11/26/07
New Elevators Make Station Accessible to Customers with Disabilities
CTA President Ron Huberman, Congressman Rahm Emanuel, and 47th Ward Alderman Eugene Schulter today gathered at the Montrose Brown Line station to mark the re-opening of the station following work to lengthen platforms, rebuild the stationhouse and make the station accessible. The station closed to customers last December for renovation and is re-opening six days ahead of schedule.
?Major infrastructure improvements such as the renovation of this station are crucial to meeting the growing demand for public transit," said CTA President Ron Huberman. ?This station opened to customers in 1907 and was state-of-the-art for the era. Today, many customers have to wait to board during peak periods because trains are filled to capacity. Longer platforms at all Brown Line stations will allow us to add two rail cars to the service during rush hour in the future."
Two newly installed elevators are now in operation making the station accessible to all CTA customers. With the completion of the renovations at Montrose, 79 of CTA's 144 rail stations are now accessible. In addition to the new elevators, accessible features also include: an accessible turnstile, tactile platform edging, gap fillers, TTY telephones and Braille signs.
Other improvements to Montrose include a newly rebuilt stationhouse, wider stairways, additional turnstiles, a new platform canopy, customer assistant call buttons, an information kiosk, heaters, benches, brighter lighting, windbreaks and improved station and directional signs.
Montrose station also features original artwork reflecting the street names within the community. The work is affixed inside the stationhouse and was created by artist Jason Pickleman. To foster a sense of ownership and identity within each station and the surrounding community, the CTA has partnered with the City of Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs to install public art at all 18 stations included in the Brown Line capacity expansion project. Public art for each station in the project is a requirement of the Full Funding Grant Agreement and is part of the overall project budget.
The Montrose station temporarily closed to customers on December 2, 2006. Throughout construction rail customers had the option of boarding at the Damen and Irving Park stations for Brown Line service, or using alternate transportation on the seven neighborhood CTA bus routes that operate near Montrose.
?We appreciate the patience exhibited by our customers and neighborhood residents throughout the Brown Line construction," said Huberman. ?Now that the construction at Montrose is complete we invite everyone to come and use the station and see the improvements for themselves."
Damen is the next Brown Line station scheduled to undergo renovation and that station will close today for up to 12 months. While the Damen station is closed, customers may board the Brown Line at the adjacent, newly renovated Western or Montrose stations.
On December 3, CTA will reopen the Addison station to customers and temporarily close the Irving Park station for up to 12 months. When the Damen and Irving Park stations reopen they will both be newly accessible to customers.
Work has been completed at seven stations: Kimball, Kedzie, Rockwell, Francisco, Western, Sedgwick and Montrose. Work continues at all other stations. As the project continues to move forward, CTA remains committed to staying on budget and on schedule. The project's Full Funding Grant Agreement with the federal government requires that the CTA complete the project by the end of 2009.
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