone is celebration of both transit as a physical space and experience and as opportunity to connection.”
Originally constructed in 1958, work at the new Racine Blue Line Station main stationhouse located at 430 S. Racine Avenue now features a new elevator; new stairs and an extension of the platform.
The Racine station now has clearly defined accessible pathways to and from train platforms, bus stops, and other major modal transfer points. All features along the pathway, such as fare arrays, shelters, benches, and passenger information, were redesigned to remove barriers and allow for universal accessibility.
On Monday October 13, the Loomis Street auxiliary entrance will close for reconstruction. The station will be accessible via the newly reopened Racine Avenue station exclusively. The Loomis Street auxiliary entrance is expected to reopen in 2027. The cost of the station reconstruction was largely made possible by Rebuild Illinois funds.
Riders entering the new station will be greeted by Flowers for the Blue Line Racine Station, a colorful floor-to-ceiling installation of more than 700 hand-crafted ceramic tiles in the main entrance of the station. Ledgerwood worked with Nymphenburg Arts & Design in Munich, Germany to fabricate the artwork. Each glazed tile presents a low-relief surface articulating a single lobe of the quatrefoil. Arranged in a quadrant, the tiles unfold into a stylized four-petaled bloom—evoking symbolic with cardinal orientation, spatial dimensions, and prehistoric fertility figures. As it was created specifically for the Racine station, the motif anchors the site’s East–West axis with a visual language of movement and place.
The new and improved station project is part of Phase 1 of the Forest Park Branch Rebuild. The artwork at the station is very significant and serves as a great addition to the modernist design of the Racine Station. The patchwork of four petal flowers and the rich color palette provide a welcoming feel to the station lobby.
This artwork is the latest in a series of new installations planned over the next few years, as CTA issued a call for artists last year for new artwork to be added to the Austin and 43rd Green Line stations, plus two employee facilities – the newly constructed 63rd Non-Revenue Rail Vehicle Maintenance Facility and the soon to be built Operations Control and Training Center in West Garfield Park.
CTA’s collection of public art has nearly doubled over the last decade to include more than 100 permanent and temporary works of art across all eight rail lines and multiple bus facilities. This dynamic and immersive collection of public art includes mosaics, art glass, sculptures and interactive installations created by nationally and internationally acclaimed artists, many of whom are local.
For more details on CTA’s public art collection, visit transitchicago.com/art.
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About the All-Stations Accessibility Program:
CTA’s ASAP Strategic Plan was released in 2018,and serves as a blueprint for making all rail stations fully accessible by 2038, plus upgrading or replacing existing system elevators. Currently 109 of CTA’s 146 rail stations (75%) are ADA accessible.
Currently, CTA has secured funding for all the stations identified in Phase One and roughly half of those in Phase Two of the ASAP Plan. CTA has also secured $37 million in funding for elevator replacement and/or modernization efforts. Work is currently underway to complete an inventory of these elevator conditions to be able to put construction packages together for future project work.
Funding remains the biggest impediment to achieving a fully accessible rail system. Since the launch of the ASAP Plan, CTA has secured $740.8 million in funding, with planning and construction underway for nearly all non-accessible stations identified in the first two phase of the Plan. CTA continues to seek out additional sources of funding for Phases Three and Four of the program.
About the artist:
Judy Ledgerwood / Racine Blue Line
Judy Ledgerwood (b. Indiana, 1959) is an internationally recognized painter known for her canvases, monumental wall paintings and ceramics in which she marries abstract painting with the decorative arts. She is best known for her signature motif of the quatrefoil, a four-petal flower shape organized within triangles and chevrons and painted in bold color combinations.
Her work is included in prominent public collections including the Art Institute of Chicago; the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; the Metropolitan Museum of Art; the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles; the Milwaukee Museum of Art: the RATP transit art collection, Paris, France and Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, Switzerland. She earned degrees from the Art Academy of Cincinnati, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is Emeritus Professor at Northwestern University.