UIC–Halsted (CTA station)

For other 'L' stations on the Chicago Transit Authority named Halsted, see Halsted (CTA).
UIC–Halsted
Station statistics
Address 430 South Halsted Street
Chicago, Illinois 60607
Lines
  Blue Line
Connections CTA Bus
Structure Surface Level
Platforms 1 island platform
Tracks 2
Bicycle facilities Yes
Other information
Opened June 22, 1958
Rebuilt 1965, 2000-2001
Accessible
Owned by Chicago Transit Authority
Formerly Halsted, U of I-Halsted
Traffic
Passengers (2008) 1,406,969  9.4% (CTA)
Services
Preceding station   Chicago 'L'   Following station
toward O'Hare
 Blue Line

UIC–Halsted is a station on the Chicago Transit Authority's 'L' system, serving the Blue Line.

Contents

History

UIC–Halsted opened in 1958 as one of the new stations on the Congress Line on the median of the Congress Street Super Highway which replaced the Garfield Park elevated line that used to run along an alley in the right of way that is now on the present Eisehhower Expressway. Like the other stations on the Congress Line (and the future Dan Ryan Line and O'Hare Line on the Kennedy Expressway) the station has a single island platform. When the station originally opened, its name was just "Halsted." In 1965 when the University of Illinois' Chicago campus was opened, the station name was changed to "U of I-Halsted" and an additional exit to Peoria Street was added to access the campus. Most older signage on the station and some older Chicagoans still refer the station and the campus as U of I-Halsted and U of I, respectively. When the University was renamed as UIC in 1982, the station name was changed to the current "UIC–Halsted." This change is reflected on CTA print media and signage.

The Eisenhower Expressway median at the UIC–Halsted stop is twice as wide as necessary to accommodate the two tracks and platform, which are offset to only occupy the south half of the available median space. The Peoria Street station house was constructed in 1964,[1] centered not over the platform, but over the median to accommodate the anticipated future high-level subway line to run from there, under Clinton Street and the abandoned Jackson Boulevard streetcar tunnel under the river, to Grant Park.[2] The station house's position and the two extra portals east of Halsted Street[3] were all that came of that plan. Non-electrified tracks were later added in the empty space in the northern portion of the median in order to stage materials and work cars for tunnel repair and maintenance.

Bus connections

CTA

References

  1. ^ City of Chicago, Department of Development and Planning, Chicago Plan Commission, 1963 Annual Report (Chicago: City of Chicago, 1963), 22. Note, the department name was later reformatted Planning and Development.
  2. ^ City of Chicago, Department of Subways and Superhighways, Sixth Annual Report of the Department of Subways and Superhighways, City of Chicago, for the Year Ending December 31, 1946 (Chicago: City of Chicago, December 31, 1946), 2, 5.
  3. ^ City of Chicago, Department of Subways and Superhighways, Fourteenth Annual Report of the Department of Subways and Superhighways, City of Chicago, for the Year Ending December 31, 1952 (Chicago: City of Chicago, December 31, 1952), 36-37.

External links