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| Station statistics | |||||||||||
| Address | 138 West Cermak Road Chicago, Illinois 60616 |
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| Lines | |||||||||||
| Connections | CTA bus | ||||||||||
| Structure | Elevated | ||||||||||
| Platforms | 1 Island platform | ||||||||||
| Tracks | 2 | ||||||||||
| Bicycle facilities | Yes | ||||||||||
| Other information | |||||||||||
| Opened | September 28, 1969 | ||||||||||
| Rebuilt | 2009-2011 | ||||||||||
| Accessible | |||||||||||
| Owned by | Chicago Transit Authority | ||||||||||
| Formerly | Cermak (Station Sign) | ||||||||||
| Traffic | |||||||||||
| Passengers (2010) | 1,272,910[1] 3.9% | ||||||||||
| Services | |||||||||||
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Cermak–Chinatown is a station on the Chicago Transit Authority's 'L' system, serving the Red Line. The station is adjacent to Chicago's Chinatown neighborhood and contains many elements of Chinese culture in its architecture.
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On April 25, 2008, a semi truck crashed into the station, killing two and injuring 21, at least seven critically.[2] Part of the station collapsed after the impact.[3] Bystanders said that the driver of the truck was coming off the northbound Dan Ryan Expressway exit.[2] The truck driver was taken into custody. The driver declined to take a urine test, which could have identified whether he was taking drugs to stay awake. The driver died later in the year due to a heart attack. [4]
The original station (designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill) had undergone minimal updates since its original opening in 1969. After the truck collision, however, CTA officials moved to fully rebuild the station house, with construction beginning in fall of 2009. On June 4, 2010, a new auxiliary entrance/exit opened at Archer Avenue, to provide convenient access to the #62 Archer buses as well as to Chinatown Square and the Richland Center.[5] On April 15, 2011, the main entrance on the north side of Cermak Road reopened and was upgraded with an elevator making it ADA accessible. The auxiliary entrance on the south side of Cermak Road reopened on April 30, 2011.[6][7]
Before the creation of the Orange Line in 1993, Chicago's southwest side was served by a number of express and rush-period-only bus routes, all but one of which served the Cermak–Chinatown station. When the Orange Line opened, most of these bus routes were discontinued and replaced with stub routes connecting with the Orange Line at Midway Airport. The four routes that were not discontinued with the Orange Line's creation met their demise in the 1997-1998 Booz-Allen Hamilton service cuts.
In 1993 the routes that connected with the Cermak–Chinatown Station were: